If we look at the world with a love of life,
the world will reveal its beauty to us.
Daisaku Ikeda
Category: Be fully present
How to truly live well
The art of living…is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past….on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.
Alan Watts, The Wisdon of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Uncertainty
The roots of our unhappiness
Loss of mindfulness is why people engage in useless pursuits,
do not care for their own interests,
and remain unalarmed in the presence of things which actually menace their welfare.
Buddha
….Don’t analyse
The solution of the problem of life is life itself.
Life is not attained by reason and analysis but first of all by living.
Thomas Merton
How to let go of sorrows
When we enter the present moment deeply, our regrets and sorrows disappear, and we discover life with all its wonders. Breathing in, we say to ourselves, “I have arrived.” Breathing out, we say,”I am home.” When we do this, we overcome dispersion and dwell peacefully in the present moment, which is the only moment for us to be alive.
Thich Nhat Hahn, Walking Meditation
Making space for the words under the words
A morning walk in the cool woods, with the sounds of the birds and the sight of the poppies flourishing at the sides of the fields. Summer is incredible early and beautiful this year. Walking without expectation or goal. The Eastern idea of apranihita – aimlessness. No need to have a purpose or to run after something. Making light space on the journey after some full, rich days. What is important is not necessarily what we are experiencing, but how we relate to it.
My grandmother’s voice says nothing can surprise her.
She knows the spaces we travel through, the messages we cannot send — our voices are short and would get lost on the journey.
Farewell to the husband’s coat, the ones she has loved and nourished, who fly from her like seeds into a deep sky. They will plant themselves. We will all die.
My grandmother’s eyes say Allah is everywhere, even in death.
When she talks of the orchard and the new olive press,
when she tells the stories of Joha and his foolish wisdoms,
He is her first thought, what she really thinks of is His name.
“Answer, if you hear the words under the words—
otherwise it is just a world with a lot of rough edges,
difficult to get through, and our pockets full of stones.“
Naomi Shihab Nye, The Words Under the Words
