Most days we will encounter some things that are “unwanted” even if only bad weather
Even now,
decades after,
I wash my face with cold water –
Not for discipline, nor memory, nor the icy, awakening slap,
but to practice
choosing
to make the unwanted wanted.
Jane Hirshfield, A Cedary Fragrance. In her twenties, she lived in a Zen monastery, with no electricity or hot water.
You should speak appropriately about the affairs of your own life,
for each matter you encounter
constitutes the meaning of your existence.
Mazu Daoyi, 709–88, renowned ancient Chinese Zen master
The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand;
the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.
George Eliot
If we’ve been eating a regular meal of resentment toward our spouse, our boss, our parents, or “the world,” the boat’s going to come back around in the next minute because it’s accustomed to us filling our plate. But we must be able to ask and to discover, “Who was I before I resented my spouse? And even before that?”
This is the primary way we learn to live in our True Self, where we are led by a foundational “yes,” not by the petty push backs of “no.”
Richard Rohr
Zen is not some fancy, special art of living.
Our teaching is just to live,
always in reality, in its exact sense.
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
We need to remember that in sharp contrast to … self-seeking exceptionality, God works through the ordinary. Meister Eckhart gives us a word here: “If you are doing anything special, you’re not seeking God.”
Maggie Ross, Anglican hermit and theologian
Mindfulbalance 