Pain as a banner

I need to remember not to use my pain as a banner. Not to expect people to be more tactful or sensitive towards me just because I endured suffering. 

Pain should not be a subject of pride or self-identification but something to live through and let go. My personality should not be built upon pain.

Schweinerl in Stein by Alupus

Source

Changing my world

Once the change is clearly defined, it soon surfaces in the reality.

Success

A truly successful career does not pursue goals of future success.

If you enjoy and find meaning in the job you're doing right now, it's already a success.

Snow meditation

Looking up in the sky, trying to see the point from which the snow is falling.

Nothing holy

廓然無聖 
Vast emptiness, nothing holy.
(Kakunen mushõ.) 

~ Bodhidharma

Source.

Unrequited love

Unrequited love is a promise of the real one. It feels painful, like a promise of a place you can never get to. 

And the real love, on the contrary, feels very natural, like you're already where you want to be, like it's nothing special, - because, at last, you've arrived home safely. 

Genro's cave

A cloud rests at the mouth of the cave
Doing nothing all day.
The moonlight penetrates the waves through the night,
But leaves no trace in the water.

~ Genro's comment in The Iron Flute Koan Collection

Subtlety

入林不動草、入水不立波

"Entering the forest he moves not the grass;

Entering the water he makes not a ripple." 

~ Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 152, 224)

Source

Alertness

When a small insect flies by so close to your skin that you can feel the movement of the air caused by its wings.

November

Feeding the swine with acorns for the winter
from "Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry"

Evening bell from mist-shrouded temple

Flowers and birds

Autumn warmth

Teaching children

Children copy everything you do, including swear words, using substances, abusing other people.

Words don't teach. Actions do.

Prometheus and his liver

It's curious how this myth resonates with the harmful effects of eating too much fire-processed food.

Clarity

Crystal-clear clarity of every moment as it goes by.

A reversed way of fighting temptations

The usual reaction: I'm going to quit it forever, but now I'll just have it one last time.

The reversed reaction: I might do it again in the future, but not right now.

A drop of nostalgy

Endless evolution

Every living being recreates itself every moment of time by enhancing the things it needs and neglecting the things it doesn't need. The more attention it pays to something, the more expressed this thing becomes in its life.

That's how each creature's look exactly reflects its desires and inclinations.

Hedgehog in the Fog

Simplicity

And an old black woman
was dandling a baby and singing:
'If I were a pharaoh,
I'd buy myself two pears:
I'd give one to my friend,
and I'd eat the other one myself...'

From Alexandria Songs by Mikhail Kuzmin

А старая черная женщина
качала ребенка и пела:
"Если б я был фараоном,
купил бы я себе две груши:

одну бы отдал своему другу,

другую бы я сам скушал..."

Из "Александрийских песен" Михаила Кузмина

Artificial paradox

The great paradox of the modern world: Artificial materials and products are cheaper and easier to buy than natural materials and products.

There's a Russian saying that translates approximately as a fish searches where it's deeper and a man searches where it's better. But it should be a man searches where it's easier. People tend to go the easiest way available, and the artificial industry offers that easy way out. 

However, breaking the rules of nature causes problems that are 'solved' with new 'developments' of industry that cause new problems, making another turn in the vicious circle. That's how what was initially supposed to make people's lives easier keeps making them more complicated the further we drift away from the natural world.

Height

The taller you are, the deeper you need to bow when you go through a low doorway.

The higher your center is, the more humble you need to be to the world.

Chores

Doing the chores is often taught as something difficult and unpleasant, a continuous nuisance to deal with. This creates a 'family tradition' of hating the chores.

However, chores are a privilege I have in life and my way of playful transformation of my world. 

Think of all the people who have no house to clean, no clothes to wash, no food to remove the remainder of from the crockery. Think of all the people who have no arms to do the cleaning or no legs to take out trash.

Being able to do the chores is the royal privilege of living a full life.

Home

If each of us treats the world the way they treat their property, this world will flourish beyond words.

Imagine a home with 6 billion caring owners.

A good student

A good student has 2 essential qualities:

1. Disregard for looking silly.
2. Endless, illogical stubbornness to try again and again.

Ancient baking

The Voynich Manuscript

Wikipedia
Wikimedia Commons
The full manuscript in high resolution

Where music stands

Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best…

~ Frank Zappa, "Packard Goose", "Joe's Garage Acts II & III" (1979)

The fragrant time

The short period of fragrant blooming trees comes once a year.

Appreciate the little things we usually ignore

The QF Attitude

Looking for a 'Quick Fix': the result is more important than the process. The faster, the better.

This leads to frustration: you get only an occasional 'prize enjoyment moment' instead of loving it all the way.

And then, you never go too deep about it.

True love takes decades to mature and then decades to savor.

Exploring the dark side

No dark corner should be left unlit.

No dark feeling should be left unexplored.

Leonardo da Vinci (attrib) - la Belle Ferroniere

Good goals

1. Positive
Bad: I'd like to stop eating meat.
Better: I'd like to eat only vegetables and fruit.

2. Measurable
Bad: I'd like to improve my flute playing skills.
Better: I'd like to learn 10 new tunes and 5 new techniques.

3. Controllable
Bad: I'd like to become a popular musician.
Better: I'd like to find my own voice and meaning in music.

4. Gradual
Bad: I'd like to become a world-famous musician.
Better: I'd like to become known in my neighborhood, then town, then county, etc.

5. Sincere
Bad: I'd like to do this because my family want it.
Better: I'd like to do it because I can't not do it.

6. Balanced
Bad: I'd like to work harder and also find extra time for my hobbies.
Better: I'd like to prioritize my activities to find the exact balance.

The patient art of crocheting

This is one of the best techniques of dynamic meditation I know. And it produces beautiful things, to boot. :)

Limewood Saint George by Tilman Riemenschneider, circa 1490

Antonello da Messina - Virgin Annunciate

Lorenzo Lotto - Annunciation (ca 1527)

Jacek Jerka - Artist's Kitchen

Knowledge and humility

Being humble and open-minded makes you more open to information contradicting what you believe. The more knowledgeable you are, the more important it is to be humble and open-minded.

A fascinating article on the topic - How facts backfire.

Daily meditation - Tower reversed

The Tower card refers to all things changing and being ruined. Reversed, it denotes all things unchanging and impossible to ruin.

In meditation, I need to look for these things - unchanging and impossible to ruin.

Picture source

The joy of Tarot

- Enjoying the images/art
- Exploring the history
- The element of surprise/game 
- Mystery solving/deciphering a secret message
- Illuminating the subconscious