Speech and silence

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I’ve been thinking about something for a long time, and I keep noticing that most human speech – if not all human speech – is made with the outgoing breath. This is the strange thing about presence and absence. When we breath in, our bodies are filled with nutrients and nourishment. Our blood is filled with oxygen, our skin gets flush; our bones get harder – they get compacted. Our muscles get toned and we feel very present when we’re breathing in. The problem is, that when we’re breathing in, we can’t speak. So presence and silence have something to do with each other.

Li-Young Lee

photo epSos.de

Running

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We are so engaged in doing things
to achieve purposes of outer value
that we forget the inner value,
the rapture that is associated with being alive
is what it is all about
James Campbell
photo adam Diaz

Being pulled away

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In our world we are constantly pulled away from our innermost self

and encouraged to look for answers,

instead of listening to the questions.

Henri Nouwen, Reaching out: the Three movements of the Spiritual Life

Happy to be alive

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I heard a bird congratulating itself
all day for being a jay.
Nobody cared. But it was glad
all over again, and said so, again

William Stafford, News Every Day

photo Magnus Manske

Taking people for granted

mad hatter3

Day and night,  gifts keep pelting down on us.

If we were aware of this, gratefulness would overwhelm us. But we go through life in a daze.

A power failure makes us aware of what a gift electricity is; a sprained ankle lets us appreciate walking as a gift, a sleepless night, sleep.

How much we are missing in life

by noticing gifts only when we are suddenly deprived of them.

David Steindal-Rast

photo: forS

This day… contains all

 

mad hatter flowers

Not the intense moment

Isolated,  with no before or after,

But a lifetime burning in every moment

TS Eliot, Four Quartets