The Art of Living: Focus and Resilience

"Be still, be present...

attend to what you're doing and feeling

as opposed to what they're doing or feeling.

Change your energy from fear and desperation

to quiet, hopeful confidence."

Paraphrased from the inimitable Kathy Freston

"If you're not in the moment,

wondering what may or may not happen,

you've lost your energy.

Focus on the here and now, that's all you can do.

What may or may not happen lies in the future"

Paraphrased from my friend Bernadette

"If you're hoping for things to be other than they are - constantly wondering how or why something happened, or how to fix it - you're lost...

[yet] the opportunity for transformation when we enter deeply into our experience is absolutely unbridled. It's just like nuclear power if you choose to use it properly.

Once you pass through that fire, you've been smelted.

You're going to come out gold on the other side."

A gem from John Dugdale in Mark Matousek's "When You're Falling, Dive" (Matousek).

Image John Dugdale's "Vespers" from KunstforAlle