But maybe that’s the way it should be.
Maybe working on the little things as dutifully and honestly as we can is how we stay sane when the world is falling apart
Haruki Murakami, Samsa in Love
The little things
Tag: Life
May your wings protect us
Lead us to those we are waiting for,
Those who are waiting for us.
May your wings protect us,
may we not be strangers in the lush province of joy.
Remember us who are weak.
You who are strong in your country which lies beyond the thunder,
Raphael, angel of happy meeting,
resplendent, hawk of the light.
Charles Wright, American Poet, 1935 – , Flannery’s Angel
The five remembrances
Reminders to live fully, with joy and a deep appreciation of this precious human life.
The Buddha recommends that we recite the “Five Remembrances” every day:
1. I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.
2. I am of the nature to have ill-health. There is no way to escape having ill-health.
3. I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.
4. All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
5. My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand.
Thich Nhat Hahn
A daily practice
There is dying in the sense of letting this body go, letting go of feelings, emotions, these things we call our identity, and practicing to let those go.
The trouble is, we don’t let ourselves die day by day. Instead, we carry ideas about each other and ourselves. Sometimes it’s good, but sometimes it’s detrimental to our growth. We brand ourselves and imprison ourselves to an idea.
Letting go is a practice not only when you reach 90. It’s one of the highest practices. This can move you toward equanimity, a state of freedom, a form of peace.
Waking up each day as a rebirth, now that is a practice.
Brother Phap Dung, Plum Village senior disciple, Thich Nhat Hanh’s final mindfulness lesson: how to die peacefully
Too small a story
People often discover at the time of their death that they’re much more than the small, separate self they’ve taken themselves to be. What’s amazing to me is that we take all that we are and shrink it down to such a small story. And then live into that story as if it were true. At the end of their life, people realize they were living in too small a story.
We have this term that we use “later”. Its very comfortable, this term “later”. It’s always gonna be later: “I’ll get to that later” or “Death will come later”. I think it gives us a comfortable distance from this experience that’s rather mysterious to us. Death is not just happening to us at the end of a long road. Its always with us. It’s in the marrow of every passing moment. I call it “the secret teacher that’s hiding in plain sight” that helps us to discover really what matters.
Frank Ostaseski, What the living can learn from the dying
White and black
The start of November has traditionally been a time to reflect on themes of letting go and impermanence and for remembering those who have passed on on before us.
In life, nothing dwells. The wind blows and then stops. The blossoms burst forth and then fall. Things come and go. The melody drifts back onto an aching E flat and then back to E again. The song of your life is played on white and black keys. Sadness is … an essential truth of human life. But let’s not dwell there. Not while the song is still playing.
Karen Maizen Miller, Be Sad
Mindfulbalance 