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When I am in a bad condition, but at the same time I don't like to change, I usually find myself clinging (unconsciously) to something in my current situation. When I find the thing, and when I know why I am clinging to it, change gets much easier.

So what is it that I am clinging to right now? What is it that I am averting right now?

The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.

Joseph Campbell , here.

I just saw this poem in Elisha Goldstein's blog:

How did the rose

Ever open its heart

And give to this world

All its beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light

Against its being,

Otherwise,

We all remain

Too frightened

Really beautiful image.

He attributed this poem to "Hafiz", I am greatly dubious if we can find this image in Hafez's poems and you know there are inaccurate translations of Hafez there, but any way, it was beautiful.

Stretching The Space Between Stimulus and Response

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Viktor Frankl

In our everyday life it is not very often to notice how our response to a stimulus arises, however there are times we have the chance to get a rough idea of how this response or parts of it is getting formed gradually, for example some times I can notice how blood runs to my face when I get angry. And there are also times that I have some idea of my intentions when the response is getting created, and in some of these occasions, I feel I have some control over my thoughts and intentions and actions, I feel I can somehow manipulate them to some extent.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could notice this space between stimulus and response more clearly?

Wouldn't it be nice if I could prolong the time I have more control over what I can do?

The key is not “not getting distracted” but “coming back again and again”.

Donald Rothberg

One of the transforming moments of my meditation practice happened when I was lost for several days in recurring feelings of intense fear. I tried being aware of them as they arose, noting “fear, fear,” but I still felt caught in the intensity of the emotion. Then, at a certain point, something shifted in my mind and I said to myself, "If this fear is here for the rest of my life, it's O.K." That was the first moment of genuine acceptance, and it entirely changed my relationship to fear. Although it would still arise, I was no longer locking it in with my resistance. Genuine mindful acceptance allowed the fear to just wash through.

Joseph Goldstein, "Mindfulness, Compassion, & Wisdom, Three Means To Peace".

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It was rather a long time that I knew “accepting” is an important skill in dealing with difficult emotions, but I had no clear idea what accepting really means.

“Accept the uncertainty in life.”

“Accept that you are angry.”

I had some personal idea about it, but I couldn't define it clearly.

At last, I think, I came to a more concrete understanding of “accepting”:

Accepting a situation means appreciating we are in that situation and not being in a haste to change anything about it.

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

T. S. Eliot, The Four Quartets

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بسمه و به