the second star to the right

all you need is faith, trust, and pixiedust

[zenmister]

Don't Try To Be Happy

Happiness is a natural state which you return to again and again. When you are not happy, you shouldn’t try to be happy, but try to feel what you are feeling. Wishing for happiness and comparing your current state with happiness, gets in the way of feeling what you are feeling and compounds the suffering.

You can do activities that might lead to happiness, such as be with friends, exercise, drink water, meditate, go for walks, listen to music, shop, eat, anything that you think may help create the conditions of happiness in your life, but as you do those things, pay attention to how you are feeling, not how you want to feel or should feel.

As you feel the more painful emotions, try to stay present with the feelings, you will see that you can handle them. When you focus on the feelings, you can see the thoughts that come with them. Let the thoughts go. Let the stories go. Let the emotions go.

Although, when you are not feeling happy, trying to feel happy can get in the way of feeling what you are feeling, the practice of staying present with your mind is the practice of returning to happiness. You can understand it is there, but you don’t have to look at it. Keep looking at where you are, and without trying you will become happy. You can feel it then.

[lazyyogi]

Obstacles come, good and bad situations alike arrive. Cling to anything and the river of life will batter you senseless. Whatever comes, you must always be prepared to let go.

Do not fear the obstacles in your way, because that river will keep sweeping you forward. There is a way past every obstacle, even if that way may not necessarily be to your liking. 

Sometimes you do have to let go but at other times it is important to hold on. Knowing the difference between those moments is true wisdom. 

[zenfarmer]

No Complaints

If you want to have no complaints, stop complaining. Complaining is a symptom of the basic dissatisfaction of life. It is the natural response to suffering. It is habit forming. One of the obstacles to becoming happy is the social encouragement of complaining. Even if you are feeling pretty well, there is always something not quite right that you can use to spark a conversation. If you fall into the habit of exchanging complaints with your friends and family, then you may start to believe that all of life’s little annoyances are actually bad. You will be ever vigilant for problems so that you have something to talk about.

Mindfulness can help you combat a complaining habit. If you spend a day noticing all of your complaints, you will see just how ingrained the habit is in your outlook. If you notice just the complaints that find their way into your speech, you will see who your complaining buddies are. If you notice all the complaints that cross your mind, you will see how you resist life.

When you remain mindful of complaints, your unconscious complaining will stop. You will be slightly amused by your reaction to perceived problems. You will also notice how people around you complain, but you won’t get sucked into the idea that the world is a series of minor and major inconveniences. You will build some immunity to negativity. Of course you can, and will, still complain, just for fun, but you will know that beneath it all, life is good.

[lazyyogi]

Someone sent me a letter that had one of the best quotes I've ever read. It said "What is to give light must endure burning." It's by a writer named Viktor Frankl. I've been turning that quote over and over in my head. The truth of it is absolutely awe-inspiring. In the end, I believe it's why we all suffer. It's the meaning we all look for behind the tragedies in our lives. The pain deepens us, burns away our impurities and petty selfishness. It makes us capable of empathy and sympathy. It makes us capable of love. The pain is the fire that allows us to rise from the ashes of what we were, and more fully realize what we can become. When you can step back and see the beauty of the process, it's amazing beyond words.

Damien Echols

[zenmister]

If You Can't Think Something Nice, Don't Think Anything at All

The practice of mindfulness helps people feel better because it interrupts thinking habits that make people feel worse. Thoughts and feelings are like water and waves. The waves of feeling are composed of the water of the thought. If you suffer from stress, anxiety, anger or depression then your thoughts are continually churning up painful waves of emotions. In order to change the quality of the waves, you need to change the content of the thoughts. If good thoughts are hard to come by, you can still calm your mind by thinking nothing at all. To think nothing, rest your attention on the present moment. There is a quality of peace available in that moment wherever you are, whatever your circumstances.

It is not easy to change the habits of your mind, but it can be done simply. The simple practice of mindfulness is taking a moment to see where you are. In that moment, don’t think about how you got there or where you are going, just check your surroundings. Breathe in deeply to see if there is any oxygen where you are. If you can breathe in some oxygen, then you have something nice in your life. You don’t need to hold on to that oxygen, because there is more, so you let it out. In that moment there is nothing but breathing in and breathing out. If you manage to take a mindful, thoughtless breath, with the intention of finding some peace in the moment, you will likely experience some peace in that moment.

If you are able to clear your thoughts for that moment, then, in the next moment, you can see what kind of thought comes to you. If it is a disturbing thought, you can take another breath and try again. The beauty of the present moment is it carries on forever. You are always experiencing something. There is always some place to rest your attention that can take you beyond your thoughts. As you practice finding some peace in the present moment again and again, you will gain enough strength to start thinking some nice thoughts. For every painful thought that occurs to you, you can counter it with a kind and compassionate thought until the painful thoughts give up. The present will carry on, offering opportunities to find peace in each moment.

[zenmister]

If You Can't Think Something Nice, Don't Think Anything at All

The practice of mindfulness helps people feel better because it interrupts thinking habits that make people feel worse. Thoughts and feelings are like water and waves. The waves of feeling are composed of the water of the thought. If you suffer from stress, anxiety, anger or depression then your thoughts are continually churning up painful waves of emotions. In order to change the quality of the waves, you need to change the content of the thoughts. If good thoughts are hard to come by, you can still calm your mind by thinking nothing at all. To think nothing, rest your attention on the present moment. There is a quality of peace available in that moment wherever you are, whatever your circumstances.

It is not easy to change the habits of your mind, but it can be done simply. The simple practice of mindfulness is taking a moment to see where you are. In that moment, don’t think about how you got there or where you are going, just check your surroundings. Breathe in deeply to see if there is any oxygen where you are. If you can breathe in some oxygen, then you have something nice in your life. You don’t need to hold on to that oxygen, because there is more, so you let it out. In that moment there is nothing but breathing in and breathing out. If you manage to take a mindful, thoughtless breath, with the intention of finding some peace in the moment, you will likely experience some peace in that moment.

If you are able to clear your thoughts for that moment, then, in the next moment, you can see what kind of thought comes to you. If it is a disturbing thought, you can take another breath and try again. The beauty of the present moment is it carries on forever. You are always experiencing something. There is always some place to rest your attention that can take you beyond your thoughts. As you practice finding some peace in the present moment again and again, you will gain enough strength to start thinking some nice thoughts. For every painful thought that occurs to you, you can counter it with a kind and compassionate thought until the painful thoughts give up. The present will carry on, offering opportunities to find peace in each moment.

[zenmister]

Don't Try To Be Happy

Happiness is a natural state which you return to again and again. When you are not happy, you shouldn’t try to be happy, but try to feel what you are feeling. Wishing for happiness and comparing your current state with happiness, gets in the way of feeling what you are feeling and compounds the suffering.

You can do activities that might lead to happiness, such as be with friends, exercise, drink water, meditate, go for walks, listen to music, shop, eat, anything that you think may help create the conditions of happiness in your life, but as you do those things, pay attention to how you are feeling, not how you want to feel or should feel.

As you feel the more painful emotions, try to stay present with the feelings, you will see that you can handle them. When you focus on the feelings, you can see the thoughts that come with them. Let the thoughts go. Let the stories go. Let the emotions go.

Although, when you are not feeling happy, trying to feel happy can get in the way of feeling what you are feeling, the practice of staying present with your mind is the practice of returning to happiness. You can understand it is there, but you don’t have to look at it. Keep looking at where you are, and without trying you will become happy. You can feel it then.

[zenfarmer]

No Complaints

If you want to have no complaints, stop complaining. Complaining is a symptom of the basic dissatisfaction of life. It is the natural response to suffering. It is habit forming. One of the obstacles to becoming happy is the social encouragement of complaining. Even if you are feeling pretty well, there is always something not quite right that you can use to spark a conversation. If you fall into the habit of exchanging complaints with your friends and family, then you may start to believe that all of life’s little annoyances are actually bad. You will be ever vigilant for problems so that you have something to talk about.

Mindfulness can help you combat a complaining habit. If you spend a day noticing all of your complaints, you will see just how ingrained the habit is in your outlook. If you notice just the complaints that find their way into your speech, you will see who your complaining buddies are. If you notice all the complaints that cross your mind, you will see how you resist life.

When you remain mindful of complaints, your unconscious complaining will stop. You will be slightly amused by your reaction to perceived problems. You will also notice how people around you complain, but you won’t get sucked into the idea that the world is a series of minor and major inconveniences. You will build some immunity to negativity. Of course you can, and will, still complain, just for fun, but you will know that beneath it all, life is good.

