Ester asked why people are sad.
“That’s simple,” says the old man. “They are the prisoners of their personal history. Everyone believes that the main aim is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. They accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people’s ideas, and it is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why they forget their dreams.”
Paulo Coehlo, The Zahir
Everybody is nothing until you love them
Tennessee Williams, The Rose Tattoo
Trust your heart
if the seas catch fire
(and live by love
though the stars walk backward)
e.e.cummings
Yesterday, Irish people wished everyone a “Happy Saint Patrick’s Day” or if in the Irish language, “the blessings of Saint Patrick’s Day”. But what do these related terms “Happy” and “Blessed” mean?
By happiness I mean a deep sense of flourishing which comes from an exceptionally heathy mind
This is not a mere pleasurable feeling, a fleeting emotion or a mood, but an optimal state of being
Happiness is also a way of interpreting the world, since while it may be difficult to change the world, it is always possible to change the way we look at it.
Matthieu Ricard, Happiness
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,
The holy tree is growing there
W.B. Yeats, Irish Poet, The Two Trees
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
In the Middle Ages, anyone could gain protection from other people – even the legal authorities – by simply running into a sacred building and saying the word “Sanctuary!” This ritual triggered a system of safety respected by everyone in the society.
Simple rituals like saying “Sanctuary!” signal to our bodies and minds that we’ve entered a sacred recovery space. By creating your own small rituals, you can teach your mind and body to drop into this healing state.
Once you have a place, a time, and a ritual, you can touch in with the peaceful energy of sanctuary any time you feel especially vulnerable. We can all recover a bit of peace, confidence, and hope whenever we need it. The door inside us – the state of mind that leads to peace – is real. It opens to an infinite sacred space in our own hearts, minds, and souls. And that is real as well. If we go there and ask for sanctuary, we can always find it. Little by little, breath by breath, our spirits can recover from anything.
Martha Beck Blog, How to seek sanctuary in a Time of Chaos
