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[terracemuse]

[healwithin]

Love yourself. Today!

This is my Great Grannie. I never knew her and it’s only today that I’m seeing her photo. I’m told she was very gracious and gentle and made yummy jam biscuits. These are the things we are remembered for. Not our perfect nails or our best fake tan…..our human qualities and how we cared for others.

When I look at my Great Grannie today I’m so grateful that she was herself. She clearly put more time into her family than her appearance. I see my DNA in her body shape and features. It’s amazing how alike we are in skin and bone.

I am also aware that now my Great Grannie is long gone worm food and one day I’ll be worm food too so I’m going to start loving myself a little bit more for the little trail of kindness that I try to leave on this earth. I’ll never be a Supermodel. I’ll never be the sexiest lover on the planet. I’ve certainly been told I’m not good enough by enough blokes to have made me question my worth. So today I accept myself. With Metta, with loving kindness to myself. I’m my Great Grannies family tree branch and I’m reaching for the skies. I’m so happy to be alive.

Thanks Great Grannie. Love you for your wrinkles and your jam biscuits. x

[healwithin]

The Art of Suffering (as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh)🙏

Sit quietly

Be aware of the pain

Focus on the pain

Calm the pain

Let the pain be your friend

Know the pain is temporary

[mahayanapilgrim-deactivated2025]

"Only accept my words when you have examined them yourself; don't just accept them because of respect you have for me." Those who have only faith in Me and affection for Me will not find ultimate freedom. But those who have faith in the truth and are determined in the way, they will be awakened.

The Buddha

[healwithin]

🙏

[healwithin]

Death and Joy… 😀

Do you know someone who is dying? Aren’t we all dying? One day at a time? One day closer to death each day. One day further from birth? Realising this was like striking gold for me. Dying didn’t become such a big thing. We are always dying. Decaying.

So back to the point. Do you know someone dying soon? Maybe they are unwell or quite old and frail. What can you do that’s a positive thing? Start with a list. Ask them their favourite things. This will make them smile and bring them great joy. Write them down. It might be anything like chocolate, the smell of puppies, rainbows, the sound of a V8 engine, a pumpkin pie…. While the person is still alive try to give them as much of that list as you can. Even if you google the sound of a V8 engine on your phone while they are laying in hospital. Make them smile. Bring joy. And when your loved one is no longer here on this earth and you are thinking of them do something on the list to give you a little burst of joy too. Keep the joyful memories alive. By doing this we program ourselves to deal with grief and loss by converting our thoughts to joy. Joy for knowing the person in the first place. Joy for having been part of their lives. And joy for knowing their joy. The ultimate joy.

May this bring you joy in your time of grief and loss.

Metta. 🙏

[healwithin]

Happy Re-Birth Fi. 🌸

My friends beautiful sister Fiona has recently passed away from a brain tumour. I didn’t want to buy him a card. I wondered what to do. This little idea came to my mind to make a little colourful “Fi.” sign to brighten their home. It’s not a photo or a memory. It’s a colourful reminder of her beautiful life here on Earth.

Will will miss you Fi. I know you will be reborn as something amazing. Thanks for teaching me the ultimate lesson “acceptance”. Your courage and grace was incredible to watch. 🙏

So blessed to have known you.

[healwithin]

What’s in front of you? Right now? Do you like what you see? Or are you needing to change things? Are you even able to change things? Some things are just not changeable. Like terminal cancer for example. Or your partner falling in love with someone else. We can’t change that. What do we do then? Well we have to accept the things we cannot change or life will be a very big struggle. Whether we like the things we can’t change or not we are stuck with them so the longer we resist it the worse we will be.

Accept. Move on. Live freely. There’s always a new life chapter or even a new rebirth ahead. Never fear change. It’s necessary and beneficial eventually. If you’re going through a change that’s uncomfortable do everything you can to plug on through it. Don’t hold back. Just keep moving forward. This too shall pass. 🙏

Video credit

Forest Kuti @ Santi Forest Monastery

Bundanoon NSW Australia

[healwithin]

All things are empty in nature.

Buddha

Photo credit HealWithin

Sydney Australia

[healwithin]

Keeping Up With Yourself (KUWY)

Are you trying to keep up with yourself just as much as you try to keep up with the world? What life have you created for yourself? What’s your “schedule”?

Do you:

Get your nails done on Monday

Go to Pilates on Tuesday

Go to friends on Wednesday etc?

Are you pretty much fully booked? If you are you probably have too much on your plate to be able to do everything well that you are doing. You are probably not being present in the lives of the people around you either.

There’s plenty of “course junkies” and “high achievers” and “ego maniacs” etc out there. What’s it all for? The obsession with having to do it all and be the Master? Most people want to fast track the process to become Master these days anyway.

Have you ever just stopped? Used nothing? Gone nowhere? Spoken to nobody? Needed nothing?

It’s time to break the cycle of “doing” “being” “achieving” “needing”. I choose emptiness. Nothingness. The simplicity of that is such a relief. I can finally breathe.

Video Credit

HealWithin

Sydney Australia

[healwithin]

Have you ever had a fear of being replaced? By a partner? Boss? Friend? If you’ve experienced times where you feel you’ve been “replaced” in life know that bigger things are ahead. I personally have felt on numerous occasions in my life the “been replaced” feeling and it’s funny how as we get older we forget we can be replaced…. and we don’t prepare for it. That’s our ego making us feel safe. “I am doing well. I am etc..” It’s wisdom to always know we can be replaced. We should not be so shocked by it when it happens, so why does it hurt so much?….. attachment. We have attached an emotion to the thing or person that we have just lost. And that blows. It can blow the wind out of your lungs.

What to do then when you find you are replaced?

Breathe. Keep the wind in your lungs.

Just breathe. Let time move forward.

Video credit

HealWithin

Sydney Australia

Metta 🙏

[healwithin]

Have you ever had to “just take one step” and have faith that everything will be ok one day? How did you do this? What was that tiny step you took? I feel like I’m a “tiny step Master”. I’ve taken so many “tiny steps” in my life to get me out of sticky situations. Today is the three year anniversary of when I found out my second husband was having extra-marital relations. My first husband did the same thing. I made “tiny steps” into “huge steps” when I decided to walk from both marriages. Being Buddhist doesn’t mean we have to stick to vows we made “no matter what”. If we are being mis-treated we are not meant to stick around. That is not wise. That is toxic. I can say with both marriages that I tried to give both gents a fair go in terms of seeing if they truly loved me or just wanted to keep playing the field. In both cases I learnt to take baby steps to remove myself from what was never going to be a success. Simple. Move on.

Do you need to take a small step today?

Photo taken at Santi Forest Monastery Cave, Bundanoon NSW Australia

[healwithin]

Medication or meditation?

Medication is for the body and meditation is for the mind. When the mind is in turmoil try meditation to relieve the discomfort and reset the monkey mind. By focusing on something as basic as your in breath or out breath you can still your mind and become more aware of the present moment.

Photo credit

HealWithin

Sydney Australia

[healwithin]

To be Buddhist is to be free. May I always continue to help liberate the suffering of all sentient beings.

I am Bodhisattva. This is my vow. 🙏

Photo Credit

HealWithin

Sydney Australia

[healwithin]

Flowers from my garden for the shop owners who were victims of the floods at Molong yesterday. 14/11/2022.

Sometimes all it takes is a little love to help lift people out of the darkness.

You got this Molong.

🌺🌼🌸

Photo credit

HealWithin

Sydney Australia