I saw the leaf leave the branch and float down to the soil, dancing joyfully,
because as it floated it saw itself already there in the tree.
It was so happy. I bowed my head,
and I knew that we have a lot to learn from the leaf
because it was not afraid;
it knew that nothing can be born and nothing can die.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Sometimes we try too hard, and then life has a way of revealing what we need
The early sun dissolves the mist
that has covered the mountain.
All night I have listened to the wise,
yet failed to learn.
Dimly, darkly, the eternal pines
rise without effort from the vanishing fog.
Xue Tao, c770–832, Chinese poet
We must shape life so
that at some future hour,
facts and dreams meet.
Victor Hugo
If you could only keep quiet,
– clear of memories and expectations –
you would be able to discern the beautiful pattern of events.
It is your restlessness that causes chaos.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, 1897 – 1981, Indian non dualist teacher
The last day of the year in the Christian calendar. Advent starts this evening
How many nights must it take
one such as me to learn
that we aren’t, after all, made
from that bird that flies out of its ashes,
that for us
as we go up in flames, our one work
is to open ourselves, to be
the flames?
Galway Kinnell, Another Night in the Ruins
The basic definition of meditation is “having a steady mind.” In meditation, when your thoughts go up, you don’t go up, and you don’t go down when your thoughts go down. Whether your thoughts are good or bad, exciting or boring, blissful or miserable, you let them be. You don’t accept some and reject others. You have a sense of greater space that encompasses any thought that may arise.
Chögyam Trungpa, Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior
Mindfulbalance 