Even in beautiful places, we all have to be with different kinds of limitations: we look for an ideal life, but even in nature not every fruit is perfect in shape or colour:
I decided that the most subversive, revolutionary thing I could do
was to show up for my life
and not be ashamed.
Anne Lamott, Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year
Sometimes unexpected winds blow. It is best to find strength within oneself at moments like this:
You too are a tree. During a storm of emotions, you should not stay at the level of the head or the heart, which are like the top of the tree. You have to leave the heart, the eye of the storm, and come back to the trunk of the tree. Your trunk is one centimeter below your navel. Focus there, paying attention only to the movement of your abdomen, and continue to breathe.
Thích Nhat Hạnh
Express yourself completely, then keep quiet.
Strong winds do not last all morning,
And the heavy rains do not last all day.
What causes them?
Heaven and Earth.
If Heaven and Earth cannot make things last forever,
How can we?
Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching
Sanctuary is wherever I find safe space to regain my bearings, reclaim my soul, heal my wounds, and return to the world as a wounded healer. It’s not merely about finding shelter from the storm: it’s about spiritual survival. Today, seeking sanctuary is no more optional for me than church attendance was as a child.
Sometimes I find it in churches, monasteries, and other sites designated as sacred.
But more often I find it in places sacred to my soul: in the natural world, in the company of a trustworthy friend, in solitary or shared silence, in the ambience of a good poem or good music.
Parker Palmer, Seeking Sanctuary in our own Sacred Places
The earth always accepts what the sky throws down.
African Proverb
The heart is quiet rather than noisy, intuitive rather than deductive,
lives entirely in the present moment and is at every moment accepting of reality as it is.
Moreover, the heart does not seek to distance itself from, or dominate anything or anyone by labeling. It accepts rather than rejects, finding similarity rather than alienation and likeness rather than difference.
Your heart knows no fear, it experiences no desire, and never finds the need to defend or justify itself. It is patient and undemanding. It nourishes our bodies in every moment.
Little wonder then, that the mind – always impatient and very demanding – manages to dominant the heart so thoroughly.
Archimandrite Meletios Webber
photo rosino
