The capacity to become aware of the givens of our existence - such as change - and to actually welcome those as just part of our human experience releases the struggle. Roger Housden More Quotes by Roger Housden More Quotes From Roger Housden I woke up early one morning a couple of years ago and felt the tenderness of my being alone, the bitter sweetness of it. It has many colors, being alone. I walked out into my living room and I can say honestly that everything was pouring with life - the red sofa, the chairs with their patterns of roses, even the coffee table with its scattering of books. Everything was alive with the presence of being. Seeing the world though those eyes, I realized that I could never really be alone. Roger Housden couple morning book The love of someone else is more accessible or more possible if one lives with a sense of loving embrace towards oneself because that extends out into the world. Roger Housden embrace oneself world This question of love begins and ends with the willingness to be welcoming to one's own experience as a loving action towards oneself. It may be dark, it may be light, it may be joyous, it may be sorrowful, but it's your experience, and therefore, your life. As we have that kind of loving response towards our own life, then life itself in terms of the outside world, begins to feel different. Roger Housden light dark love-is When we are open to ourselves and our own experience, and therefore, open to the world, then the world can respond. Roger Housden world We have all had serendipitous moments - the most unlikely meetings out of nowhere - that can happen when we have this quality of deep acceptance towards ourselves. Roger Housden quality moments acceptance Time and the timeless dimension co-exist here, now in this very moment that we're living, this very moment that we're speaking. Roger Housden timeless dimensions moments The body is the doorway to the timeless, because the body is always where we are and always in the present moment. Roger Housden body moments doorways What's not often in the present moment is the thinking mind. Roger Housden moments mind thinking Wisdom and knowledge are two different things. Roger Housden knowledge-and-wisdom different two Knowledge is immensely powerful and immensely useful. Roger Housden powerful Some of us have the good fortune of some type of natural gift, whether it's playing tennis or painting or writing. Roger Housden natural-gifts tennis writing It's the bringing together of knowledge and wisdom that is a great part - perhaps the greatest part - of our life's journey. Roger Housden knowledge-and-wisdom journey together Practice remembrance of the present moment, again and again. Roger Housden remembrance moments practice People around us change and circumstances change. We can often find ourselves struggling against those things. Roger Housden circumstances struggle people Everything constantly changes. Roger Housden Struggle has a natural place in our life, but the fight or flight syndrome is often false struggle. There are times for that but we can have that reaction in areas of our life where it's not successful. Areas that concern existential issues or qualities of life - like meaning or purpose or love. These things actually come to us more as we let go of struggling to achieve them. Roger Housden fighting struggle letting-go The more we enter our own gifts, the more we feel that sense of proportion. In that sense, I think our life lies in the fulfillment of those potentialities, whatever they may be. Roger Housden may lying thinking The great French Impressionist painter Renoir, right at the end of his very long life, said to a friend, "I am just now learning to paint." Renoir carried his gift with a humility which realized how much he still had to learn. Anyone who goes deeply into a field in life and realizes this, gains a sense of proportion that can only make you humble. Roger Housden humility humble long Each of us is already special in the sense that nobody has the unique pattern of potentialities that anyone else has. Roger Housden patterns unique special When we turn our gaze to the inside, it becomes difficult to locate this familiar sense of self. To overcome that fear we need to feel special in some way. Roger Housden special self overcoming
