Tag: heart

Keep knocking

Karl Duffy1 Comment

doorIt must be said that things do not always work out as we would like. This teaches us patience and trust.

However, sometimes we get news of  reward after long effort that is richly deserved. We don’t expect it, find it hard to believe,  and yet –  as Heaney says –  it is like a gust of wind that can catch “the heart off guard and blow it open”. This teaches us the unforced nature of  joy:

Work. Keep digging your well.
Don’t think about giving up from work.
Water is there somewhere.

Keep knocking, and the joy inside
will eventually open a window
and look out to see who’s there.

Rumi

Stop pushing

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File:African Elephant walking.JPG

In one of his insightful talks Zen master Shunryu Suzuki said that in your practice you should walk like an elephant. “If you can walk slowly, without any idea of gain, then you are already a good Zen student.” There’s a mantra for your religion: Walk like an elephant. It means to move at a comfortable pace. No rushing toward a goal. No push to make it all meaningful.

Thomas Moore, A Religion of One’s Own: A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World

photo charlesjsharp

with thanks to the always inspiring and nourishing blog https://davidkanigan.com/

Sunday Quote: Healing

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leaf

To heal

is to touch with love

that which we previously touched with fear.

Steven Levine

Stand back

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File:Domestic cat sleeping.JPG

Every day has enough trouble of its own

When you go to sleep

bury all that has happened in the mercy of God

It will be safe there

Stand back from what has happened

and be grateful for it all

When the new day begins

be sure that you yourself can be

new and pure as new light

It is like the resurrection

Rule for a New Brother

photo izemah

Who Knows?

Karl Duffy2 Comments

File:Dark Days Are Coming.jpg

We don’t know a lot. We don’t know much more than we know.

And it’s a relief to let go of our attachment to views, our attachment to opinions, especially about things we don’t know.

A new mantra began to form in my mind: “Who knows?”

This not-knowing is not a quality of bewilderment; it’s not a quality of confusion. It actually is like a breath of fresh air, an openness of mind.

Not knowing is simply holding an open mind regarding these very interesting questions to which we might not yet have answers.

Joseph Goldstein

photo Taro Taylor

No matter what

Karl Duffy1 Comment

IMG_2565 (1)

I heard a man say a poem once,

he said,

‘All that lives is holy.’

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath