Tag: balance

Autumn: new beginnings

Karl Duffy11 Comments

A short note on the passing of time: I started this blog ten years ago this week, and, once I got going, have posted every day since then. Some of you have been with me since those early days, and I thank you for your support and encouragement. I am very grateful to everyone who stops by, even if just once.

I post to remind myself to begin anew every day and hope that the thoughts selected help you see the world in new  and fresh ways too.

That old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air… Another Fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.

Wallace Stegner, American Novelist and Pulitzer Prize winner, Angle of Repose

Abba Poemen said about Abba Pior that every single day he made a fresh beginning.

Abba Poemen, Egyptian monk, (c. 340–450)

Light in the darkness

Karl Duffy2 Comments

When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen….

Steady yourself and see
That it is your own thinking
That darkens your world,

Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light.

Know that you are not alone,
And that this darkness has purpose

John O’Donohue, For Courage (extract)

Where you actually are

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When you find your place where you actually are, practice occurs....

When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs…

Here is the place; Here the way unfolds

Dogen, 1200 – 1253, Genjōkōan: Actualizaing the Fundamental Point

What is the sacred?

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Wisdom consists in doing the next thing that you have to do,

doing it with your whole heart,

and finding delight in doing it.

And the delight is the sense of the sacred.

Helen Luke, 1904 – 1995, Jungian Analyst and writer

Walking in nature

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Rumi advised me to keep my spirit
up in the branches of a tree and not peek
out too far, so I keep mine in the very tall
willows along the irrigation ditch out back,
a safe place to remain unspoiled by the filthy
culture of greed and murder of the spirit.
People forget their spirits easily suffocate
so they must keep them far up in tree
branches where they can be summoned any moment.
It’s better if you’re outside as it’s hard for spirits
to get into houses or buildings or airplanes.

Jim Harrison, 1937 – 2016), American poet, novelist, and essayist, Dead Man’s Float

Observe

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So easy this week in Ireland, with beautiful Indian Summer days bathing the fields in light

Observe the wonders as they occur around you.
Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry
moving through, and be silent.

Rumi