Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning,
that without listening speaking no longer heals,
that without distance closeness cannot cure.
Henri Nouwen
Tag: heart
The different sides of wonder
Everything has its wonders,
even darkness and silence,
and I learn, whatever state I may be in,
therein to be content.
Hellen Keller
With thanks again to Ellen for the photo
Quiet miracles
Two extracts from John O’Donohue for this Saturday in Autumn, when we reflect on the fact that life moves on, and yet we can relate to it fully in any particular moment:
We live between the act of awakening and the act of surrender. Each morning we awaken to the light and the invitation to a new day in the world of time; each night we surrender to the dark to be taken to play in the world of dreams where time is no more. At birth we were awakened and emerged to become visible in the world. At death we will surrender again to the dark and become invisible. Awakening and surrender: they frame each day and each life; between them the journey where anything can happen, the beauty and the frailty
John O’ Donohue, Beauty
May anxiety never linger about you. May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul. Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention. Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul. May you experience each day as a sacred gift, woven around the heart of wonder.
From For Presence (with thanks to Kathy Lewis for reminding me of these words)
Being nothing for a while
The weekend allows us place the emphasis on being rather than doing. The mild autumn weather this year allows us do that in the sunshine and under the trees:
The dream of my life
Is to lie down by a slow river
And stare at the light in the trees –
To learn something by being nothing
A little while but the rich
Lens of attention
Mary Oliver, Entering the Kingdom
photo: Lehava activity 2013 Pikiwiki Israel
The right rhythm
The weekend can allow us get out into nature and into its pace, learning its balance and wisdom. It is a useful corrective to the speed which modern society – and workplaces – consider necessary, and to the importance which it places on passing trends:
The internal activity of analysis, speculation, memory, investigation, cross-referencing, decision-making, and self-evaluation can amount to a volume of overwhelming proportions. Then the experience of overload develops into one of exhaustion, or of a pressure in our lives that diminishes peace and joy… This is the loss of balance that we can rightly experience as being flooded.
It isn’t the world per se, nor is it that we are chronically unbalanced;
it’s just that the right relationship hasn’t been struck.
Ajahn Sucitto, Parami
The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure
with a liberal allowance of time.
Henry David Thoreau
photo of the Mourne mountains, County Down by ardfern
A solid place
I spent the weekend on retreat with Ajahn Sucitto in the West of Ireland, so the posts for the next day or two will focus on how we can ground ourselves in the face of changing moods or challenging circumstances, prompted by some of his words :
One of the fundamental ways of bringing the mind into the present moment is to focus on how we sense our own body. This bodily sense – that is awareness
of the sensations and energies that manifest in the body – is something immediate that we can contemplate. It gives us ground and balance. It gives us the sense of being where we are. Although this may seem basic and obvious, much of the time we are not grounded in where we really are. Instead we are ‘out there’ in a world of changing circumstance and reactions to that, without having a central reference.
Ajahn Sucitto, Meditation: A Way of Awakening
Do you believe there is some place that will make the soul less thirsty?
In that great absence you will find nothing.
Be strong then, and enter into your own body; There you have a solid place for your feet. Think about it carefully! Don’t go off somewhere else!
Kabir says this: just throw away all thoughts of imaginary things,
And stand firm in that which you are.
Kabir
photo chris phutully
Mindfulbalance 