Tag: Present moment

A larger purpose

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March 25th, The Feastday of the Annunciation

In her poem “Annunciation,” Denise Levertov suggests that the message the angel Gabriel brings to Mary is one that comes to each of us. We receive an intimation of some purpose larger and more challenging than anything we have imagined for ourselves, but all too often those strange and risky times….

“More often
those moments
when roads of light and storm
open from darkness in a man or woman,
are turned away from
in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
and with relief.
Ordinary lives continue.
God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.“

Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life

Manipulating the world

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Your mind has very little control over this world. It is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. It cannot control the weather and other natural forces. Nor can it control all people, places, and things around you. You have given your mind an impossible task by asking it to manipulate the world in order to fix your personal inner problems.

If you want to achieve a healthy state of being, stop asking your mind to do this. Just relieve your mind of the job of making sure that everyone and everything will be the way you need them to be so that you can feel better inside. 

Michael A. Singer, The Untethered Soul

Know your own song

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A bird gets up every morning and sings its song.

It does not wait to hear what other birds are singing, nor does it look to see if another bird is getting more notice. It knows its song innately and sings.

This is nature: knowing your own song

Michele Oka Doner, 1945 – American artist and author

Being peaceful at work

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Do your work,

then step back

– the only path to peacefulness.

Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Sunday Quote: the holy tree

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Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,
The holy tree is growing there

W.B. Yeats, Irish Poet, The Two Trees

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

True wealth

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For in the true nature of things,

if we rightly consider,

every green tree is far more glorious

than if it were made of silver or gold

Martin Luther King