How To Understand Emptiness - From Buddhism

I was doing some reading in my studies on Buddhism, and I found this interesting quote on emptiness.  Since it resonated for me, I thought it might resonate for some of you, as well.

Many blessings,

Judy

Emptiness is a mode of perception, a way of looking at experience. It adds nothing to, and takes nothing away from, the raw data of physical and mental events. You look at events in the mind and the senses with no thought of whether there's anything lying behind them. This mode is called emptiness because it is empty of the presuppositions we usually add to experience in order to make sense of it: the stories and worldviews we fashion to explain who we are and the world we live in. Although these stories and views have their uses, the Buddha found that the questions they raise—of our true identity and the reality of the world outside—pull attention away from a direct experience of how events influence one another in the immediate present. Thus they get in the way when we try to understand and solve the problem of suffering. 

- Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "What do Buddhists mean when they talk about emptiness?"

 

You Be You!

 

A common issue that comes up with clients when I do coaching on spiritual blocks is the problem of the individual doing what others want instead of what the individual wants.  In some cases, the controlling force is parents or a parent that will with hold love, money, support, if the individual does not do “this”.  In other cases, the controlling force is a spouse or partner.  Sometimes, it is the family or community culture and expectations.  Sometimes, the issue is a controlling religion.

Regardless of the influence, all of us have to be ourselves to be in balance and to be healthy and happy.  Our nature is that we want to pursue what we like and what we are interested in.  For some folks, they never find what they like or are interested in because they do not have the opportunity to do so.  Young animals and birds simply follow their instincts.  For some, they stay with the pack or with the herd.  For others, they go out alone and explore the world.  People should have the same opportunity.

You be you!

Blessings,

Judy

Likes and Dislikes

The following piece comes from a vision between being asleep and awake.  

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Many of you say prayers everyday.  You ask for this and for that.  You ask that someone change what they dislike to something that you like.  You ask to be right!  In the greatest designs, the likes and dislikes are choices that you are able to make that will help your Spirit move in a certain path.  Indeed, you follow a blue print laid out long, long before your birth.  You have agreed to step forward on the path.

Your likes and dislikes make you unique, the way different paint colours on the wall make a house unique.  It gives you definition.  It is neither wrong nor right.  It allows you to see how others accept the situation or environment.  What you like begins with what is in your DNA.  It also is influenced by what you see and what you hear.  These two senses will influence how something tastes for you.

Let these differences be celebrated!

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Blessings,

Judy