Category: Be fully present

Walking in nature

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Rumi advised me to keep my spirit
up in the branches of a tree and not peek
out too far, so I keep mine in the very tall
willows along the irrigation ditch out back,
a safe place to remain unspoiled by the filthy
culture of greed and murder of the spirit.
People forget their spirits easily suffocate
so they must keep them far up in tree
branches where they can be summoned any moment.
It’s better if you’re outside as it’s hard for spirits
to get into houses or buildings or airplanes.

Jim Harrison, 1937 – 2016), American poet, novelist, and essayist, Dead Man’s Float

Observe

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

So easy this week in Ireland, with beautiful Indian Summer days bathing the fields in light

Observe the wonders as they occur around you.
Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry
moving through, and be silent.

Rumi

Another moment, another chance

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

 I know now, 
after fifty years, 
that the finding/losing, forgetting/remembering, 
leaving/returning, never stops.
The whole of life is about another chance

Jeanette Winterson, Why be Happy when you Could Be Normal?

Being as is

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

The wise person man, perceiving wealth and craving,
Knows them to be empty illusion;

Food and clothes sustain our body and life;

But I advise you to learn

Being as is.

When it’s time,  I leave my hermitage and go,

And there’s nothing to be left behind

Layman Pang, 740 – 808, Chinese Chan layman

Recognizing, not pursuing

Karl Duffy1 Comment

In my life-long impatience, how much I have missed. Last night, washing the dishes, I really looked at my iron frying pan in the dishwater. The light made visible for a moment a tiny rainbow — a light through water revealing all the colors of life. It is so easy to miss the tiny symbols. Finding them is quite different from the business of trying to hatch up big symbolic experiences. It is recognition, not pursuit, of meaning — recognition of the sacramental, of the intersection of the two worlds, breaking through unsought because one is attending.

Helen Luke, 1904 – 1995, Jungian Analyst and writer

Greatest treasure

Karl Duffy2 Comments

 

Your mind is your greatest treasure. We become so taken up with the world, with having and doing more and more that we come to ignore who we are and forget what we see the world with.

The most powerful way to change your life is to change your mind.

John O’Donohue, The Art of Developing a Beautiful Mind