Tag Archives: Dalai Lama

Words For The Weekend (Try Not to Worry, Keep in the Sunlight, Come Into the Peace of Wild Things), Volume 27

Posted on February 2, 2013 | 30 Comments

This is the latest installment of quotes and words that move me for the weekend of 2/2/13 (Volume 27). I hope you enjoy them too.

A special thank you to everyone for the thoughts, prayers, hugs and support this week during my time of worry and uncertainty around my dog’s health. Her biopsy went well, though she had quite a loopy evening. Results Tuesday or Wednesday… I’ll keep you all posted as I learn more. I’m doing my best to not worry–a perfect topic for this weekend’s selection (and a helpful distraction for me to compose). A quick note on the first two songs: my mom would often sing these songs to me as a child–to this day, they still calm and ease my worried mind. As for the closing song, I discovered Bob Marley later in life, and while “Three Little Birds” may better fit the Don’t Worry theme, “No Woman, No Cry” relaxes me more when I am stressed. I mentioned to a friend that it’s impossible to be sad and listen to Bob at the same time. I hope you enjoy the songs and quotes. Thanks again for all the love! ~ Christy

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“And if I ever lose my eyes
If my colours all run dry
And if I ever lose my eyes – Oh,
I won’t have to cry no more
Yes, I’m being followed by a moon shadow
Moon shadow moon shadow
Leaping and hopping on a moonshadow
Moon shadow moon shadow”

~ Cat Stevens (Yusuf), “Moonshadow”, on  album “The Very Best of Cat Stevens“, video link HERE.

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Alternate song: “Everything’s Alright” performed by Yvonne Elliman from “Jesus Christ Superstar” original cast recording, video link HERE

“Try not to get worried, try not to turn on to
Problems that upset you, oh.
Don’t you know
Everything’s alright, yes, everything’s fine.
And we want you to sleep well tonight.
Let the world turn without you tonight.
If we try, we’ll get by, so forget all about us tonight”

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“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” ~ Corrie ten Boom, Clippings from My Notebook

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“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen.
Keep in the sunlight.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

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“But I can hardly sit still. I keep fidgeting, crossing one leg and then the other. I feel like I could throw off sparks, or break a window–maybe rearrange all the furniture.” ~ Raymond Carver, Where I’m Calling From: New and Selected Stories

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“They need to worry and betray time with urgencies false and otherwise, purely anxious and whiny, their souls really won’t be at peace unless they can latch on to an established and proven worry and having once found it they assume facial expressions to fit and go with it, which is, you see, unhappiness, and all the time it all flies by them and they know it and that too worries them no end.” ~ Jack Kerouac

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“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” ~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

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“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” ~ Matthew 6:27 and 6:34

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“There are very few things in the mind which eat up as much energy as worry. It is one of the most difficult things not to worry about anything. Worry is experienced when things go wrong, but in relation to past happenings it is idle merely to wish that they might have been otherwise. The frozen past is what it is, and no amount of worrying is going to make it other than what it has been. But the limited ego-mind identifies itself with its past, gets entangled with it and keeps alive the pangs of frustrated desires. Thus worry continues to grow into the mental life of man until the ego-mind is burdened by the past. Worry is also experienced in relation to the future when this future is expected to be disagreeable in some way. In this case it seeks to justify itself as a necessary part of the attempt to prepare for coping with the anticipated situations. But, things can never be helped merely by worrying. Besides, many of the things which are anticipated never turn up, or if they do occur, they turn out to be much more acceptable than they were expected to be. Worry is the product of feverish imagination working under the stimulus of desires. It is a living through of sufferings which are mostly our own creation. Worry has never done anyone any good, and it is very much worse than mere dissipation of psychic energy, for it substantially curtails the joy and fullness of life.” ~ Meher Baba, Discourses

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“That the birds of worry and care fly over you head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.” ~ Chinese Proverb

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“Don’t worry. Worry is useless. I worried anyway.” ~ John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

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“You worry too much. Eat some bacon…what? No, I got no idea if it’ll make you feel better, I just made too much bacon.” ~ Justin Halpern, Sh*t My Dad Says

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STRANGE MIRACLE

O Wondrous creatures,
By what strange miracle
Do you so often
Not smile?

