We can ask ourselves how many times in all of these decades have we been missing in action, have we not shown up, either for ourselves or for others? What opportunities and experiences have we denied ourselves, lost in our own imaginings? What richnesses have gone unseen and unnoticed? Are we here now? We spend our life searching for marvels, minds swirling with memories and possibilities, and miss the ones right here in each and every moment, in life’s endless disclosures. Present, we look. Present, we see. Present, we receive and give and be. Mindful presence not only allows us to stand open before the suffering we may face, adding noting to it, no story, no self-pity, no reactivity and only the healing mind of compassion, it allows us, also, to deepen and increase our experience of joy.    ~Kathleen Dowling Singh

oh how sly the mind that wants and directs and denies and judges…..

inquiry for today~   for a brief moment, can you intuit how your mind directs everything? and for a brief moment, can you observe the underlying knowing that is not the mind?

your ability to listen

Why do we have to think about ourselves all the time? Why are so many thoughts about I, me, and mine? Look how often you think about how you’re doing, whether you like things or not, and how to rearrange the world to please yourself. You think like this because you’re not okay inside, and you’re constantly trying to make yourself feel better. The root problem is that you don’t feel whole and complete within yourself. The key is to be quiet. It’s not that your mind has to be quiet. You be quiet. You, the one inside watching the neurotic mind, just relax. You are not the thinking mind; you are aware of the thinking mind. When you pull back behind the mind, you, the awareness, are not involved in the process of thinking. Thinking is something you watch the mind do. These practices create moments of centered consciousness. Persistently centered consciousness is the seat of Self. The path of letting go allows you to free your energies so that you can free yourself. This freedom is so great it has been given a special name- liberation.    ~Michael Singer