Metaphors to live by

Spring is a metaphor for transitions. It moves from lifelessness to life and we move from lifelessness to life in each cycle of breathing. If we know change is going to occur we are in a better place to accept it. If we expect things to stay constant we are vulnerable to frustration, disappointment, and resistance.

Spring is also a metaphor for forgiveness. Whatever happened in the last season, life begins anew with no carryover resentment from the past. Spring reminds us, as Pema Chodron says, to start where we are.

Spring shows us the cycle of living and dying on a bigger scale do. Everything comes into being and goes out of being — changing its form.  Spring invites us not to become attached to things, even the most precious things in our life. The invitation is to love things wholeheartedly with the awareness that they will not be with us forever. And, indeed, we, ourselves, will not be here forever. The invitation is to not be afraid to grieve when that grief becomes necessary. Grief is, at times, the admission price to the present moment.

So welcome spring and your multifaceted metaphors for mindful living!

Arnie Kozak, on Beliefnet

This day (this month) contains all

Drink your tea slowly and reverently,

as if it as the axis on which the world revolves

Thich Nhat Hanh

Zen teaches that our approach to today determines our whole approach to life.

The Japanese call this attitude Ichi-nichi issho:

‘Each day is a lifetime.’

Philip Toshio Sudo, Zen 24/7

Sunday Quote: We do not always need to know what is happening

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Another quote on accepting that there are reasons we cannot see and that we do not always have to be in control.

Prompted by the swallows returning yesterday : 

Break open the cherry tree:

But where are the blossoms?

Wait for spring time and see how they bloom!

Ikkyu, Zen Buddhist monk and poet, 1394 – 1481

photo andrew bossi

Radiate joy

This is the primary…affirmation within all of Scripture…
To believe that we and our world are good, very good; 

to take delight in our lives and in each other; 

 to live lives that radiate joy rather than depression, boredom, and resentment;

well … that sounds simple and easy, but remains a rare thing that’s seldom accomplished.

The most important challenge that all of us face in life is to….bless rather than to curse!

Ron Rolheiser, Blessing and Cursing Life

 

Learning to be open

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I sit before flowers
hoping they will train me in the art
of opening up

Shane Koyczan,  22 May 1976, Canadian poet and writer

photo katrina wiese

What Springtime teaches us

Heaven and Earth give themselves.

Air, water, plants, animals, and humans give themselves to each other.

It is in this giving-themselves-to-each-other that we actually live.

Whether you appreciate it or not, it is true.

Kodo Sawaki, 1880 – 1965, Japanese Sōtō Zen teacher