Month: February 2014

Remembering we are sustained

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File:Mont Blanc Massif.jpg
A beautiful poem by Denise Levertov, putting the journey of our life and its cares and distractions into perspective
Days pass when I forget the mystery.
Problems insoluble and problems offering
their own ignored solutions
jostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber
along with a host of diversions, my courtiers, wearing
their colored clothes; cap and bells.
And then
once more the quiet mystery
is present to me, the throng’s clamor
recedes: the mystery
that there is anything, anything at all,
let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything,
rather than void: and that, O Lord,
Creator, Hallowed One, You still,
hour by hour sustain it.
Denise Levertov, Primary Wonder.  US poet, 1923 – 1997.
photo of the Mont Blanc Massif

Sunday Quote: Paths

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Following your path

There are no wrong turns,

only unexpected paths

Mark Nepo,

Gently, life moves on

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File:Moonlight on the Lossie. - geograph.org.uk - 327949.jpg

Who was the first man to see the moon on the river bank? 

In what year did the moon first shine on man?

Human lives ceaselessly come and go, generation after generation,

but the moon and the river stay constant year after year.

I don’t know who the moon and the river are waiting for,

I only see the waters of the Yangtze flowing away.

Zhnag Ruoxu, Tang Dynasty poet.

photo des calhoun

Letting go of effort

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carrying load

Mindfulness and compassion training is a radical process of letting go of our burdens. We are not trying to be more mindful or more compassionate: that’s just more work. Instead we can sit down for a few minutes, see what arises and give ourselves love just because….just because. And then go gently back into the world.

Chris Germer

Kindness

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bleeding-heart

Kindness in words creates confidence,

Kindness in thinking creates profoundness

Kindness in giving creates love.

Lao Tzu

Take time

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spring crocii

If we can be quieter, more in the moment with what is actually happening, a world of perception opens up for us based on where we are, not on where we one day hope to be. “Nobody sees a flower, really; it is so small,” said artist Georgia O’Keeffe. “We haven’t time, and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” If we learn to take a little more time and be more fully aware of just where we are, we might see many new flowers and have many more friends.

Sharon Salzberg, The Power of Patience

photo from catriona.net