Whatever is happening, whatever is changing, whatever is going or not going according to my plans
— I release my hold on all of it.
I leave behind who I think I am, who I want to be, what I want the world to be.
I come home to the great peace of the present moment.
Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open, How Difficult Times Can Help us Grow
photo Daniel Mayer
True freedom is living as if you had completely chosen
whatever you feel or experience in this moment.
This inner alignment with the Now is the end of suffering
Eckhart Tolle, Silence Speaks
photo Sharada Prasad
Everything is meant to be let go of.
Meister Eckhart
A little more from Rilke, because sometimes he says it best. Changes of direction and endings are an inevitable part of our lives, but can be difficult especially if we do not choose them. Our instinct is to look for certainty, for solid ground, when in actual fact, the deep reality which we come to accept is that nothing is really lasting or solid.
And to die, which is the letting go
of the ground we stand on and cling to every day,
is like the swan, when he nervously lets himself down
into the water, which receives him gaily
and which flows joyfully under
and after him, wave after wave,
while the swan, unmoving and marvelously calm,
is pleased to be carried, each moment more fully grown,
more like a king, further and further on.
Rilke
In a world that lives like a fist
trust is no more than waking
with your hands open.
Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
photo angie garrett
I love the gentle kindness in these words, and they are so true of real love.
Sadly, they are far away from how we often treat ourselves.
We are not wholly bad or good
We who live our lives under Milk Wood
And Thou, I know will be the first
To see our best side, and not our worst.
Minister Eli Jenkin’s prayer in Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, sometimes known as the Sunset poem
photo wiliam warby
You mustn’t wish for another life. You mustn’t want to be somebody else.
What you must do is this:
“Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks.”
I am not all the way capable of so much, but those are the right instructions.
Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter
photo: trou
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