[zenmister]

Self Centered

The difference between being centered and being self-centered is that one causes suffering and one alleviates it. We often think of self-centeredness as arrogance. That is only one of its many manifestations. It can just as well be depression or low self-esteem. Whether you think highly of yourself or poorly of yourself, you are still stuck thinking about yourself and judging yourself. That kind of thinking habit generates a lot of suffering. Suffering, in turn, generates more thoughts about yourself. When you catch yourself thinking about yourself and judging yourself, then you are centered.

In the moment that you observe your thought, you are in the present, centered between past and future, good and bad. You are centered in your awareness. Your awareness is not exactly you and it is not exactly not you, but it is where you can center yourself to get a handle on your suffering. When you are centered in your awareness, you can observe yourself and consciously break the cycle of unconsciously causing more suffering.

As you practice centering yourself in your awareness, you can witness yourself going back and forth between being centered and self-centered. You can see how the quality of your suffering changes as you occupy and vacate your awareness. See how the quality of your suffering changes as you go from sad, to scared, to angry, to happy. When you become aware of that part of you that is suffering, you can carry it around with you like an infant. Give it love and attention and let it know that everything will be ok.

When you learn to let your own suffering come and go with love and compassion, other people’s suffering will begin to occupy your awareness. You are still self-centered, only your self is expanding. There is plenty of love for everybody.

[quotemadness]

“When you complain you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation, change the situation or accept it. All else is madness.”

— Eckhart Tolle

[lazyyogi]

Attachment to things falls away when you no longer seek yourself in them.

Eckhart Tolle

[lazyyogi]

The quicker you are in attaching verbal or mental labels to things, people, or situations, the more shallow and lifeless your reality becomes, and the more deadened you become to reality.

Eckhart Tolle

[funnytwittertweets]

[cryptotheism]

A story in four parts:

Yeah turns out that pizza box? Well turns out the Romanian police were waiting to raid Tates apartment, but they needed proof that he was in the country. That's a pizza brand unique to Romania.

[cryptotheism]

Imagine getting dunked on so hard you get raided on suspicion of human trafficking.

[cryptotheism]

Did Andrew Tate's Video of a Jerry's Pizza Box Lead to His Arrest?

Tate was arrested and detained in Romania for 24 hours on charges of human trafficking and rape, according to The Associated Press.

Spokesperson for the Romanian government: "Not exactly, but Lol"

[zenmister]

Put It Down

If you get tired of carrying a heavy mind, just put it down. You can go on with your life without all that added pressure. You can continue to be you and do whatever you do without all the struggle. If it is your way to worry about how you will manage things, put that down. Just manage. If you are not happy with what you have to do with your day, put that down and just go about your day. You will manage what you can manage, you will do what you do. That’s enough.

Each day brings with it a new opportunity to be. Each day offers another opportunity to express yourself in the world. It doesn’t matter who sees you. That you see you is enough. You are surrounded by love. You are filled with compassion. Whatever you are carrying that gets in the way of experiencing that, just put it down.

Your burdens will be there for you when you need them. We naturally carry grudges, past pains, future worries, judgements, fears and doubts. When we notice the extra weight though, it is good practice to put it all down. Spend a little time as light as a feather, or lighter.

[dirtbrunch]

That face cats have when they’re very young and they look like they just woke up from a four hour nap,, yeah

[dirtbrunch]

This one

[armadyleans]

[luulapants]

My dad and I once had a disagreement over him using the adage "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

I said, "That's just not true. Sometimes what doesn't kill you leaves you brittle and injured or traumatized."

He stopped and thought about that for a while. He came back later, and said, "It's like wood glue."

He pointed to my bookshelf, which he helped me salvage a while ago. He said, "Do you remember how I explained that, once we used the wood glue on them, the shelves would actually be stronger than they were before they broke?"

I did.

"But before we used the wood glue, those shelves were broken. They couldn't hold up shit. If you had put books on them, they would have collapsed. And that wood glue had to set awhile. If we put anything on them too early, they would have collapsed just the same as if we'd never fixed them at all. You've got to give these things time to set."

It sounded like a pretty good metaphor to me, but one thing I did pick up on was that whatever broke those shelves, that's not the thing that made them stronger. That just broke them. It was being fixed that made them stronger. It was the glue.

So my dad and I agreed, what doesn't kill you doesn't actually make you stronger, but healing does. And if you feel like healing hasn't made you stronger than you were before, you're probably not done healing. You've got to give these things time to set.