A healing root

We all share a common story, with moments of weakness, wrong turns or unwanted places in our lives. However, if we see them wisely, they can become a fertile seedbed, bringing forth growth into the fullness of our lives.

Pay close attention to your mean thoughts.
That sourness may be a blessing,
as an overcast day brings rain for the roses
and relief to dry soil.
Don’t look so sourly on your sourness!
It may be it’s carrying what you most deeply need
and want. What seems to be keeping you from joy
may be what leads you to joy.
Don’t call it a dead branch.
Call it the live, moist root.
Don’t always be waiting to see
what’s behind it. That wait and see
poisons your Spirit.
Reach for it.
Hold your meanness to your chest
as a healing root,
and be through with waiting.

Rumi

Sunday Quote: love

The first duty of love is to listen.

Paul Tillich, 1886 – 1965,  German-American philosopher and  theologian

Past present and future

The past is already past — don’t try to regain it. 

The present does not stay, don’t try to touch it from moment to moment. 

The future is not come, don’t think about it beforehand.

Layman Pang, 740 – 808, Chinese Chan layman.

Always wanting things otherwise

The emotions that sting most, are those that are absurd: longing for impossible things, precisely because they are impossible; nostalgia for what never was; the desire for what could have been; regret over not being someone else; dissatisfaction with the world’s existence.

Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet, writer and philosopher, The Book of Disquiet

Whats actually happening

Experiencing,

rather than trying to have special experiences,

is where real freedom lies

Ezra Bayda, At Home in the Muddy Water

Choice

With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.

Wayne Dyer