To be human is to be a conversation between what we think we know and the great mystery that surrounds us.
We are not here to conquer that mystery, but to live inside it, to let it shape us, to let it ask its impossible questions of us.
David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity
My rule is this: Love your own tender self. Forgive yourself for being a flawed, imperfect, bumbling human. Shower yourself with warmth. And then extend that tenderness, and forgiveness, and warmth toward every flawed, imperfect, bumbling human who crosses your path today. Every day, increase the warmth toward self and others. See past your annoyance and your pride and your fear into the warm heart of the other. Warmth to warmth. And then watch what unfolds. It will blow your mind with its simplicity and its power.
Elizabeth Lesser
On those Mondays, when the day or the week ahead feels challenging, I like the Japanese phrase “Ikki no mei” (喜の明) — roughly translated as “one small reason to keep going.” It helps me focus on a single, simple moment or action: a cup of coffee, or offering a smile or kind greeting to a colleague — these “micro-meanings” become small anchors that guide me through the day.
Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour
[French translation of the Our Father: Give us this day our bread for this day]
Knowing this, a wise person lives
the present moment, unshaken, unmoved.
Bhaddekaratta Sutta (MN 131)
Komorebi (木漏れ日) is a beautiful Japanese word for the light filtering through trees – everchanging – reminding us of the fleeting uniqueness of each moment.
Understanding this leads to a contentment with the Universe and with oneself.
Not a bad philosophy for a New Year…
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
Mary Oliver, When I am Among the Trees
The symbol of the heart has often been used to express love…… Some have questioned whether this symbol is still meaningful today. Yet living as we do in an age of superficiality, rushing frenetically from one thing to another without really knowing why, and ending up as insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of a market unconcerned about the deeper meaning of our lives, all of us need to rediscover the importance of the heart
Instead of running after superficial satisfactions and playing a role for the benefit of others, we would do better to think about the really important questions in life. Who am I, really? What am I looking for? What direction do I want to give to my life, my decisions and my actions? Why and for what purpose am I in this world? How do I want to look back on my life once it ends? What meaning do I want to give to all my experiences? …All these questions lead us back to the heart.
Pope Francis, Dilexit Nos
The great paradox … is that the more we let go of our grasping and clinging, the more we find ourselves filled with an unshakable sense of wholeness.
The practice of yoga is not about achieving some distant perfection but about uncovering the perfection that is already here, hidden beneath the layers of our conditioning
Stephen Cope, The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker’s Guide to Extraordinary Living
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