Surrender means wisely accommodating ourselves to what is beyond our control.
Interpretation
Surrendering involves accepting situations we cannot change and finding peace within that acceptance.
In this quote, Sylvia Boorstein emphasizes the importance of surrendering to circumstances that are beyond our control, suggesting that true wisdom lies in being able to adapt to life's challenges with grace and understanding. Instead of resisting or fighting against these uncontrollable aspects, we should learn to accommodate ourselves to them, fostering inner peace and acceptance.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a discussion on coping strategies for dealing with stress.
Heir to your own karma doesn't mean 'You get what you deserve.' I think it means 'You get what you get.' Bad things happen to good people. My happiness depending on my action means, to me, that it depends on my action of choosing compassion--for myself as well as for everyone else--rather than contention. [p.61]
If you take a deep breath and look around, 'Look what's happening to me!' can become 'Look what's happening!' And what's happening? The incredible drama of life is happening. And we're in it!
Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn't more complicated that that. It is opening to or recieving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.
The path of compassion leads to the development of insight. But it doesn't work to say, "Ready, set, go! Be compassionate!" Beginning any practice depends on intention. Intention depends on intuiting-at least a little bit-the suffering inherent in the human condition and the pain we feel, and cause, when we act out of confusion. It also depends on trusting-at least a little bit-in the possibility of a contented, satisfied mind.
Mindfulness is attentiveness, moment to moment. What's happening right now and what's coming up in me in response to what's happening right now. Importantly, this is in the service of being able to choose wisely so that I avoid complicating my own life and the lives of others.
Suffering is the demand that experience be different from what it is.
If you don't watch it people will force you one way or the other, into doing what they think you should do, or into just being mule-stubborn and doing the opposite out of spite.
Let each hour of the day have its allotted duty, and cultivate that power of concentration which grows with its exercise.
As a writer, the best mindset is to be unafraid.
No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long.
Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.
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