Stay in the present

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The mind that tries to shape tomorrow beyond its capacities
will find no rest.

Rumi, That lives in Us

Sunday Quote: Miracles

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A miracle is often the willingness to see the common

in an uncommon way.

Noah benShea

A walk in the woods

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I dream of a quiet man who explains nothing and defends nothing

but only know where the rarest wildflowers are blooming

and who goes

and finds that he is smiling not by his own will

Wendell Berry

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Gifts, every morning

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One is never lacking in opportunities each day to be happy,

as the wonderful G.K. Chesterton reminded us in 1908:

The test of all happiness is gratitude.

Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets.

Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he puts in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs?

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A psalm on acceptance

tree at nightEven in the midst of great pain, Lord,
     I praise you for that which is.
I will not refuse this grief
     or close myself to this anguish.
Let shallow men pray for ease:
     “Comfort us; shield us from sorrow.”
I pray for whatever you send me,
     and I ask to receive it as your gift.
You have put a joy in my heart
     greater than all the world’s riches.
I lie down trusting the darkness,
     for I know that even now you are here.

Psalm 4, from Stephen Mitchell, A Book of Psalms: Selected and Adapted from the Hebrew.

Still point

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Stay at the center of the circle

and let all things take their course

Tao Te Ching, 19