Category Archives: quotations

This, too, shall pass!

15 Saturday Oct 2016

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It is swing- swirl-spiral time. It’s ripple-sway-flutter time and flow-gush-gyrate time, and jive-jiggle-juggle time. I trust you will not indulge in fruitless yearning for unswerving progress and rock-solid evidence. If your path is not twisty and tricky, it’s probably the wrong path.  If your heart is not teased and tickled into shedding its dependable formulas, it might be an overly hard heart. Be an improvisational curiosity- seeker. Be a principled player of unpredictable games.

Rob Breznsy

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Poverty of Spirit!

15 Sunday Jun 2014

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A poor man asked the Buddha,

“Why am I so poor?”

The Buddha said, “You donot learn to give.”

So the poor man said, “If I’m not having anything?”

Buddha said: “You have a few things:

The Face, which can give a smile;

The Mouth, you can praise or comfort others;

The Heart, it can open up to others;

The Eyes, who can look the other with the eyes of goodness;

The Body, which can be used to help others.”

So, actually we are not poor at all.

Poverty of spirit is the real poverty.

 

Happy Possibility,

Tahereh Barati

 

Love & Its condition!

29 Thursday Aug 2013

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We all want Love in our life. We all have strong desire to experiencing loving relationships. We all want to reassure ourselves that we are being loved by someone special.  But what is Love? How can it be possible? Can it be constructed?

Loving ourselves, loving each other, our neighbors, and our enemy are essential part of philosophical political and psychological debates in human history. It is said, most fights/ conflicts are linked to the absent of Love in human relationships.

Thick Nhat Hanh shares his views and wisdom on ways of bringing Love more present in our daily life. In his book, True Love (1997), he says: according to Buddhism, there are four elements of true Love. I am going to share with you what he consider as essence elements of Love. They are the following:

a) The first element of true love is Maitri, which can be translated as Loving- kindness or Benevolence. Loving- Kindness is not only the desire to make someone happy, it is the ability to bring joy to the person you love. To have this ability, you must practice ‘deep looking’ directed towards the person you love. If you don’t understand this person, you can’t love properly. Understanding is the essence of love.  How to understand the person? We must have time; we must practice looking deeply into this person. We must be attentive. We must observe and look deeply.

b) The second element of true love is  Karuna, Compassion,  this is not only the desire to ease the pain of another person but the ability to do so.

c) The third element of true love is Mudita, Joy. If there is no joy in love, it is not true love. If you are suffering all the time, if you cry all the time, if you make the person you love cry, this is not really love. It is even the opposite.

d) The forth element is Upeksha, Equanimity or Freedom. In true love, you attain freedom. When you love, you bring freedom to the person you love. You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free; not only outside but also inside.

I would like to invite you to reflect on your love according to these elements and see if your love has these elements and if not, what could you do differently.  Please share your thoughts and ideas!

Happy Possibilities,

Tahereh Barati, M.A, RMFT

What is your definition of Life?

02 Friday Nov 2012

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“Life is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.” – Paulo Coelho

‘Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil’. – Marcus Aurelius

“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.

Life is a beauty, admire it.

Life is a dream, realize it.

Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a game, play it.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.

Life is a sorrow, overcome it.

Life is a song, sing it.

Life is a struggle, accept it.

Life is a tragedy, confront it.

Life is an adventure , dare it.

Life is luck, make it.

Life is life, fight for it”. – Mother Teresa

Happy Possibilities!

Shared Wisdom!

17 Wednesday Oct 2012

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Found Written on The Wall in Mother Teresa’s Home for Children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self -centred.

Forgive them anyway

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.

Be Kind anyway

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.

Be honest and sincere anyway

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.

Create anyway

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.

Do good anyway

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.

Give your best anyway

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway

Happy Possibilities!

How to be an Explorer of the World?

14 Sunday Oct 2012

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  1. Always Be Looking (Notice the ground beneath your feet)
  2. Consider Everything Alive and Animate
  3. Everything is Interesting. (Look closer)
  4. Alter your Course often
  5. Observe for Long Durations (and short ones)
  6. Notice the Stories Going on Around you
  7. Notice Patterns Make Connections
  8. Document Your Findings in a variety of ways
  9. Incorporate Indeterminacy
  10. Observe Movement
  11. Create a Personal Dialogue with your Environment. Take it
  12. Trace things back to their Origins
  13. Use All of the Senses in Your Investigations!

New Year & New Possibilities!

03 Tuesday Jan 2012

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I wanted to share a story with you for the beginning of the new year…

 “When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.  I found it was difficult to change the world so I tried to change my nation.  When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town.  When I couldn’t change my town, then as an older man, I tried to change my family.  Now as an old man I realized the only thing I can change is myself.  Suddenly I realized that if I long ago had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family.  My family and I could have made an impact on our town.  And their impact could have changed the nation.  And I could indeed have changed the world.” ~ Unknown Monk (1100CE)

Let’s change ourselves, our views and attitudes towards others. Let’s be more kind to our weaknesses and be more appreciative of our strengths. Let’s learn how to connect with one another in a way that doesn’t produce harm; let’s satisfy our needs and wants in a way that doesn’t intrude/violate others’ presence; let’s have more awareness; let’s be at peace with self and others…

One of the most empowering tools we have in life is our own example.

If you would like to get to know yourself more , become more aware of your inner resources and have more impact on your relationships,  contact me for further conversations. Looking forward to hearing from you,

Happy Possibilities!

How Flexible Are You?

27 Sunday Nov 2011

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People have many different reactions to Change. They are the following:

  • Some take advantages of it
  • Some avoid it
  • Some don’t want to hear about it
  • Some become overwhelmed by it
  • Some become worried about it
  • Some ride it
  • Some cry over it
  • Some give others a hard time
  • Some laugh at it
  • Some  …

What about you? How do you react to Change?

Here is the best- articulated statement about people’s reactions to Change:

“When the wind changes directions, there are those who build walls and there are those who build windmills.” -Chinese saying

 

Is it what you found too?

25 Friday Nov 2011

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“We learn something every day, and lots of times it’s that what we learned the day before was wrong.” -Bill Vaughan

Just imagine how open and flexible we need to be to constantly learn, unlearn and relearn what we are learning every day… An ability to view life as fluid and constantly changing…

Happy thinking!

website: www.taherehbarati.com