Clair De Lune by Claude Debussy except you’re exploring a supposedly haunted cave at night, and it seems to just start playing somewhere in the depths. As you head toward the source of the music and as it gets louder, you begin to hear whispers.
“Forgiveness does not always lead to a healed relationship. Some people are capable of love, and it might be wise to let them go - along with your anger. Just wish them well and take care of yourself.”
“Sometimes people try to destroy you, precisely because they recognize your power — not because they don’t see it, but because they see it and they don’t want it to exist.”
“We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder.”
It helps to remember that our practice is not about accomplishing anything – not about winning or losing – but about ceasing to struggle and relaxing as it is. That is what we are doing when we sit down to meditate. That attitude spreads into the rest of our lives.
—Pema Chodron
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
So we sit, we concentrate on the breathing, nothing else. Then some thoughts may come, and any number of distractions: things you talked about yesterday, movies you watched last week, a conversation you just had, things you need to do tomorrow, a sudden panic—did I switch off the gas in the kitchen this morning?All of this will come, and when it does, go back to the breathing. This is the slogan of instruction: just come back. Every time we notice that we’ve gotten distracted, we remember the instruction and we come back to the breath.
