Buddha's Little Instruction Book

The popular author Jack Kornfield has a nifty pocket-sized book called Buddha's Little Instruction Book.  Here are a few bits of wisdom from the Buddha:

No matter how difficult the past, you can always begin again today.

Through  our senses the world appears.  Through our reactions we create delusions.  Without  reactions the world becomes clear.

It is not our preferences that cause problems but our attachment to them.

Joy and openness come from our own contented hearts.

Whatever path of action you find that brings good and happiness to all, follow this way like the moon in the path of the stars.

A Prayer for the Soul

From Marianne Williamson's popular Illuminata:

Dear God,
On this day I ask for new life.
I ask to be reborn in spirit and mind.
I choose to consider as possible, through the
     grace of God, the total transformation of my
     mind and body.
The mystical nature of who I really am is
     known to You, dear God, but not to me.
Let me see revealed the depth and power of my
     true Self.
Amen.

It is man's foremost duty to awaken the understanding of the inner Self and to know his own real inner greatness.  Once he knows his true worth, he can know the worth of others.

          --Swami Muktananda

True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one's self, but the point is not only to get out--we must stay out; and to stay out one must have some absorbing errand.

          --William James

From the great doctor Gordon Livingston, M.D.

Pithy thought for the New Year.

"To the degree that one's choices become constrained by the need to avoid anxiety, one's life shrinks."

Dr. Livingston's other writings include the books Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart (which I plan to re-read in January) and And Never Stop Dancing:  Thirty More True Things You Need to Know Now.  Visit his website at www.gordonlivingston.com

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

          --Calvin Coolidge

We are not alone.
The spirits of those gone before guide our
     steps, our traditions, our beliefs.
We are not alone.
The care of those around us leads us to
     healing and wholeness and comfort.
We are not alone.

          --Mohawk/Onondaga Healer

The Seven Great Prayers

I Love You God
Thank You God
God you Are within Me
God Bless Me
God, I See You Everywhere
God Bless and I Love
God, Help Me Help You

From Paul & Tracey McManus, The 7 Great Prayers: For a Lifetime of Hope and Blessings (Fairfield, CT:  Vanguard Press, 2009).

Let us be grateful for the people who make us happy;
they are charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

          --Marcel Proust

 

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace, 

that where there is hatred, I may bring love; 

that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; 

that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;

that where there is error, I may bring truth; 

that where there is doubt, I may bring faith; 

that where there is despair, I may bring hope; 

that where there are shadows, I may bring light; that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted; 

to understand, than to be understood; 

to love, than to be loved. 

For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. 

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. 

It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. 

 

          --St. Francis of Assissi

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.  All things connect.

          --Chief Seattle

 

The art of abundance is not about greed or selfishness.  The art of abundance is about celebrating life right now, this minute.  It is a way of looking at the potential your life holds, the little blessings to be thankful for now and the gifts that God wants to give you, if you'll open your heart to receive them.  It's about being enthusiastic about every day, not just on rare occasions when everything seems to be going your way. 

          Write in your heart that every day is the best day of the years.

               --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love means to love that which is unlovable,
     or it is no virtue at all;
forgiving means to pardon the unpardonable,
     or it is no virtue at all;
faith means believing the unbelievable,
     or it is no virtue at all;
And to hope means hoping when things are hopeless,
     or it is no virtue at all.

          --G.K. Chesterton

I expect to pass through this world but once;
Any good thing therefore that I can do, or any
kindness that I can show to any fellow creature,
let me do it now;
let me not defer or neglect it,
for I shall not pass this way again.

          Etienne de Grellet

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into
flame by an encounter with another human being.
Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those
who have kindled this inner life.

          --Albert Schweitzer