Depression Impression

When depressed, depress not your head-lift it up. Look to the sky. Gasp-take a deep breath. Open your eyes wide. Smile. And where is the depression now?
If you are mindful of your body postures when you are depressed, you will notice that it takes certain patterns-you slouch and your breathing becomes sighing, and your eyes become lifeless and small as you frown. Maintaining these postures is almost a sure way of maintaining the depression. Do the opposite and see what happens.

Our body, speech and mind works in unison-each affecting the other. Hence, spiritual cultivation means the mindfulness and purification of these three doors.

Forgive Me Not

A friend realised something rather amusing yet enlightening. He became a more forgiving person when he realised that he had been letting himself off again and again, readily forgiving himself for his own misdeeds to others big and small, while being easily unforgiving and grudge-bearing towards others for their little mistakes. He realised how fat his ego was. It was as if he alone had all the right in the world to be wrong and forgiven, while the rest of the world should do him no slight wrong.

Being a forgiving person is part of the path of practice towards Enlightenment. Forgiveness liberates both pain and guilt. It unties knots of tensed negative karma, stops ill seeds from growing into greater hatred. Being unforgiving is nurturing our sense of hatred - which is no less than one of the three poisons that keep us swirling in Samsara's vicious cycles.

However, forgiving another does not mean we allow the same wrong to be repeated. We have to realise that while it could be our negative karma that we are wronged, we should put in the effort to prevent the person who did us wrong from doing more harm, creating more negative karma for himself.  By being complacent, we could well be creating more negative karma for ourselves! Remember - forgiveness is "for giving".  It is a gift of reassurance - it sets both parties' hearts and minds at peace.

Victoria's Secret (of health)

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. - Buddha ...

Hell's Bells

Going through hell is not going to hell forever.
We only pass through.
Terrible as it might be, it is only part of the long learning process;
the long detour taken on the way to Enlightenment.
Your personal hell is not a personal punishment;
it is an urgent wake-up call.
It is spiritual training - which is only as tough as it is necessary for you, in the name of your personal karma.

Mind Garden

Two people wait for a late bus. One is frustrated, while the other takes it easy...
Thus, the source of frustration cannot be the bus.
Is there an evil bus-driver out there to be angry at?
The seed of anger lies within.
The "late buses of life" are only conditions which ripen our anger. In the end, it is you who cause your state of mind.
The causes of (un)happiness are within your mind.
Take care of your mind then. It is a garden - you decide what seeds to plant and nurture.

Well-be it when I see it

There is nothing outside us that can offer true well-being at work – indeed, in our lives. No paycheck, no retirement fund, no promotion, and no sympathetic boss – no circumstance can give us the confidence and well-being we are seeking.
We tend to amass confirmations to give us a sense of security, and while none of them are mistaken, relying on them to confirm who we are is.

Swiss Bliss

Any sensual bliss in the world,
any heavenly bliss,
isn't worth one sixteenth-sixteenth
of the bliss of the ending of craving.

-Udana