The mind is constantly trying to figure out
what page it’s on in the story of itself.
Close the book. Burn the bookmark. End of story.
Now the dancing begins.
Ikko Narasaki Roshi, Zen Buddhist monk, died 1996.
Now the dancing begins
Month: December 2022
Forgive the year
If we forgive life for not being what we told it to be, or expected, or wished, or longed for it to be,
we forgive ourselves for not being what we might have been also.
And then we can be what we are, which is boundless
John Tarrant
Leaving behind
Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said..
A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made..
Or a garden planted….
It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as
you change something from the way it was before you touched it
into something that’s like you
after you take your hands away..
The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said..
The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all….the gardener will be there a lifetime.
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
The simple things
I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness:
a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea.
Nothing else.
Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek
We can begin now
We may need to bid farewell to parts of ourselves rooted in safety but not in truth.
In the end we will only carry the reflection, “did I love well”. This will be the residue that either gladdens or aches our heart. As this year comes to an end, let us honor ourselves and those we love by letting go. We can bring fresh eyes to this moment and birth that which enlivens us. As for loving well, we can begin now. We can fly with the angels as we take ourselves lightly.
Ram Dass
Joy
Know that joy is rarer, more difficult, and more beautiful than sadness.
Once you make this all-important discovery,
you must embrace joy as a moral obligation.
André Gide
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