What is not essential

Karl Duffy1 Comment

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Each person is born with an unencumbered spot, free of expectation and regret, free of ambition and embarrassment, free of fear and worry. To know this spot of inwardness is to know who we are, not by surface markers of identity, not by where we work or what we wear or how we like to be addressed, but by feeling our place in relation to the Infinite and by inhabiting it. This is a hard lifelong task, for the nature of becoming is a constant filming over of where we begin, while the nature of being is a constant erosion of what is not essential. Each of us lives in the midst of this ongoing tension, growing tarnished or covered over, only to be worn back to that incorruptible spot of grace at our core.

Mark Nepo, Unlearning Back to God

Sunday quote: Body and soul

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File:Look Ma, I can Jump!.jpg

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,

places to play in and pray in,

where Nature may heal and cheer

and give strength to body and soul alike

John Muir, The Yosemite

photo pam

Letting life’s lessons sink in

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allondon1 rocks

Another post inspired by the season of Lent, but a reminder for all of the value in slowing down, making space, “meandering” in life, rather than always focusing on driven, purpose-filled activities.

More than giving up or self-denial, Lent, when practiced intentionally, can allow time for self-examination, reflection, and preparation. It’s a time of slowing down, intentionally, so that life is given a chance to sink in, not just run off in so many directions. Induced meandering, if you will.  The slowing that is an inherent part of Lent is not just for the sake of slowing down, but so that life can sink in. In so doing, this season of irrigation provides health and vitality long after its rains have passed. Lent offers us an opportunity to slow down, to meander rather than to rush, to allow life to sink in a bit, to find ways to go deeper and not always stay on the surface. A time to observe, to pay attention, and then to act — and in so doing provide the space to move from rush to replenish. When we take this practice seriously, we plant its blessings so that they benefit not only us in our lives for this season, but also extend to the world around us.

Erin Dunigan, The Induced Meandering of the Lenten Season

The open space

Karl Duffy6 Comments

File:Wicklow Mountains National Park Glenealo Valley 02.JPG

Yesterday was a lovely Spring morning and I was driving through the beautiful countryside of Co Wicklow to start an MBSR Course in Arklow. The mountains in the distance, the lambs playing in the fields, and the brightness of the light made it easy to feel a mind that was spacious. When that happens I find that I do not struggle with life as much. And our meditation practice is simply that – letting the mind settle, become more spacious and resting in that.

There is a foundation for our lives, a place in which our life rests. That place is nothing but the present moment, as we see, hear, experience what is. If we do not return to that place, we live our lives out of our heads. We blame others; we complain; we feel sorry for ourselves. All of these symptoms show that we’re stuck in our thoughts. We’re out of touch with the open space that is always right here.

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special

photo j h jansens

Teach us to sit still

Karl Duffy4 Comments

Still-Water

For the Week that is in it, an extract from TS Elliot, Ash Wednesday:

Blessed sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit of the garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated

And let my cry come unto Thee.

Moment by moment

Karl Duffy2 Comments

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We do not remember days,

We remember moments

Cesare Pavese 1908 – 1950 Italian poet and novelist

photo Catherine Scott