Kayley Rae @mskayleyrae - Tumblr Blog

If you are happy At the expense of another man’s happiness, You are forever bound.

— Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha translated by Thomas Byrom, Shambhala Pocket Classics 1993

Recent art

“You must read, you must persevere, you must sit up nights, you must inquire, and exert the utmost power of your mind. If one way does not lead to the desired meaning, take another; if obstacles arise, then still another; until, if your strength holds out, you will find that clear which at first looked dark.”

— Giovanni Boccaccio (b. 16 June 1313)

commonplacebuddhism

Focused awareness is difficult not because we are inept at some spiritual technology but because it threatens our sense of who we are. The apparently unthreatening act of settling the mind on the breath and observing what is occurring in the body and mind exposes a contradiction between the sort of person we wish to be and the kind of person we are.

— Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening by Stephen Batchelor

milameux

Simon Harsent - White Water, 2013

pollen

Mary Oliver, from "Starlings in Winter"

theoptia

D. H. Lawrence, from Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays

Text ID: When we have become very still, when there is an inner silence as complete as death, then, as in the grave, we hear the rare, superfine whispering of the new direction; the intelligence comes. After the pain of being destroyed in all our old securities that we used to call peace, after the pain and death of our destruction in the old life comes the inward suggestion of fulfilment in the new.

ivynightshade

fatima aamer bilal, excerpt from moony moonless sky’s ‘i am an observer, but not by choice.’

[text id: my fist has always been clenched around the handle of an invisible suitcase. / i am always ready to leave. / there is not a single room in this world where i belong.]

alienaficionados

““When I was about 20 years old, I met an old pastor’s wife who told me that when she was young and had her first child, she didn’t believe in striking children, although spanking kids with a switch pulled from a tree was standard punishment at the time. But one day, when her son was four or five, he did something that she felt warranted a spanking–the first in his life. She told him that he would have to go outside himself and find a switch for her to hit him with. The boy was gone a long time. And when he came back in, he was crying. He said to her, “Mama, I couldn’t find a switch, but here’s a rock that you can throw at me.” All of a sudden the mother understood how the situation felt from the child’s point of view: that if my mother wants to hurt me, then it makes no difference what she does it with; she might as well do it with a stone. And the mother took the boy into her lap and they both cried. Then she laid the rock on a shelf in the kitchen to remind herself forever: never violence. And that is something I think everyone should keep in mind. Because if violence begins in the nursery one can raise children into violence.””

— Astrid Lindgren, author of Pippi Longstocking, 1978 Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (via jillymomcraftypants)

freshmoviequotes

Perfect Days (2023)

#this movie is very precious

waitingforthesunrise

*takes myself firmly by the hand* you are tempted to sacrifice all physical and mental self care on the altar of overwork because you’ve been taught that this is the only measure of success, and the only thing which validates your stress. the most kind and rebellious thing to do is refuse and continue practicing self care, understanding that this is the only real way to meet your goals. restoring the internal equilibrium of determination and rest is not weak. extremism is not quality. refill your water bottle and look at a tree and maybe you’ll feel better about life