Tag: Present moment

Seasons

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The first of May marks the start of Summer in the old Celtic way of dividing the seasons

The heart’s seasons seldom coincide with the calendar. Who among us has not been made desolate beyond all words upon some golden day when the little creatures of the air and meadow were life incarnate, from sheer joy of living? Who among us has not come home, singing, when the streets were almost impassable with snow, or met a friend with a happy, smiling face, in the midst of a pouring rain?

The soul, too, has its own hours of Winter and Spring.

Myrtle Reed 1874 – 1911, American author, poet, journalist, and philanthropist.

Holding the tension

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We must learn to hold the tension between the reality of the moment and the possibility that something better might emerge. The insight at the heart of nonviolence is that  we live in a tragic gap – a gap between the way things are and the way we know they might be. It is a gap that never has been and never will be closed. If we want to live nonviolent lives, we must learn to stand in the tragic gap, faithfully holding the tension between reality and possibility in hopes of being opened to a third way.  

Parker J. Palmer

Resting on the waves

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To find the Buddhist law, drift east and west, come and go, entrusting yourself to the waves.

Ryokon, 18th Century Zen poet

The “Buddhist law” refers to the truth of how things really are. We can’t understand the nature of reality until we let go of controlling our experience.There’s no way to see clearly what’s going on if on some level we’re attempting to ignore or bypass the stormy weather.

By not resisting, by letting the waves wash through me, I began to relax. Rather than fighting the stormy surges, I rested in an ocean of awareness that embraced all the moving waves. I’d arrived in a sanctuary that felt large enough to hold whatever was going on in my life.

Tara Brach, Entrusting Yourself to the Waves

Restricted by labels

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Keep asking “What idea of self have I dreamed up today?

Zenkei Blanche Hartman,1926-2016, Soto Zen teacher

Sunday Quote: Be fully present

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If we live everything,

life will be faithful to us.  

John O’Donohue

In front of you

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A drop of water has the tastes of the water of the seven seas: there is no need to experience all the ways of worldly life.

The reflections of the moon on one thousand rivers are from the same moon: the mind must be full of light.


Hung Tzu-Ch’eng, 1572-1620, Chinese Philosopher