Inspiring texts

"If you are sensible, act as a bowl and not as a channel that receives and passes on almost simultaneously, while the other waits until it is filled. In this way, it passes on what overflows without harming itself.

Learn to pour out only from the fullness and do not desire to be more generous than God. The bowl imitates the spring. Only when it is saturated with water does it flow into a river, does it become a sea. You do the same! Fill it first and then pour it out.

Kind and wise love is used to overflowing, not flowing out. I don't want to become rich if you become empty in the process. For if you treat yourself badly, who are you good for? If you can, help me out of your abundance; if not, spare yourself."

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), priest

Many people who walk the path of mindfulness tell me that they find it difficult to be mindful in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It works well in meditation, alone in a quiet environment and in nature, but not outside these safe spaces.

So how does mindfulness find its way into everyday life? The beans of mindfulness are a wonderful aid that can build a bridge between the worlds.

This is a micro-practice in which small and larger impulses are given throughout the day and in the evening you can relax and realize how mindful you already are. Small islands of stillness are created in the midst of the hustle and bustle of everyday life. A sense of everyday awareness grows.

For the exercise, take about 20 dried beans. Red kidney beans are perfect for this. Juniper berries and nuts also work. I now put the beans in my right trouser pocket in the morning. During the course of the day, whenever I remember, I reach into my right trouser pocket and take a bean between my fingers. I feel it and linger a little with the perception of the bean, without any mental commentary. Just perceiving. I pay attention.

Then I take the bean in both hands and hold it with my thumbs and index fingers. I linger again. Then I switch my attention from the bean to myself. I now stay within myself. I feel the living space within me. I don't do anything, I don't control anything, I am simply here and now. I rest within myself, I am close, without separation.

After a few moments of "eternity", I take the bean in my left hand and let it disappear into my left trouser pocket. If possible, I continue to linger in myself. Mindfulness in everyday life.

And so, over the course of the day, the beans move from right to left. This is not about breaking any mindfulness records or unconsciously shoveling beans from right to left, but about helping with everyday mindfulness. I was often surprised at how many beans moved back and forth. That had a motivating effect. The myth that I can't do it or don't do it enough is not true. Moments of mindfulness are gifts and open a window into the depths of yourself.

I'm not interested in what you do for a living.

I want to know what you long for and whether you dare to do it,
to dream of fulfilling your heart's desires.

I'm not interested in how old you are.
I would like to know if you are going to risk it,
to be crazy with love, infatuated with your dreams,
into the adventure of being alive.

I'm not interested in which planets are in which constellation to your moon.
I would like to know if you have touched the center of your suffering,
whether you have been betrayed in life,
broken open and become open
or have shrunk and closed yourself off from fear and further pain.

I want to know if you can sit there in pain
- mine or your own -
without any movement of evasion,
without hiding the pain, without making it disappear, without holding on to it.

I would like to know if you can be there with joy
- mine or your own -
whether you can dance with wildness and allow it,
that ecstasy fills you right down to your fingertips and toes,
without that caution in which you take care,
are realistic and remember the limitations of being human.

I'm not interested in whether the story you're telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint someone in order to be honest with yourself,
whether you can bear that someone reproaches you for it
and yet you do not betray your own soul.
I want to know if you can be faithful and reliable.

I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it's not beautiful every day
and whether you feel a divine spark in your life.
I would like to know if you can live with failure
- with your and my -
and still be able to stand on the shore of a lake and shout "yes" to the full moon.

I don't care where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after a night of sorrow and despair
-exhausted and in pain -
and still do what needs to be done for your children or other people.

I'm not interested in your schooling or where and with whom you studied.
I want to know if you will stand with me in the middle of the fire and not shrink back.
I want to know what keeps you going from the inside when everything else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself
and whether you really like the people you surround yourself with in times of emptiness.

Oriah Mountain Dream (Canadian author)

When I really

began to love herself,

I could recognize,
that emotional pain and suffering
are just a warning to me,
to live against my own truth.
Today I know that this is called
"Being authentic".

When I really
began to love herself,
I have understood,
how much it shames someone,
impose my wishes on him,
although I knew that neither the time was ripe,
nor was man ready for it,
even if I was that person myself.
Today we know that this is called
"Self-respect".

When I really
began to love herself,
I have stopped,
to long for a different life,
and could see that everything around me
was an invitation to grow.
Today I know that this is called
"Maturity".

When I really
began to love herself,
I have understood,
that I always and at every opportunity,
I am in the right place at the right time
and that everything that happens is right
- From then on I could be calm.
Today I know that this is called
"Self-respect".

When I really
began to love herself,
I have stopped,
deprive me of my free time
and I stopped,
more great projects
for the future.
That's all I do today,
what gives me fun and pleasure,
what I love
and makes my heart smile,
in my own way
and at my own pace.
Today I know that this is called
"Honesty.

When I really
began to love herself,
I have freed myself from everything
which was not healthy for me,
of food, people, things, situations
and of everything that kept dragging me down,
away from myself.
At first I called this "healthy selfishness",
But today I know that this is "self-love".

When I really
began to love herself,
I have stopped,
always want to be right,
I was less wrong that way.
Today I realized,
This is called "just being".

When I really
began to love herself,
then I realized,
that my thinking
can make you miserable and sick,
but when I called on the strength of my heart,
the mind became an important partner,
I call this connection today
"Wisdom of the heart".

We don't need to go on
from disputes,
Conflicts and problems
with ourselves and others,
because even stars pop
sometimes on top of each other
and new worlds are created.
Today I know,
That is life!

Charlie Chaplin

Writing or speaking about mindfulness is an undertaking doomed to failure from the outset, as mindfulness cannot be put into words and finite forms. This is the case with everything that is by nature formless, essential and spiritual: love, compassion, gratitude.

Mindfulness is the indescribable experience of awareness, a feeling of "no-thing". On the level of words, mindfulness is space and lightness rather than constriction and limitation. However, rich knowledge resides in this space. This is not intellectual, bumpy or cumbersome knowledge, but the kind of intuitive, instant knowledge that has the power to convey concepts within a fraction of a second that could only be approximated analytically and intellectually over many years of study.

It is the kind of knowledge that, when experienced, creates an immediate and fundamental shift in perspective and change that can deeply affect the person's life and center and give it a different direction.

Mindfulness is practical knowledge. Mindfulness leads to the realization that I am. I am, here and now. In essence, I am not a story. I am. Therein lies clarity, strength, support and love. Mindfulness means being and doing in everyday life without doing. To make authentic what I am. Being mindful in everyday life means being regularly aware of yourself. These are small islands of awareness.

In a therapeutic context, mindfulness means less mental noise, more inner peace, more clarity, better sleep, less rushing and consumption, more appreciation, more balance and much more. There are no negative side effects. Mindfulness, however, is not something passive, something waiting, something meditative, sleepy or hopeful. Mindfulness is radiant, manifest, 100% absolute and 100% relative.

Linger, look, be still. Seconds of awareness, again and again. "Islands of Sanity" in the midst of wild worlds of thoughts. Thoughts come and go and I am. Eyes closed, eyes open. Shopping, eating, walking, bathing, working. Always back to my home airport. Pure perception, without judgment, is my friend here. No fight and no flight. I am.