Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened.
Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
Rumi
photo kevin higgins
A lot of rain these last few days….
Be silent,
as when the rain stops,
and the trees in the orchard
begin to draw moisture
up into themselves.
Rumi, You are the Only Student you Have
photo keith salvesan
Some of the sentiments expressed around New Year – or the current fad of people posting pictures online – can lead us to think that looking to the future, or looking for happiness somewhere other than where we are, is good for our mental health. These beautiful few lines from Rumi – an extract from a longer inspiring poem – reminds us that it is in this moment, in what is right here, and not in our concepts, is where we need to keep our awareness.
Forget the future.
I’d worship someone who could do that.
On the way you may want to look back, or not.
But if you can say, There’s nothing ahead,
there will be nothing there.
Rumi,
from Coleman Barks, Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing
photo kevin law
With life as short as a half taken breath,
don’t plant anything but love.
Rumi
photo gila national forest
Try not to resist the changes that come your way.
Instead let life live through you.
And do not worry that your life is turning upside down.
How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?
Rumi
photo schiwago
Everyone is overridden by thoughts;
that’s why they have so much heartache and sorrow.
At times I give myself up to thought purposefully;
But when I choose, I spring up from those under its sway.
I am like a high-flying bird, and thought is a gnat:
How should a gnat overpower me?
Rumi
photo andrew bowden
Mindfulbalance 