In Yoke

It is no little wisdom for you to keep yourself in silence and in good peace when evil words are spoken to you, and to turn your heart to God and not to be troubled with the judgment of others. -Thomas a Kempis Most of us appreciate praise, but it is disastrous to become dependent on it. If we are going to allow our security to be bolstered up by the praise, appreciation, and applause of others, we are done for. I have heard about a well-known movie star who goes to sleep at night with a tape of recorded applause playing. This is going to make him more and more insecure.  Why should we get agitated if someone ignores us? There are, after all, advantages to being ignored. We can go anywhere in freedom. Nobody recognizes us - how good it is! In life, there are occasions when we are ignored and sometimes forgotten. That is the time for us to remind ourselves, "Why do I need anybody's attention?" This attitude can be cultivated skillfully.  Even those of us who are the most s...

"Keep your attention within yourself (not in your head but in your heart).  Keep your mind there (in the heart), trying by every possible means to  find the place where the heart is, in order that, having found it, your mind  should constantly abide there. Wrestling thus, the mind will find the place of the heart.  This happens when grace produces sweetness and warmth in prayer...with God's help,  you will learn...from your own experience, by keeping your mind attentive  and in your heart holding Jesus, that is, His prayer -"Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me!"  One of the holy fathers says: 'Sit in your cell and this prayer will teach you everything.' " - St. Simeon the New Theologian , Three Methods of Attention and Prayer This is so wonderful! Since 1999, my mantram has been the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me!"...it is mysterious to me how this little repetitive prayer when practiced faithfully, can correct wayward s...

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly. -The Buddha When the mind is at rest, we are lifted out of time into the eternal present. The body, of course, is still subject to the passage of time. But in a sense, the flickering of the mind is our internal clock. When the mind does not flicker, what is there to measure change? It's as if time simply comes to a stop for us, as we live completely in the present moment. Past and future, after all, exist only in the mind. When the mind is at rest, there is no past or future. We cannot be resentful, we cannot be guilt-ridden, we cannot build future hopes and desires; no energy flows to past or future at all. Past and future are both contained in every present moment. Whatever we are today is the result of what we have thought, spoken, and done in all the present moments before now - just as what ...

I tell you one thing - if you want peace of mind, do not find  fault with others. Rather learn to see your own faults.  Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; this whole world is your own. -Sri Sarada Devi When we get even the slightest glimpse of the unity of life, we realize that in tearing others down we are tearing ourselves down too. When you sit in judgment on other people and countries and races, you're training your mind to sit in judgment on yourself. As we forgive others, we are teaching the mind to respond with forgiveness everywhere, even to the misdeeds and mistakes of our own past. ~Sri Easwaran Why is being judgmental so easy and not being judgmental so difficult for us?  Why do we persist in finding so much fault with others, but seldom "get the plank out of own eye?"  Does it make us feel more worthy or more on top of the world, if we are putting others down? Yes. Lots of people are critical...and it is easier being a...

Do not let your peace depend on the hearts of others; whatever they say about you, good or bad, you are not because of it another, for as you are, you are. -Thomas a Kempis Even if you have ninety-nine people cheering you, there will always be a hundredth to boo. That is the nature of life, and to deal with it, we need simply to learn not to be always on the lookout for appreciation and applause. If people say, "Oh, there is nobody like you," don't get elated. Don't pick up your telephone and call your friends to tell them what is being broadcast about you. That's what most of us do, you know; that's why telephones are so busy. It is also why so many people get dejected when fortune seems to frown. My spiritual teacher - a person who didn't mince words - used to tell me, "You can't shut other people's mouths." It took me years to understand that. This unlettered uneducated person knew that we don't have any control over other people...

I claim to be an average man of less than average ability.I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith. -Mahatma Gandhi So, are you willing to give it your best? In this transformation of the small i's to the Real I, the essence, are you willing? to do the Work? Resolve to awaken to the inner motivations of the small self within. Observe yourself. Put some separation between you and your small self/ego. Observe your own behavior, thoughts, actions, motivations. Let the Spirit filter the way you respond to stresses from outside. For the Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two edged sword, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart-----------your heart! Who is The Living Word? The logos? You know.

Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid...for the Lord thy God, he it is that goes with thee; he will not fail you, nor forsake you. ~Moses, from the OT book of Deuteronomy Whenever we worry about something in the past or the future,we are setting up our own little haunted house and peopling it with our own special ghosts. Most of us live very little in the present. If we could watch our thoughts, we would be surprised to see how much time we spend in the past or future - or simply daydreaming, out of time altogether. Very seldom can we say we are fully present in the present moment. Yet now is the only time there is. The present is all we have. If we feel we don't have enough time, the first thing to do is not throw it away. Instead of ceding it to the past and future, we can take steps to give our undivided interest to here and now. Attention flowing to the past is not energy used; it is energy wasted. The same is true of the future: looking for...