Why cannot we be content with the secret gift of happiness that is offered to us, without consulting the rest of the world?
Why do we insist rather on a happiness that is approved by magazines and TV?
Perhaps because we do not believe in a happiness that is given to us for nothing? We do not think we can be happy with a happiness that has no price tag on it.
Thomas Merton
Cold nights followed by wind and rain. Grey winter weather causing colds and flu, as the holiday season is well and truly over.
Each one of us has lived through some devastation, some loneliness, some weather superstorm or spiritual superstorm, when we look at each other we must say, I understand. I understand how you feel because I have been there myself. We must support each other and empathize with each other because each of us is more alike than we are unalike.
Maya Angelou
A good intention for this year would not necessarily be to do more, but to turn up fully for our lives and experience deeply the beauty in each moment:
The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed,
whether or not we will or sense them.
The least we can do is try to be there.
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
And that is just the point… how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response.
That’s the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning.
“Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?”
Mary Oliver
The Christian calendar today remembers the story in the gospel of Matthew which tells how King Herod ordered the killing of all the children in an attempt to murder Jesus. It is striking that this feast day is celebrated just a few days after the celebration of Christmas, which is associated with joy. It draws attention to the reality of our changing experience, that sadness can follow joy very quickly, or disappointment come when least expected. Or maybe to the reality of the world, as many people experience violence and hatred every day, no matter what time of year.
To experience peace does not mean that your life is always blissful.
It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life.
Jill Boite Taylor, American neuroanatomist.
Life is known only by those who have found a way to be comfortable with change and the unknown. Given the nature of life, there may be no security, but only adventure.
Rachel Naomi Remen
photo Vienna heldenplatz
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