We always think we need to do more..

Our heart is often divided by doubt and our efforts go into what or how we should be, or into trying to prove ourselves. We need to dis-engage from this mind which produces narratives such as ‘I need to do more” and not hold on to notions of progress which require a perfect self-image:

Thomas Merton said the way we have structured our lives, we spend our whole life climbing up the ladder of supposed success, and when we get to the top of the ladder we realize it is leaning against the wrong wall — and there is nothing at the top. To get back to the place of inherent abundance, you have to let go of all of the false agendas, unreal goals, and passing self-images. It is all about letting go. The spiritual life is more about unlearning than learning, because the deepest you already knows.

Richard Rohr, The Art of Letting Go

We know and do not know

Our minds are often very intent on knowing the outcome, on fixing things down into this or that:

Water, stories, the body,
all the things we do, are mediums
that hide and show what’s hidden.

Study them,
and enjoy this being washed
with a secret we sometimes know,
and then not.

Rumi,  Story Water

Starting the week

You carry all the ingredients to turn your existence into joy.
  Mix them,
  Mix them!
 

Hafiz 

Sunday Quote: Full of wonder

 

This is a wonderful day.

I’ve never seen this one before

Maya Angelou

You make the waves

Very stormy weather in Ireland this past week, continuing overnight with heavy rain.  The Eastern tradition called the causes of emotional pain ‘worldly winds’: gusts of blame and loss, happiness and unhappiness. They blow through the heart and throw us off balance, making us feel that we never feel good enough where we are or how our life actually is:

Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble.

You yourself make the waves in your mind.

If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm.

This mind is called big mind.

Shunryu Suzuki

Developing a routine of care

We are so attentive to our devices, making sure they are charged. Do we show the same care and concern for our hearts? Do we wait until we are running on fumes? How lovely and wise to make sure that the recharging is not through being a “weekend warrior” or even once-every-few-years vacations (both are lovely), but rather a matter of daily practice. […]

Let us, you and I, friends, find what sustains our soul.

Let us find what nurtures our heart, who nurtures our heart, where our heart is nurtured.

Omid Safi, Tending Our Inner Life to Make the World Whole