Every person has a vocation to be someone:
but he must understand clearly that in order to fulfill this vocation
he can only be one person: himself.
Thomas Merton
Master Rinzai said ‘Place no head above your own’.
That is, to look outside of ourselves for true peace and satisfaction is hopeless.
Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen
My dear Lucilius, begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.
The one who has thus prepared himself, whose daily life has been a rounded whole, is easy in his mind; but those who live for hope alone find that the immediate future always slips from their grasp.
Seneca
Birdsong brings relief to my longing.
I am just as ecstatic as they are, but with nothing to say!
Please, universal soul, practice some song, or something, through me!
Rumi
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
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