Let your mind and heart release all that disturbs you.
Let your body be still, and all the frettings of your body, and all that surrounds it.
Let the earth and sea and air be still, and heaven itself;
and then think of spirit as streaming, pouring, rushing, and shining
into you, through you, and out from you in all directions while you sit quiet.
Eric Buttermore’s paraphrase of Plotinus, In the Flow of Life
Our daily efforts and failings. And all the while, there is beauty around us
I write, erase, rewrite,
Erase again, and then
A poppy blooms
Hokushi, 1603-1868, Japanese haiku poet.
Today I pass the time reading
a favorite haiku,
saying the few words over and over.
It feels like eating
the same small, perfect grape
again and again.
Billy Collins, PIcnic, Lightning [excerpt]
To be silent the whole day long, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and completely lazy, thoroughly and completely indifferent to the fate of the world is the finest medicine a man can give himself. The book-learning gradually dribbles away; problems melt and dissolve; ties are gently severed; the body becomes a new and wonderful instrument; you look at plants or stones or fish with different eyes.
Henry Millar, 1981 – 1980, The Colossus of Maroussi
The best meditation and, indeed, life instruction ….
The lillies!
The stems, just as they are,
the flowers, just as they are.
Matsuo Bashō, 1644 – 1694, Japanese poet, recognised as the greatest exponent of the haiku form.
Walking takes longer..than any other known form of locomotion, except crawling. Thus, it stretches time and prolongs life.
Life is already too short to waste on speed.
Edward Abbey, 1927 – 1989, American author, essayist and environmental advocate.
Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind.
The real you is loving, joyful, and free.
The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.
Miguel Angel Ruiz
