Nature

Feastday of Saint Francis of Assisi

The tree which moves some to tears of joy, is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.

Some see nature all ridicule and deformity … and some scarce see nature at all.

But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.

William Blake

Find strength

You have power over your mind, not outside events.

Realize this, and you will find strength

Marcus Aurelius

a chronic, unhelpful, tendency

We reduce, concretize, or substantialize experiences or feelings, which are, in their very nature, fleeting or evanescent. In so doing, we define ourselves by our moods and by our thoughts. We do not just let ourselves be happy or sad, for instance; we must become a happy person or a sad one. This is the chronic tendency of the ignorant or deluded mind, to make “things” out of that which is no thing.

Mark Epstein, Thoughts Without a Thinker

a new day, a new month

Abba Poemen said of Abba Pior that every single day he made a fresh beginning.

Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Six words

Let go of what has passed

Let go of what may come in the future

Let go of what is happening now.

Don’t try to figure it out

Don’t try to make anything happen

Rest, let it settle itself

The Six Key Words of Advice from Tilopa, 988 – 1069, an Indian tantric master and scholar, preserved in the Buddhist Mahāmudrā/ Tibetian tradition

Sunday Quote: to slow down

All this rushing
Will soon be over;
For it is in lingering
That we receive insight.

Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus