The deepest words of the wise …teach us
the same as the whistle of the wind when it blows
or the sound of the water when it is flowing
Antonio Machado, Spanish poet, 1875 – 1939
Tag: Joy
Let go
As the days begin to shorten, we are reminded that darkness is as much of life as is light. And each day we have moments of birth and moments of loss. They give an opportunity in the practice of taking some aspects of ourselves and our lives with less importance, of letting go or dying to our fixed sense of self:
Die while you’re alive
and be absolutely dead.
Then do whatever you want:
it’s all good.
Bunan, 17th century Zen Master.
The third noble truth says that the cessation of suffering is letting go of holding on to ourselves. By “cessation” we mean the cessation of hell as opposed to just weather, the cessation of this resistance, this resentment, this feeling of being completely trapped and caught, trying to maintain huge ME at any cost.
Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness
Making the most of today
In most wisdom traditions there are practices where we remind ourselves of the fact that we will all grow ill and die, as a basic truth of human nature. In the Western Churches remembering those who have gone before us occurs at the start of November, as they took over the pre-existing importance of this time in the Celtic calendar. These practices are mainly designed to allow wisdom to grow and to encourage us to fully live each day, to see each day as a gift.
We must make good use of this life for the time we have left.
This brief flash of light, like the sun appearing through the clouds.
Kalu Rinpoche
Gratitude as a choice
Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. It is amazing how many occasions present themselves in which I can choose gratitude instead of a complaint. I can choose to grateful when I am criticized, even when my heart still responds in bitterness. I can choose to speak about goodness and beauty, even when my inner eye still looks for someone to accuse or something to call ugly.
Henri Nouwen
Seeing life freshly
It’s a Bank Holiday, or long weekend, here in Ireland, so one immediately feels as if there is more time to slow down and take a break from the rushing which the working week inevitably impresses on the mind. A certain space enters, allowing us to see things more lightly, or to see them with eyes that have the room to appreciate them:
Childhood is not a state which only applies to the first phase of our lives in the biological sense.
Rather it is a basic condition which is always appropriate to a life that is lived aright.
Karl Rahner, Catholic Theologian, 1904 – , 1984
Letting time be
Once in a while
I just let time wear on,
leaning against a
solitary pine
standing speechless…
as does the whole universe!
Ah, who can share
this solitude with me?
Ryokan (1758 – 1831)
Mindfulbalance 