What if the path to happiness is not
bringing order into the mess of our lives
but instead relaxing amid the mess
and rejoicing in its aliveness and beauty
Haemin Sunim, Korean Zen Buddhist Teacher, When Things Don’t go your Way
Amid the mess
Tag: Awareness
Claim the joy
This is a real discipline. It requires choosing for the light even when there is much darkness to frighten me, choosing for life even when the forces of death are so visible, and choosing for the truth even when I am surrounded with lies.
The reward of choosing joy is joy itself. Living among people with mental disabilities has convinced me of that. There is so much rejection, pain, and woundedness among us, but once you choose to claim the joy hidden in the midst of all suffering, life becomes celebration. Joy never denies the sadness, but transforms it to a fertile soil for more joy.
Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son
Empty your boat
If you were crossing a river and an empty boat collides with your boat,
even if you were bad-tempered, you would not become very angry.
But if you see a man in the boat, he will shout at him to steer clear, and if the shout was not heard, you will shout again, and yet again, and begin cursing.
Yet if the boat were empty, you would not be shouting, and not be angry.
So, if you can empty your own boat crossing the river of the world,
no one will oppose you, no one will seek to harm you….
Such is the perfect person: their boat is empty.
Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu
Sunday Quote: An older wisdom
The times are urgent,
Let us slow down
African Saying, quoted by Bayo Akomolafe in A Slower Urgency
with the heart
truly I know
our part is not knowing,
but looking, and touching, and loving,
which is the way I walked on,
softly,
through the pale-pink morning light.
Mary Oliver, Bone [extract]
A calm mind
The nearer a person comes to a calm mind
the closer they are to strength
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
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