All of us have a secret desire to be seen as heroes, saints, martyrs.
We are afraid to be children, to be ourselves.
Jean Vanier, Community and Growth
Tag: Gentleness
Walking through this world
A final post this week with connection to Saint Francis of Assisi, this time a poem about an imagined walk through the world. We walk quickly, to get to our destination. We keep our eyes on ourselves and our own concerns. Our fears keep us turned in on ourselves, comparing our life to what we think it should be. What if we walked slowly this weekend, noticing, paying attention.…..
I think God might be a little prejudiced.
For once He asked me to join Him on a walk through this world,
and we gazed into every heart on this earth,
and I noticed He lingered a bit longer
before any face that was weeping,
and before any eyes that were laughing.
And sometimes when we passed a soul in worship
God too would kneel down.
I have come to learn: God adores His creation.
Taken from Mala of the Heart: 108 Sacred Poems
Who others really are
To relate to others compassionately is a challenge. Really communicating to the heart and being there for someone else…means not shutting down on that person, which means, first of all, not shutting down on ourselves. This means allowing ourselves to feel what we feel and not pushing it away. It means accepting every aspect of ourselves, even the parts we dont like. Only in an open, non-judgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. Only in an open space, where we’re not all caught up in our own version of reality, can we see and hear and feel who others really are, which allows us to be with them and communicate with them properly.
Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart
Sunday Quote: Things are never 100% clear
The point is to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, someday far into the future, you will gradually,without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Kindness
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and to purchase bread
only kindness that raises its head
from the world to say
it is I you have been looking for
and goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
Naomi Shihab Nye, Words from Under the Words
How nature heals
These beautiful autumn days touch the heart and the spirit. Simply being out in nature can heal and restore us, without the need for words or explanations or ideas.
We can learn from it as to how to be with someone who is going through a time of difficulty:
I was sad one day and went for a walk; I sat in a field.
A rabbit noticed my sadness and came near
It often does not take more than that to help at times –
to just be close to creatures who are so full of knowing
so full of love, that they don’t
chat
they just gaze with their marvellous understanding.
John of the Cross
Mindfulbalance 