~ Hafiz, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy

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THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~ Wendell Berry, “The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry“

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“Good friends we have had, oh good friends we’ve lost, along the way
In this bright future you can’t forget your past
So dry your tears I say

No woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
Oh my little sister, don’t shed no tears
No woman, no cry

Everything’s gonna be alright
Ev’rything’s gonna be alright
Ev’rything’s gonna be alright
Ev’rything’s gonna be alright”

“No Woman, No Cry” by Bob Marley, available on “Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and The Wailers“

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Words For The Weekend (“My religion is kindness” – the Dalai Lama XIV edition), Volume 22

Posted on December 22, 2012 | 25 Comments

This is the latest installment of quotes and words that move me for the weekend of 12/22/12 (Volume 22). I hope you enjoy them too.

This weekend’s quotes are all from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. You may learn more about him on his website dalailama.com and on his wiki page. He’s even on Twitter. The Dalai Lama has written many books–most are available via Amazon.

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“Here’s a wishing well
Here’s a penny for
Any thought it is
That makes you smile
Every diamond dream
Everything that brings
Love and happiness
To your life

You will always have a lucky star
That shines because of what you are
Even in the deepest dark
Because your aim is true
And if I could only have one wish
Darling, then it would be this
Love and happiness for you”

~ Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler, “Love and Happiness”, on  album “All the RoadRunning“, video link HERE.

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Alternate Song: “(What’s so Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” by Nick Lowe, on album “Quiet Please, The New Best of Nick Lowe“, video link HERE.

“As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin’ for light in the darkness of insanity.

I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred and misery?

And each time I feel like this inside,
There’s one thing I wanna know:
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?”

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“There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’

No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster…

When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways–either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“Sometimes we feel that one individual’s action is very insignificant.  Then we think, of course, that effects should come from channeling or from a unifying movement.  But the movement of the society, community or group of people means joining individuals.  Society means a collection of individuals, so that initiative must come from individuals.  Unless each individual develops a sense of responsibility, the whole community cannot move.  So therefore, it is very essential that we should not feel that individual effort is meaningless- you should not feel that way.  We should make an effort.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“There is only one important point you must keep in your mind and let it be your guide. No matter what people call you, you are just who you are. Keep to this truth. You must ask yourself how is it you want to live your life. We live and we die, this is the truth that we can only face alone. No one can help us, not even the Buddha. So consider carefully, what prevents you from living the way you want to live your life?” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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“Human beings by nature want happiness and do not want suffering.  With that
feeling everyone tries to achieve happiness and tries to get rid of suffering, and everyone has the basic right to do this.  In this way, all here are the same, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, Easterner or Westerner, believer or non-believer, and within believers whether Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and so on.  Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value we are all the same.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV

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NEVER GIVE UP
No matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country
Is spent developing the mind
Instead of the heart
Be compassionate
Not just to your friends
But to everyone
Be compassionate
Work for peace
In your heart and in the world
Work for peace
And I say again
Never give up
No matter what is going on around you
Never give up
~ Dalai Lama XIV

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Liz at Let’s Talk About Lit, shared the following poem in her brilliant post Less Blame, More Peace: My Plan. (with Wordsworth’s “Ode of Intimations of Immortality”) though I am only sharing a stanza. I encourage you to read the full poem, Liz’s touching analysis and her ideas on how “we can be more peaceful with very little effort.” (If you enjoy the quotes and poems I share, you will love her blog.)

“Ode of Intimations of Immortality” – William Wordsworth

What though the radiance which was once so bright

Be now for ever taken from my sight,

     Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;

     We will grieve not, rather find

     Strength in what remains behind;

     In the primal sympathy

     Which having been must ever be;

     In the soothing thoughts that spring

     Out of human suffering;

     In the faith that looks through death,

In years that bring the philosophic mind.

“The Collected Poems of William Wordsworth (Wordsworth Poetry Library)” by William Wordsworth

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