Even the long-beloved
was once an unrecognized stranger.
Just so, the chipped lip of a blue-glazed cup,
blown field of a yellow curtain,
might also,
flooding and falling,
ruin your heart.
A table painted with roses.
An empty clothesline.
Each time,
the found world surprises –
that is its nature.
And then
what is said by all lovers:
“What fools we were, not to have seen.”
Jane Hirshfield, Meeting the Light Completely
Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future
but from wanting to control it
Kahlil Gibran
More John O ’Donohue after some very windy and rainy days…
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.
Do not say, ‘It is morning,’
and dismiss it with a name of yesterday.
See it for the first time
as a new-born child that has no name.
Every child comes with the message
that God is not yet discouraged of man. Everything comes to us that belongs to us, if we create the capacity to receive it.
Rabindranath Tagore
When we recognize and become grounded in awareness of awareness, the “wind” of emotion may still blow.
But instead of being carried away by the wind, we turn our attention inward, watching the shifts and changes with the intention of becoming familiar with that aspect of consciousness that recognizes Oh, this is what I’m feeling, this is what I’m thinking. As we do so, a bit of space opens up within us. With practice, that space — which is the mind’s natural clarity — begins to expand and settle.
We can begin to watch our thoughts and emotions without necessarily being affected by them quite as powerfully or vividly as we’re used to. We can still feel our feelings, think our thoughts, but slowly our identity shifts from a person who defines him or herself as lonely, ashamed, frightened, or hobbled by low self-esteem to a person who can look at loneliness, shame, and low self-esteem as movements of the mind.
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, The Aim of Attention
Ireland is under a red storm warning for today, but what is being called the worst storm ever to hit the country passing over. People have been asked to “shelter in place”…
If you live the life you love, you will receive shelter and blessings.
Sometimes the great famine of blessings in and around us derives from the fact that we are not living the life we love; rather, we are living the life that is expected of us. We have fallen out of rhythm with the secret signature and light of our own nature.
John O’Donohue
Mindfulbalance 