Approaching & Staying With vs Avoidance

     “Relaxing, we do not turn away from the tension and conditioning. When we stay with them, it becomes possible to apprehend the silence that underlies reactivity. 
     … when stillness meets reactivity, unbinding occurs. The karmic pattern that generated the reaction is interrupted, cut off from its source. Unfed, the energy drains out of the reaction. In the brain … the neural networks of stress defuse.”
 
       Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

João Carlos Nascimento   www.dpreview.com

Increasing Degrees of Friendly Acceptance

     “… psychological health involves a skillful balance between goal-oriented effort & acceptance …

      … we compound our suffering by trying to avoid (what we fear). …

      Mindfulness is a technology for gradually turning … attention toward the fear as it is happening, exploring it in detail with increasing degrees of friendly acceptance.”

      Germer CK, Siegel RD, Fulton PR eds. “Mindfulness and Psychotherapy.” The Guilford Press, NY, 2005.

View from Luckett Vineyards, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia