The Courageous Heart Is the One That Is
Unafraid To Open Itself To the World
In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?
It is not enough to know that love and forgiveness are possible. We have to find ways to bring them to life.
Every individual has a unique contribution.
To open deeply, as genuine spiritual life requires, we need tremendous courage and strength, a kind of warrior spirit.
Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.
The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.
The way I treat my body is not disconnected from the way I treat my family or the commitment I have to peace on our earth.
The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are moments when we touch one another.
We need a warrior’s heart that lets us face our lives directly, our pains and limitations, our joys and possibilities.
Forgiveness is the act of not putting anyone out of your heart, even those who are acting out of deep ignorance or out of confusion and pain.
Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a better past.
When there is no judgment and no blame, we seek not to perfect the world but to perfect our love for what is on this earth.
To meditate is to discover new possibilities, to awaken the capacities each of us has to live more wisely, more lovingly, more compassionately, and more fully.
With mindfulness, we are learning to observe in a new way, with balance and a powerful disidentification.
Equanimity arises when we accept the way things are.
There are many ways up the mountain and each of us must choose a practice that feels true to our heart.
To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own.
When we let go of our battles and open our hearts to things as they are, then we come to rest in the present moment. This is the beginning and the end of spiritual practice.
Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control.
Part of the art of quieting yourself is also to honor the tears that you carry.
The heart is like a garden: It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?
We must look at ourselves over and over again in order to learn to love, to discover what has kept our hearts to allow our hearts to open.
Compassion is our deepest nature. It arises from our interconnection with all things.
Can we not turn on one another but can we turn toward each other?
In the end, the aim of spiritual life is to awaken a joyful freedom, a benevolent and compassionate heart in spite of everything.
You hold in your hand an invitation: to remember that no matter where you are and what you face, within your heart peace is possible.
You can’t stop the waves but you can learn to surf.
Be mindful of intention. Intention is the seed that creates our future.
Weigh the true advantages of forgiveness and resentment to the heart. Then Choose.
Healing comes from our innate capacity for deep listening. This deep listening or seeing is not through our ears or eyes, but with our heart and our soul.
Gratitude is confidence in life itself. In it, we feel how the same force that pushes grass through cracks in the sidewalk invigorates our own life.
The courageous heart is the one that is unafraid to open itself to the world.
When we stop running away from what presents itself in each moment, our loving care for ourselves and one another can flow unimpeded.
Think of yourself as a beacon spreading the light of loving-kindness.
― Jack Kornfield
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| With Jack Kornfield and friends Olivia Oso and Jenn Krumm, 2013 |
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