True freedom is living as if you had completely chosen
whatever you feel or experience in this moment.
This inner alignment with the Now is the end of suffering
Eckhart Tolle, Silence Speaks
photo Sharada Prasad
Tag: balance
Choosing
We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid,
or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us.
We always have this choice.
Pema Chodron
Enough light
Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, “How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?” There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.
Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
Donne–nous aujourd‘hui notre pain de ce jour
French translation Matthew 6:11
photo Sasikanth balachandran
Endings
Everything is meant to be let go of.
Meister Eckhart
A little more from Rilke, because sometimes he says it best. Changes of direction and endings are an inevitable part of our lives, but can be difficult especially if we do not choose them. Our instinct is to look for certainty, for solid ground, when in actual fact, the deep reality which we come to accept is that nothing is really lasting or solid.
And to die, which is the letting go
of the ground we stand on and cling to every day,
is like the swan, when he nervously lets himself down
into the water, which receives him gaily
and which flows joyfully under
and after him, wave after wave,
while the swan, unmoving and marvelously calm,
is pleased to be carried, each moment more fully grown,
more like a king, further and further on.
Rilke
What’s wrong with maybe
I have refused to live
locked in the orderly house of
reasons and proofs;
The world I live in and believe in
is wider than that. And anyway.
What’s wrong with Maybe?
You wouldn’t believe what once or
twice I have seen. I’ll just
tell you this:
only if there are angels in your head will you
ever, possibly, see one.
Mary Oliver, The World I live in
Inspired by s and with thanks to a-poem-a-day-project.blogspot.ie
photo robinhood22
Dropping the filter
A similar idea to yesterday’s, this time from the Eastern traditions, to guide us as we “wander” through this day. What we think we know can sometimes get in the way, or close us down, to what is happening before us:
Jizo asked Hogen, “Where are you going?”
“I just wander aimlessly” replied Hogen.
“What is the nature of your wandering,” asked Jizo.
“I don’t know,” replied Hogen.
“Not knowing is the most intimate,” replied Jizo.
And at this Hogen experienced great enlightenment.
Zen Story
One Zen story states, “Not knowing is most intimate.” I understand this to mean that what is most essential is not understood through the filter of our judgments, past knowledge, or memories. When not-knowing helps these to drop away, the result can be a greater immediacy – what some might call being intimate. This practice of beginner’s mind is to cultivate an ability to meet life without preconceived ideas, interpretations, or judgments.
Gil Fronsdal
photo: Pfctdayelise
