Why do we always think that happiness is to be found in the future, or when this or that happens,
and not seek it in the life that we have or in the here and now?
I was passionate,
filled with longing,
I searched
far and wide.
But the day
that the Truthful One
found me,
I was at home.
Lal Ded, (Mother Lalla), 1320 – 1392, Kasmiri Hindu poet and mystic
Another Monday morning. For some the beginning of a work week can come too soon, the weekend not allowing enough time to relax and wind down. Even from early the mind starts to speed up and get sucked into the details. To balance this, the wisdom and faith traditions place our daily and weekly activities in a wider context, allowing us to see beyond the dramas which play out in our minds, with us at the center. They remind us that to hold a bigger, slower, perspective, and to notice little moments of wonder as they present themselves to us, this day.
The sun,
with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it,
can still ripen a bunch of grapes
as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
Galileo
In the still heart that refuses nothing,
the world is twice born.
Jane Hirshfield
1.
Japanese teacher says:
At first light, rise.
Don’t hover between
sleep and waking,
this makes you heavy,
puts a stone inside your heart.
The minute you drift back to shore,
anchor. Breathe.
Remember your deepest name.
2.
Sometimes objects stun me,
bamboo strainer, gray mug,
sitting exactly where
they were left.
They have not slept
or dreamt of lost faces.
I touch them carefully,
saying, tell me what you know.
3.
Cup of waves,
strawberry balanced
in a seashell.
In morning the water seems
clear to the bottom.
No fish blocks my view.
Naomi Shihab Nye, Breaking the Fast
photo thor
Whatever is happening, whatever is changing, whatever is going or not going according to my plans
— I release my hold on all of it.
I leave behind who I think I am, who I want to be, what I want the world to be.
I come home to the great peace of the present moment.
Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open, How Difficult Times Can Help us Grow
photo Daniel Mayer
The practice of silence nourishes vigilance, self-knowledge, letting go, and the compassionate embrace of all whom we would otherwise be quick to condemn. Gradually we realize that whatever it is in us that sees the mind games we play, is itself free of all such mind games and is utterly silent, pure, vast, and free. When we realize that we are the awareness and not the drama unfolding in our awareness, our lives are freer, simpler, more compassionate.
Fear remains frightening but we are not afraid of fear.
Pain still hurts, but we are not hurt by pain.
from Martin Laird’s beautiful book, Into the Silent Land: The Practice of Contemplation
photo Per Ola Wiberg
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