The question we need to ask ourselves is whether there is any place we can stand in ourselves where we can look at all that’s happening around us without freaking out, where we can be quiet enough to hear our predicament, and where we can begin to find ways of acting that are at least not contributing to further destabilization
Ram Dass
The paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin carried a notebook in which he had written, among other things, a morning prayer:
“Be pleased yet once again to come down
and breathe a soul into the newly formed, fragile film of matter
with which this day the world is to be freshly clothed.”
The ocean of suffering is immense, but if you turn around, you can see the land. The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don’t wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy. When one tree in the garden is sick, you have to care for it. But don’t overlook all the healthy trees. Even while you have pain in your heart, you can enjoy the many wonders of life — the beautiful sunset, the smile of a child, the many flowers and trees. To suffer is not enough. Please don’t be imprisoned by your suffering.
Thich Nhat Hanh
When we wake up in bed on Monday morning and think of the various hurdles we’ve got to jump that day, immediately we feel sad. Bored and bothered.
Whereas actually we’re just lying in bed.
Alan Watts
There are years that ask questions and years that answer
Zora Neale Hurston, 1891 – 1960 African American author and anthropologist
Through the most simple things which we do all the time,
we can feel out to which degree we honor everything with our inner attention.
Charlotte Selver
