We often go through our day or our life with our defenses up…
I seemed to hear God saying, “Put down your gun and we’ll talk.”
C.S. Lewis
Category: Make the most of life
Autumn colour
I want to mention summer ending
without meaning the death of somebody loved
or even the death of the trees.
Today in the market I heard a mother say
Look at the pumpkins, it’s finally autumn!
And the child didn’t think of the death of her mother
which is due before her own but tasted the sound
of the words on her clumsy tongue:
pumpkin; autumn.
Let the eye enlarge with all it beholds.
I want to celebrate color, how one red leaf
flickers like a match held to a dry branch,
and the whole world goes up in orange and gold.
Linda Pastan
Training in contentment
Peace is the result of retraining your mind
to process life as it is,
rather than you think it should be.
Wayne Dyer
photo 4028mdk09
On change, choice, life and death
Two paths diverge in a wood….
You start dying slowly
If you become a slave of your habits,
Walking everyday on the same paths…
If you do not change your routine,
If you do not wear different colours
Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.
You start dying slowly
If you avoid to feel passion
And their turbulent emotions;
Those which make your eyes glisten
And your heart beat fast.
You start dying slowly
If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love,
If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,
If you do not go after a dream,
If you do not allow yourself,
At least once in your lifetime,
To run away from sensible advice…
Pablo Neruda from Dying Slowly
Sunday Quote: Broken but..
Lessons learnt from the week that has passed. Two different personalities using words in different ways: one path ascends, the other descends.
This was reinforced in a conversation with a close friend yesterday: The Western mind is performance driven, with value being given to the highest achiever. This might be good for external advancement and achievement, but will it last in terms of wisdom and inner peace?
The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again, I heard them say
Don’t dwell on what has passed away
or what is yet to be.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
Leonard Cohen, Anthem, died Friday November 11th
photo of centuries old rock in Glendalough
When things fall apart
Today is the Feast of St Martin, traditionally one of the big feasts which defined how we should work with time and the pace of our lives. It marked the start of winter and signalled a change of tempo. From tomorrow, a forty day period of preparation for Christmas began, a time which recommended that we should slow down, simplify our activity, reflect and see what really endures.
Perhaps this is fitting at the end of a tumultuous and frenetic week, which caused a lot of uncertainty in many people, and made us all examine our values, and the different solutions to being human which are being offered. We need to see what will withstand the passing of time, the passing of empires and changing human paradigms. It reminded us to connect with a deeper wisdom in order to learn how to deal with the frequently moving and disappointing nature of life:
Whether we’re conscious of it or not, the ground is always shifting. Nothing lasts, including us. … It’s not impermanence per se that is the cause of our suffering. Rather, it’s our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our effort to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness.
Pema Chodron, The Fundamental Ambiguity of Being Human
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