We often prefer to live in our ideas or dreams about life and not where it actually is.
Experiencing,
rather than trying to have special experiences
is where real freedom lies
Ezra Bayda, At Home in the Muddy Water
photo jaka ostrovrsnik
Tag: Life
Sunday Quote: Walk with reverence, don’t rush through life
When we walk on the earth with reverence,
beauty will decide to trust us
The rushed heart and arrogant mind
lack the gentleness and patience to enter that embrace,
John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible embrace
What makes life beautiful?
Some reflections from Brother Roger of Taize who I once met when I spent a silent retreat there. He was a good and kindly man, and outlines here an approach which can shape our whole attitude to this day and to life:
Are there realities which make life beautiful
and of which it can be said that they bring a kind of fulfillment, an inner joy?
Yes, there are. And one of these realities bears the name of trust.
Do we realize that what is best in each of us is built up through a simple trusting?
This is something even a child can do.
Br Roger of Taize
photo nicor
See your own strength
Oh soul, you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength. You have seen your own beauty. You have seen your golden wings.
Of anything less, why do you worry?
You are in truth the soul, of the soul, of the soul.
Rumi
photo Virginia state parks staff
The weather in our lives
Is it the bowl that rolls around the pearl,
or is it the pearl that rolls around the bowl?
Is it the weather that is cold,
or is it the person who is cold?
Think neither cold nor heat — at that moment, where is the self to be found?
Dogen (1200 – 1253) commentary on Dongshan’s (807–869) koan “Cold and Heat”
Spring has started early in Ireland with some days very mild, blossoms already on the trees and daffodils in full bloom. However, everyday is different and today is forecast wet and windy. A weather that is always in motion, hot and cold…
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche said “there is no cure for hot and cold”. He meant that our lives have periods of good things and bad, things may go well but we still have self-doubt. Our minds seem to be always in motion – a succession of thoughts and emotions, good intentions and petty thoughts, kindness followed by self-seeking.
Pema Chodron used the phrase to encourage us not to struggle but rather relax into life as it is. In this way, we not only can stop the complaining that goes on in our mind, but also be pleasantly surprised by what the weather of a day blows into our lives:
The way to dissolve our resistance to life is to meet it face to face. When we feel resentment because the room is too hot, we could meet the heat and feel its fieriness and its heaviness. When we feel resentment because the room is too cold, we could meet the cold and feel its iciness and its bite. When we want to complain about the rain, we could feel its wetness instead. When we worry because the wind is shaking our windows, we could meet the wind and hear its sound. Cutting our expectations for a cure is a gift we can give ourselves. There is no cure for hot and cold. They will go on forever.
Pema Chodron
We are more than we think we are
Having a spiritual life doesn’t mean striving to stop the rain from falling or keeping our hearts from breaking. It means letting go of our resistance and wilful separation. It means taking our place in the greater whole of life. This surrender tends to happen in moments of loss but also sometimes in moments of great love or moments when we have been spared. In those moments it’s natural to say or inwardly feel “Thy will be done,” I surrender, opening to the rain and the sun and all that will come, knowing that we and life is more than we think we are.
Tracy Cochran, The Golden Ticket
photo : gorkaazk
