Finally Spring has arrived after the warm sunshine of last weekend. Fresh growth everywhere.
Lord, the air smells good today,
straight from the mysteries within the inner courts of God.
A grace like new clothes thrown across the garden,
free medicine for everybody.
The trees in their prayer, the birds in praise, the first blue violets kneeling.
Whatever came from Being is caught up in being, drunkenly forgetting the way back.
Rumi, Lord, the Air Smells Good Today
This morning
the beautiful white heron
was floating along above the water
and then into the sky of this
the one world
we all belong to
where everything
sooner or later
is a part of everything else
which thought made me feel
for a little while
quite beautiful myself.
Mary Oliver
Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future.
If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay.
Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones.
Thich Nhat Hahn
Grace fills empty spaces,
but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it.
We must continually suspend the work of the imagination in its quest of filling the void within ourselves.
Simone Weil, 1909 – 1943, French Philosopher and political activist
In this lovely teaching, we are reminded of the need to start over and over again in each moment.
Alert to the needs of the journey
those on the path of awareness
like swans, glide on,
leaving behind their former resting places
Dhammapada 91
It’s a holiday Monday here…easier to start the week with gentle routines
The search is the meaning, the search for beauty, love, kindness and restoration in this difficult, wired and often alien modern world. The miracle is that we are here, that no matter how undone we’ve been the night before, we wake up every morning and are still here. It is phenomenal just to be. This idea overwhelms some people. I have found that the wonder of life is often most easily recognizable through habits and routines – If you don’t do ritual things in order, the paper doesn’t read as well, and you’ll be thrown off the whole day. But when you can sit for a while at your table, reach for your coffee, look out the window at the sky or some branches, then back down at the paper or a book, everything feels right for the moment, which is maybe all we have.
Anne Lamott
Mindfulbalance 