Wednesday Wisdom: Let go of labels

Since I've been thinking a lot this week about identity and how we choose to categorize ourselves (see Monday's post about Bridentity), I thought what better quote this week than one about letting go of labeling things. It's a human tendency to want to automatically label things so that we can better define and understand them within the context of our own individual lives. But sometimes this forces meanings where there are no meanings, or limits things, or holds us back. Sometimes the best thing we can do, rather than puzzle over something to excess or try to make something fit a preconceived notion, is to just let go and let it be.

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By becoming attached to names and forms, not realizing that they have no more basis than the activities of the mind itself, error arises and the way to emancipation is blocked.

—The Buddha, "Absolute Relativity" 

Wednesday Wisdom: Miracles

This week's wisdom is a quote you might have heard before--I certainly have, but I've never stopped loving this one. I feel like now is a particularly appropriate time to reflect on this quote again because a miracle is unfolding in our midst: spring is coming. After a particularly brutal and seemingly endless winter here in the northeast, the days are getting longer, the temperatures are getting warmer, the air is starting to carry that whiff of spring instead of that biting winter sting. Could it be--miracle of miracles!--that we are approaching sandal weather?  


What are the small things in your life that you usually consider quite ordinary but that, upon further introspection, you realize are actually rather miraculous?


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"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

- Albert Einstein

Wednesday Wisdom: The right effort

Another weekly feature? Perhaps! I'm going to give this one a trial run as well and see how it goes. I think most people are like me: we LOVE pithy bits of advice and wisdom and collect quotes that are meaningful to us and our experience. I found this to be a particularly meaningful quote to me right now. I'm trying to be more aware of the connection among my body, mind, and spirit. More and more I realize that these are not disjointed entities but that they are interconnected and that it's vital we nourish them all in order to be a more complete, content person. This, I am learning, is easier said than done, but I am enjoying the journey. Enjoy!

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"Right effort is effort with wisdom. Because where there is wisdom, there is interest. The desire to know something is wisdom at work. Being mindful is not difficult. But it’s difficult to be continuously aware. For that you need right effort. But it does not require a great deal of energy. It’s relaxed perseverance in reminding yourself to be aware. When you are aware, wisdom unfolds naturally, and there is still more interest."

- Sayadaw U Tejaniya, "The Wise Investigator"