My work

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

Mary Oliver, Messenger [extract]

Getting the balance right

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

A post ending the working week with a similar theme to the one that started it.

Why didn’t I learn to treat everything like it was the last time,

my greatest regret is how much I believed in the future.

Jonathan Safran Foer, 1977 – , American Novelist, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Nothing missing

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

There is no such thing

as an underdeveloped moment

Trungpa Rinpoche

The little things

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Little things may seem nothing, but they give peace, like those meadow flowers which individually seem odourless but all together perfume the air.

George Bernanos

Be serene

Karl Duffy2 Comments

Be serene in the oneness of things

and erroneous views

will disappear by themselves.

Seng T’san, died 606 AD. Third Zen Patriarch, Hsin Hsin Ming

The journey itself

Karl Duffy1 Comment

We humans have a tendency to lean into the future or to seek something “more exciting” than what is in front of us. The challenge is to be fully awake and fully invested in the completeness of the present moment.

The moon and the sun are eternal travellers.

Even the years wander on.

A lifetime adrift in a boat or old age leading a tired horse into the years,

every day is a journey and the journey itself is home

Matsuo Basho, 17th century Japanese poet, Narrow Road to the Interior.