If you find yourself doubting or hesitating today…
The next time you encounter fear, consider yourself lucky. This is where the courage comes in. Usually we think that brave people have no fear. The truth is that they are intimate with fear. When I was first married, my husband said I was one of the bravest people he knew. When I asked him why, he said because I was a complete coward but went ahead and did things anyhow.
Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart
photo dwight sipler
“All is always now,” says T. S. Eliot.
This statement implies a profound insight: Not only is the now not in time; time is in the now.
When the future comes, it will be now, and any past event becomes now as we remember it. There is only one now. It cannot be multiplied; it simply is.
The now is the opposite of time.
In fact, this is Augustine’s definition: “Eternity is the now that does not pass away.”
A happiness anchored in the now is eternal.
David Steindl-Rast, A Basic Human Approach to Happiness
photo Brian Robert Marshall
Another Monday morning. For some the beginning of a work week can come too soon, the weekend not allowing enough time to relax and wind down. Even from early the mind starts to speed up and get sucked into the details. To balance this, the wisdom and faith traditions place our daily and weekly activities in a wider context, allowing us to see beyond the dramas which play out in our minds, with us at the center. They remind us that to hold a bigger, slower, perspective, and to notice little moments of wonder as they present themselves to us, this day.
The sun,
with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it,
can still ripen a bunch of grapes
as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
Galileo
1.
Japanese teacher says:
At first light, rise.
Don’t hover between
sleep and waking,
this makes you heavy,
puts a stone inside your heart.
The minute you drift back to shore,
anchor. Breathe.
Remember your deepest name.
2.
Sometimes objects stun me,
bamboo strainer, gray mug,
sitting exactly where
they were left.
They have not slept
or dreamt of lost faces.
I touch them carefully,
saying, tell me what you know.
3.
Cup of waves,
strawberry balanced
in a seashell.
In morning the water seems
clear to the bottom.
No fish blocks my view.
Naomi Shihab Nye, Breaking the Fast
photo thor
I heard a man say a poem once,
he said,
‘All that lives is holy.’
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
As we go through our daily activities, we frequently get lost in thoughts of past and future, not staying grounded in the awareness of our bodies. A simple reminder that we’re lost in thought is the very common feeling of rushing. Rushing is a feeling of toppling forward. Our minds run ahead of us, focusing on where we want to go, instead of settling into our bodies where we are.
Learn to pay attention to this feeling of rushing — which does not particularly have to do with how fast we are going. We can feel rushed while moving slowly, and we can be moving quickly and still be settled in our bodies. Either way, we’re likely not present. If you can, notice what thought or emotion has captured the attention. Then, just for a moment, stop and settle back into the body: feel the foot on the ground, feel the next step.
Joseph Goldstein, A Heart Full of Peace
