A zen-like poem. What seems like a loss becomes clarity to see more riches.
Each day, less leaves
in the tree outside my window.
More leave, and every day
more sky. More of the far,
and every night more stars.
Li-Young Lee, Leaving
Don’t Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream.
When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements. Second Agreement
A nice poem for the weather we are having these days on this island on the edge of Europe. Insight deepens when we resist the urge to prematurely close meaning, allowing complexity to speak in its own time.
How would it be to allow for knowing
and not knowing: allowing room
for the mystery of creating
to be able to wonder softly
without needing to understand everything
to trust in the process, to trust in love
to trust in the mystery and wonder
of the universe
that beats softly wildly
true, all round about us,
that is hidden in the mists in the clouds and the rain
in the wind blowing and the rain lashing down on your window,
reminding you poetically, prosaically
that this is where you are,
on the island, at the edge,
in a place of finding and refinding,
and remembering to remember
the feel of the mist, wind and rain.
John O’ Donohue
The Universe conceals its workings, and the underlying meaning of things is not immediately evident;
Nature loves to hide
Φύσις κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ
Heraclitus, fragment B123
Ripeness is
what falls away with ease.
Not only the heavy apple, the pear,
but also the dried brown strands
of autumn iris from their core.
To let your body
love this world
that gave itself to your care
in all of its ripeness, with ease,
and will take itself from you
in equal ripeness and ease,
is also harvest.
And however sharply
you are tested —
this sorrow, that great love —
it too will leave on that clean knife
Jane Hirshfield,
Calming and stilling are the willingness to commit to just being wholeheartedly present in one moment at a time,
to commit to one breath,
to commit to the sense of our feet touching the ground.
To know this, we begin to train the mind.
Christina Feldman, Blindfolding Mara
Mindfulbalance 