In a week when the newspaper front pages in Ireland and England devote as much time to celebrity gossip and the gyrations of Miley Cyrus at VMA Awards as they do to atrocities and human suffering in Syria and Iraq, it is probably good to reflect on how we can live more consciously. One element of this is where we choose to place our attention and devote our time:

If they say we should get together. Say why?

It’s not that you don’t love them any more.
You’re trying to remember something too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project. It will never be finished.

When someone recognizes you in a grocery store, nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven’t seen in ten years appears at the door,
don’t start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.

Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.

Naomi Shihab Nye, The Art of Disappearing

photo crusier