To know the ten thousand things,
know one well
Miyamoto Musashi, 1584 – 1645, The Book of Five Rings
photo joe mabel
Tag: Life
Its own terms
More wind and rain passing over Ireland this afternoon. Most conversations about the weather tend to judge it in terms of “normal” and “predictable”, when in fact it keeps surprising us in its variety and extremes. We often fall into the trap of thinking that it should fall in with our plans and in doing so we risk missing the richness of what actually happens.
It’s not all that hard to get enlightened; what is difficult is to keep giving up our sense of the world so that the world can come to us on its own terms, with its vast, pitiless, loving intelligence…we return to the simplest things with an immense recognition and gratitude.
Stephen Mitchell
photo don macauley
Wherever you are
There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Balance
Seek patience
and passion
in equal amounts.
Patience alone
will not build the temple.
Passion alone
will destroy its walls.
Maya Angelou
photo Golden Temple, Kyoto by Ellywa
Sunday Quote: Seeing
It is heaven itself to take what is given,
to see what is plain
Mary Oliver, Daisies
Our shifting energies
The source of our unease is the unfulfillable longing for a lasting certainty and security, for something solid to hold on to. Unconsciously we expect that if we could just get the right job, the right partner, the right something, our lives would run smoothly. [Instead,] we are encouraged to get comfortable with, begin to relax with, lean into, whatever the experience may be. We are encouraged to drop the storyline and simply pause, look out, and breathe. Simply be present for a few seconds, a few minutes, a few hours, a whole lifetime, with our own shifting energies and with the unpredictability of life as it unfolds, wholly partaking in all experiences just exactly as they are.
Pema Chodron, Taking the Leap
