We humans have a tendency to lean into the future or to seek something “more exciting” than what is in front of us. The challenge is to be fully awake and fully invested in the completeness of the present moment.
The moon and the sun are eternal travellers.
Even the years wander on.
A lifetime adrift in a boat or old age leading a tired horse into the years,
every day is a journey and the journey itself is home
Matsuo Basho, 17th century Japanese poet, Narrow Road to the Interior.
I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you
Clarissa-Pinkola-Estés
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder, or stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. His eyes are closed.
Albert Einstein
Life is so full of mystery, answers are so few, I do not trust them. I prefer unanswered questions. At the end of the answers there is usually a person who enjoys the power of appearing to know.
I have come to like things that are left unfinished. Its the question that shines the light, that seeks. The answer’s often just a dim reflection of the vastness of the question. There are no answers that satisfy. This is a small life and everything comes to nothing at the end. I like that. I like the idea of smallness and the wonder of basic human things.
from the lovely little book, Marc Hamer, A Life in Nature, or how to catch a mole
Seven offerings that cost nothing . . .
A compassionate eye, a smiling face, loving words, a warm heart, physical service, a seat, and lodging.
The Buddha
One of our frequent chants includes this phrase: May this holy life lead us to the end of this whole mass of suffering.
Essentially, we’re looking at a way of life, of living. It’s not a particular detail but the whole thing. Of course, we can have special sessions, retreats or occasions within that, but they’re all part of the bigger picture. The big picture is one of purifying kamma, and ending kamma. This means that through our actions and intentions, we purify from delusion, hatred, greed, fear, jealously, mistrust, avarice, ambitions, the whole lot of obsessiveness. It is through this that the mind can be level, open, and realize. Realization can occur; deathlessness. The beauty of this is the very web of training – the forms and instructions we use in order to open and let go – cover our entire way of living.
Ajahn Sucitto
Mindfulbalance 