Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone.
The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
Lin Yutang, 1895 – 1976, Chinese philosopher, linguist, novelist, and translator.
This discipline is the hardest one. It is the discipline to be surprised not by suffering but by joy.
As we grow old, we will have to stretch out our arms, be guided and led to places we would rather not go. What was true for Saint Peter will be true for us. There is suffering ahead that will continue to tempt us to think that we have chosen the wrong road and that others were more shrewd than we were. But don’t be surprised by pain. Be surprised by joy, be surprised by the little flower that shows its beauty in the midst of a barren desert, and be surprised by the immense healing power that keeps bursting forth like springs of fresh water from the depth of our pain.
Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus
Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone
Alan Watts
I’ve been really lucky to see many, many places. Now the great adventure is the inner world, now that I’ve spent a lot of time gathering emotions, impressions and experiences. Now I just want to sit still, charting that inner landscape, because I think anyone who travels knows that you’re not really doing it in order to move around – you’re travelling on order to be moved.
Pico Iyer
I just need to have long periods of no talking and no special thinking,
and immediate contact with the sun, the grass, the dirt, the leaves.
Undistracted by statements, jokes, opinions, news.
Thomas Merton, June 15, 1968, The Other Side of the Mountain.
Do not require a description of the countries toward which you sail.
The description does not describe them to you, and tomorrow you arrive there, and know them by inhabiting them.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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