IMPermANENCE

“Impermanence is not just of philosophical interest. It’s very personal. Until we accept and deeply understand in our very being that things change from moment to moment, and never stop even for one instant, only then can we let go. And when we really let go inside, the relief is enormous. Ironically this gives release to a whole new dimension of love. People think that if someone is unattached, they are cold. But this isn’t true. Anyone who has met very great spiritual masters who are really unattached is immediately struck by their warmth to all beings, not just to the ones they happen to like or are related to.” ~Tenzin Palmo

LION: Quote

“When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick.

Every time a stick is thrown, you run after it.

Instead, be like a lion who,

rather than chasing after the stick,

turns to face the thrower.

One only throws a stick at a lion once.”

~Milarepa

notes from a year back or so

Mom was a nurse in a nursing home, an LPN she was one of the ones who had to do these awful procedures on people and give them medicine that would help them live longer, and lengthen their suffering. She and her friend Doris who worked with her, always said they would take a trip to Mexico before they got too old to do it and get some of the medicine like a suicide pill or something you could get without a prescription in Mexico.

Then because I couldn’t stand to see her suffering I went against her wishes and called 911 when I thought she was having a heart attack and couldn’t stand to see her in pain. – I called even though she kept telling me no-no-no. And that resulted in four months of her suffering instead of just letting a heart attack take her. I had spoken to her about temporarily having her stay in a nursing home while I was visiting New York. And was on the phone and on the computer learning about it and trying to make arrangements when she started to have her third to last heart attack. They kept bringing her back in spite of her living will that said do not resuscitate. I was accused of doing terrible things – their excuse for not following her wishes was ‘if we’re going to make an error wouldn’t you rather us error on the side of life?’. If I was a violent person I would have strangled that nurse right there. They thought I was awful for trying to get them to do what she wanted to do. After I finally convinced Hospital Administration to let her go to hospice, the kidney doctor stood in the hall and yelled, ‘The nursing home is going to take all of her money anyway!’ I was in shock. She had no money. Her friend Doris gave me $600 to have her cremated. 
—
May all beings be happy. May they be free from suffering. May they be at peace.

Things to do

Mindfulness all-day

Meditate

Clean Fishtanks
Drink Water

Strip all your bedsheets and wash them

Deep Clean the Bathroom

Deep Clean the Kitchen

Deep Clean the Office
Do some dusting

Purge unneeded stuff from home
Clean out your computer of unwanted files

Back up filesDrink Water
Exercise, exercise, exercise
Listen to upbeat music and dance around
Play a musical instrument

Learn a new language
Burn a Music CDShare fun files
Try out a new hairstyle
Take a shower, de-hair, and pumicePaint nails

Brush teeth and whiten [can take hours – don’t drink anything that will stain teeth after whitening.]

Try on clothes

Get rid of clothes that are too big

Clean out closets

Drink Water
Keep in touch with FB and other social media friends
Reach out to computer students

Do something holiday-related [like send out customer Xmas cards]Watch Music Videos and subtitled movies and series

Search Online
Journal
Sketch with old-fashioned pencils and paper

Restore Photos or create digital art

Exercise. Walk Dogs
Take a nap

Drink water

loving kindness

“When you wake up in the morning, start the day by reaffirming your intention to practice loving kindness and compassion. Remind yourself each day to work at letting go of ego clinging, selfishness, controlling behavior, negative thoughts, possessiveness, aggression, resentment, and confusion. Resolve each day to find one small way that you can change a frozen behavior pattern, and try to do so.”

~Lama Surya Das

WHOLE

“The essence of Buddhist practice is not so much an effort at changing your thoughts or your behavior so that you can become a better person, but in realizing that no matter what you might think about the circumstances that define your life, you’re already good, whole, and complete.
It’s about recognizing the inherent potential of your mind. In other words, Buddhism is not so much concerned with getting well as with recognizing that you are, right here, right now, as whole, as good, as essentially well as you could ever hope to be.”

― Yongey Mingyur, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness

AHA!

“Why are you unhappy?
Because 99.9 per cent
Of everything you think,
And of everything you do,
Is for yourself –
And there isn’t one.”
~Wei Wu Wei

DIFFICULTY

“The time of greatest gain in wisdom and Inner strength is often the time of greatest difficulty.”

.

~The Dalai Lama

ANGER

Dhammapada verses 231 – 234

Guard against anger erupting in your body;
Be restrained with your body.
Letting go of bodily misconduct,
Practice good conduct with your body.

Guard against anger erupting in your speech;
Be restrained with your speech.
Letting go of verbal misconduct,
Practice good conduct with your speech.

Guard against anger erupting in your mind;
Be restrained with your mind.
Letting go of mental misconduct,
Practice good conduct with your mind.

The wise are restrained in body,
Restrained in speech.
The wise are restrained in mind.
They are fully restrained.

(translated by Gil Fronsdal)

UNIVERSAL COMPASSION

“…Although there may be no danger of our killing someone else, there is a chance we may rejoice in someone else having been killed. We must be very careful about this, since it is actually breaking the vow (of not killing). For example, when our nation is in conflict with another and we hear that someone from that other country has been killed, our hatred toward the other nation may cause us to think, ‘Oh, that’s great.’

From the Mahayana perspective we do not only practice compassion for the oppressed, but for the oppressor as well. Hatred causes great suffering. We practice compassion for those who suffer because of their hatred, whether they kill many or just rejoice in the killing of one.”

~ Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche