For autumn and its slow growing fruition
For that season of ultimate rise and fall
We give thanks.
May we gracefully rise to the occasion of our own falling,
Giving ourselves just enough time to go beyond time
To the great Now
At the quiet center of the turning wheels.
David Steindl-Rast, osb, Thanksgiving Song
Simply be with what’s here.
Shinzan Roshi, my teacher constantly uses the Japanese term “nari kiru” to express what we do here. “Nari” means literally “become” and “kiru” means “totally” or “completely”. So once you find tension or stress, don’t separate yourself from it; quite the opposite, be with it, become it. In that moment there is no gap between you and the sensation.
Julian Daizan Skinner and Sarah Bladen, Practical Zen for Health, Wealth and Mindfulness
This is a wonderful day.
I’ve never seen this one before
Maya Angelou
You can manage your mind in three primary ways:
Let be
Let go
Let in
Rick Hanson
The Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
If you feel like you’re running out of time, read this: You’re not. …there isn’t a designated time in life for anything, and although it’s hard not to, your timeline shouldn’t be compared to the person standing next to you. Just because the timing was right for them, doesn’t mean it would be right for you. There is enough happiness, love, and opportunity to go round, no matter when it happens. Your life shouldn’t feel like a race, because it isn’t one. Where there are fast days, there should be slow days that follow, days where you can reflect and recalibrate because everything you are going through right now is preparing you for the next chapter, every challenge directly informing the decisions that you’re about to make for yourself.
Being present will show you what is worth taking with you along the way as you navigate life because the destination won’t bring you peace unless you let the journey teach you who you are, and just how much capacity you have to experience change, both within yourself and in the world. You aren’t running out of time, so don’t be afraid to slow down. Things fall into place when we create space for them to.
Seyda Noir
All through your life, the most precious experiences seem to vanish. You look behind and see no sign even of a yesterday that was so intense. Yet in truth, nothing ever disappears, nothing is lost. Everything that happens to us in the world passes into us. It all becomes part of the inner temple of the soul and it can never be lost. This is the art of the soul: to harvest your deeper life from all the seasons of your experience.
This is probably why the soul never surfaces fully. The intimacy and tenderness of its light would blind us. We continue in our days to wander between the shadowing and the brightening, while all the time a more subtle brightness sustains us. If we could but realize the sureness around us, we would be much more courageous in our lives. The frames of anxiety that keep us caged would dissolve. We would live the life we love and in that way, day by day, free our future from the weight of regret.
John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace
