"Remembering a wrong is like carrying a burden on the mind." 
-Gautama Buddha

"No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again." 
-Gautama Buddha

"Always be mindful of the kindness and not the faults of others." 
-Gautama Buddha

"If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete." 

-Gautama Buddha

Thursday's Thoughts - December 6th, 2012

“You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.” 
-Gautama Buddha

I would like to begin this addition of Thursday's Thoughts with a sincere apology for not contributing to this series as much as it deserves. Unfortunately, as I search for my own Tao I am finding less time to meditate, let alone write my internal feelings on these quotes. Since meditation is as imperative to me as breathing, it is my time invested in writing that experiences the discourse. Please know that Serenity Sought is of paramount importance to me, as are the thousands of daily subscribers that claim my sources of inspiration for their own.

I have chosen the quote above based on the sincere gratitude that I wish to express based on the success of Serenity Sought. The purpose of these quotes was to provide points of meditation to reflect and discern their meaning as it relates to you, and your response has been overwhelming. Having as many people choose my site, or its sister sites across the social networks, as their daily source of inspiration fills me with an immeasurable amount of joy.

There is a reason that Cicero once said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others.” Without truly understanding gratitude, we can not appreciate what is to come next, which is everything. We must understand nothing is owed to us, there is nothing that we have coming to us that we have not already earned. This helps eliminate our sense of injury, and the injury that is associated with it. What is left is the sincerest gratitude for life and everything that comes along with it, especially the darkness that provides us the wisdom to endure.

There are many things in life that you can be thankful for even when being bludgeoned by the dark side of chance. Take joy in your existence, and take care not to forsake even the smallest of things that are easily taken for granted. Do you ever pause to express silent gratitude for the sun rising every day? Do you know how imperative it is that it does? We must make a choice on how we see our life, and dismissing the negative emotions as quickly as they appear is the first step. It can be difficult to see the abundance that life has to offer if you continually feed your sense of injury and ego with negative energy and emotions, and it is imperative to dismiss them, or you will not be receptive to the joys that follow.

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." 
-Gautama Buddha

"What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind." -Gautama Buddha

“When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.” 
-Gautama Buddha

"The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows." 
-Gautama Buddha

“Those who are awake live in a state of constant amazement.” 
-Gautama Buddha

“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth...not going all the way, and not starting.”

-Gautama Buddha

"In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true." 

-Gautama Buddha

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” 

-Gautama Buddha

“To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.”
-Gautama Buddha

"All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?"
-Gautama Buddha

"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."

-Gautama Buddha

"Never by hatred is hatred appeased, but it is appeased by kindness. This is an eternal truth." 

-Gautama Buddha

"We do not learn by experience, but by our capacity for experience." 

-Gautama Buddha