Music in honor of the day

Something else about time

Oh my. I really love this. It is marvelously encouraging and consoling:

The chief beauty about time
is that you cannot waste it in advance.
The next year, the next day, the next hour
are lying ready for you,
as perfect, as unspoiled,
as if you had never wasted or misapplied
a single moment in all your life.
You can turn over a new leaf every hour
if you choose.

-- Arnold Bennett, 1867-1931

You know, so many slogans and sayings of the "conventional wisdom" variety warn of the terrible consequences of wasting time. This takes a whole new approach.

And, anyway, what some people call "wasting time", I call giving myself permission just to be. We all need that. And people around us need it in us, too!

Free meditation posters

A little meditation joke!

Ha! This is kind of groan-worthy and cute at the same time:

My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position, compose my mind and senses, and sink into meditation, contemplating my novel.

-- Edward Abbey

Monday meditative picture blogging

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

A great moment

Ah. From one of my favorite spiritual writers (of blessed memory):

It is a great moment when you break out of the prison of negative self-criticism and develop a sense of the inner adventure of the soul.

— John O'Donohue in Eternal Echoes

It is a great moment, indeed. I wish it for all of you. Deeply. Earnestly.
~~~

Going within

Another reason for learning to meditate:

People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within.

Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul. Especially if you have other things to rely on. An instant’s recollection and there it is: complete tranquility. And by tranquility I mean a kind of harmony.

--Marcus Aurelius

Somthing about perseverence

Here's a quotation that was probably not meant to be a poem but works as one nevertheless:

Never Give Up
by Tenzin Gyatso

Never give up
No matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country is spent
developing the mind instead of the heart
Develop the heart,
Be compassionate
Not just to your friends but to everyone,
be compassionate
Work for peace in your heart and in the world
Work for peace, and I say again
Never give up
No matter what is happening
No matter what is going on around you
Never give up.

Tenzin Gyatso is, of course, the 14th Dalai Lama.

I don't think he means that we should cling to something that is not working or that we ought never to extricate ourselves from a situation that is clearly unhealthy. I think he is saying that we must never give up on using whatever happens in our lives as material -- both for our own spiritual growth and also for the sake of cultivating compassion, lovingkindness and empathy.

Something to cheer us up

Texas Bluebonnet

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Paul Rogers sent me one of those forwarded trivia emails and it happened to be about Texas. I really enjoyed it and I thought I'd share with you the part that truly gave me a little lift:

Need to be cheered up?

Happy, Texas 79042
Pep, Texas 79353
Smiley, Texas 78159
Paradise, Texas 76073
Rainbow, Texas 76077
Sweet Home, Texas 77987
Comfort, Texas 78013
Friendship, Texas 76530

Wouldn't it be lovely to be able to say that your home town is Friendship?

And here's another one that fun:

Earth, Texas 79031

I can just hear the conversation now.

"So, where're you from?"
"Oh, I'm from Earth."

Yeah, right. :-)
~~~

Tranquility assistance

I recommend that you watch this full screen. (Click the rectangular button that's the second one in from the right.)

Then use the video (both sound and visual aspects) as your meditative support for the five minutes that it runs.

Enjoy!

Something about true efficacy

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

A friend sent me the text of a speech today that contained the following quotation:

The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks.

-- Tennessee Williams

How wonderful! How encouraging! I will carry this with me as a mantra.

It's also about biding one's time, isn't it?

~~~

The Daffodil Principle

Krena White, one of the Center's board members, sent me this a couple of weeks ago and I just got around to watching it today. I'm so glad I did.

Our little Center is facing a quite a challenge due to the impending loss of my Diocesan job. This, right here, is what we need to remember:

Thank you, Krena!!!

Sweet - in a very nice sort of way!

Paul Rogers sent me this today and I thought I'd pass it on to all of you:

Thanks, Paul!!

Working skillfully with toxic thoughts

I've been a great admirer of Sandra Ingerman for many years now. This morning Beliefnet has published a little article called "10 Ways to Transform Toxic Thoughts ". These are taken from Ingerman's book, How to Heal Toxic Thoughts: Simple Tools for Personal Transformation . Here are two of the suggestions:

Breathe Through Your Heart

Breathing is one of the simplest ways to transform energy. This is an exercise you can do throughout your day: Place your hands on your heart and feel your heart moving as you breathe. This is calming, and feeds the energy of love, peace, and harmony in the world.

Look in a Mirror

Before reacting to a challenging situation, try emoting as you watch your reflection in a mirror. No one wants to see himself or herself acting out in a toxic way. You may feel silly, but don't let this stop you. Taking ourselves too seriously is one of the causes of negative thoughts.

Do click through and read the rest of them. Each one strikes me as really very powerful.
~~~

Wonderful encouragement!

My wonderful assistant and dear friend, Cynthia, handed me the above card the other day. Inside was a note in which she assured me that all would be well and that one day soon my face would look like the lady's face you see here!

Isn't that a hoot? I truly laughed out loud!

A current challenge I'm facing

Dear Readers,

Here's an email I sent out to a number of friends and family members last Friday:

Dear friends and loved ones,

This morning I received a certified letter from the bishop of Oklahoma informing me that, for financial reasons, my position with the diocese is being eliminated and that my employment will be discontinued effective December 31, 2009.

I had already begun the process of petitioning for early retirement and was hoping to qualify for medical retirement. That effort now seems to have been preempted unless there is some legal loophole I don't know about.

I'm confident that I can raise enough money to live on through my work at the Center (St. John's Center for Spiritual Formation here in Tulsa). My big concern, of course, is health care coverage. The law gives me 18 months of extended group coverage if I pay what it costs my previous employer. As of today that cost is $611 a month. After that I am essentially uninsurable privately because of my medical history. I will need to come up with some plan to provide medical coverage for myself until I'm eligible for Medicare when I'm 65. (I turn 60 next month, by the way.)

Well, that's the news, folks! Do keep me in your thoughts and prayers and if anybody has any ideas regarding my predicament, I'll be glad to hear them!

Every blessing to you all,
Ellie

Of course, there's more to this story. The "official" reason the Diocese is giving has to do with budgetary concerns. However the reality is that the new bishop has disliked me from the get go -- for reasons that continue to escape me. It's all very sad.

I will probably say more about this later. For now, this will have to do.
~~~

PS: I'm so glad I have Bernice, my new dog!

Sunday art blogging

Artist: Joëlle Morin
Image from Wikimedia Commons

Our effect on the world

It is entirely possible that the following passage constitutes the most powerful and meaningful statement this man has ever made:

Remember, we are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we're so deeply interconnected with one another. Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is the supreme creative act.

~Ram Dass

Beautiful Mystery

This is an excerpt from a longer poem that I just found today:

In the heart of eternal
loneliness, in the midst
of fear, in the labyrinth
of finding "the way",
I've come to know
that there is no answer
and this has to be a
beautiful mystery.
Everything changes,
everything has changed,
everything will change.

-- Hydeh Aubon

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo by Cynthia Burgess

Just some helpful stuff

I'd like to recommend a page called "52 Tips for Happiness and Productivity". Here are a few of them:

22. Enjoy the journey. Goals are important, but not at the expense of happiness now. It’s important to maintain a balance between going where you want to go, and being happy as you go there. It’s easy to forget that, so be sure to remind yourself of this little, but important, tip as you make your journey.

26. Enjoy the simple pleasures. You can find these everywhere. Food (I love berries!), sunsets, sand between your toes, fresh-cut grass, playing with your child, a good book and a warm bed, dancing in the rain, your favorite music. You could probably make a list of 20 simple pleasures right now, things you enjoy that you could find every day. Sprinkle those little pleasures throughout your day. It makes the journey much more enjoyable.

39. Don’t compare yourself to others. This is hard to do, but it can be a great way to accept who you are and what you have. Whenever you find yourself comparing yourself to a co-worker, a friend, or someone famous (those models on magazines with amazing abs), stop. And realize that you are different, with different strengths. Take a minute to appreciate all the good things about yourself, and to be grateful for all the blessings in your life.

47. Learn to deal with detractors. We all face detractors in our lives. They are the naysayers who, even if they are well-intentioned, will make us feel unworthy, or that you cannot achieve a goal. They will tease or be negative. In order to achieve your goals, you need to learn how to deal with these detractors and overcome this common obstacle. Read these tips for some ideas.

Go on over to the Zen Habits website for the rest if you like!

The price of truth

Oh my. This is so good and so true:

Beware the flowery trappings because in order to possess them or benefit from them, you must cease your journey, stay in the dream. Ultimately, they're just a distraction from the tricky business of waking up. Breaking free of delusion takes everything you have. The price of truth is everything, Everything. That's the rule and it's inviolable.

-- Tao

The "dream", of course, is very seductive. And it's hard to be willing to give everything in order to get free from delusion. Many (perhaps most) are not willing.

Let us all train ourselves to learn to be willing, to be willing to be willing!

Tuesday meditative picture blogging

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Something about thoughts

Ha! I kinda like this:

We find it hard to believe that other people's thoughts are as silly as our own, but they probably are.

-- James Harvey Robinson

Sunday art blogging

"Miranda"

Artist: John William Waterhouse

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Something to ponder

Oh my. This is so good:

When we fall on the ground it hurts us, but we also need to rely on the ground to get back up.

- Kathleen McDonald from How to Meditate

McDonald's book has been around for quite a while now and it is one of the very best books on meditation I've ever come across. Highly recommended!

Why don't we?

What I wonder is why don't we?

And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?

-- Pablo Casals

Found here.

~~~

Friday cat blogging!

Leroy under my desk

Photo by Cynthia Burgess

Emotional awareness

Meditation teaches us this - if we let it:

In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine your success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships.

- John Gottman

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo by Cynthia Burgess

Something about time

Think about this one for a while; really think about it:

I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.

-- Alan Watts

Don't give up too soon, now.
~~~

Truth

One of my favorite poets said this:

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

-- Wallace Stevens

Sunday art blogging

Artist: August Macke
Image from Wikimedia Commons

The importance of affirming others

Lately, I've found myself noticing just how damaging a lack of sincere affirmation in people's attempts to keep their relationships healthy. I'm talking about any kind of relationship: romantic partnerships, friendships, co-worker relationships, professional encounters, etc.

Here are a couple of excerpts from a little article I found on affirmation not long ago:

We all need affirmation. We need to know that we are seen and appreciated, noticed and valued. An affirmation is a communication whereby one person recognizes what is sacred in another. Albert Schweitzer once described affirmation as a spiritual act. He was right. An affirmation is rainwater for the spirit. Affirmation nurtures the soul.

Affirmation is more than a compliment. It is deeper than that. Affirmation is an expression of gratitude. It's my way of thanking you for the gifts you bring to the world. It's my way of saying I recognize and am thankful for your contributions, your inner beauty, your kindness. Affirmation is not about judgment (as some compliments are). Affirmaton is about honest gratitude.

Affirmation is an art. It takes practice. Some people take to it naturally while others seem to need a little more time to develop this skill. The more you look for gifts in people, the easier it gets to see them. And the expression of affirmation becomes more graceful with experience. As you become more adept at affirmation, you will become more aware of its power.
...
Sincere affirmation is always right, even when a person does not know how to receive it. Sorry to say, many people go through life without hearing nearly enough affirmation.

--Robert J. Furey

I like that description: "rainwater for the spirit." I really do. Think about it for a while.

How to be supportive

How delightful:

A true friend laughs at your stories even when they're not so good, and sympathizes with your troubles even when they're not so bad.

-- Irish proverb

We tend to be confused about happiness

Read this one really carefully, okay?

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

-- Guillaume Apollinaire

The problem with wishes

This, of course, is completely contrary to the principle of being fully present and in the moment:

We spend a long time wishing we were elsewhere and otherwise.

- Robert Farrar Capon

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo by our own Cynthia Burgess!

Point well taken

I've always liked this:

If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.

-- Anthony de Mello

Memorial Day, 2009

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.

-- Arthur Ashe

Connection problems

Dear readers,

I've lost internet connection at home so posting will be sporadic until that is up and running again.

Thanks for your understanding!

Peace,
Ellie
~~~

Perfectionism kills

Okay, folks. I've been tellin' ya and tellin' ya! The article is entitled "Do Perfectionists Face Early Deaths? New Study Suggests Yes". Here's how it gets started:

Perfectionism, as a way of life, tends to be self-defeating. New research suggests it may also be deadly.

That's the conclusion of a Canadian study of senior citizens just published in the journal of Health Psychology. Researchers conducted psychological tests on 450 elderly residents of southern Alberta, and then kept tabs on them for 6½ years. During that period, just over 30 percent of the subjects, who ranged in age from 65 to 87, died.

Perfectionists — that is, those who expressed "a strong motivation to be perfect" and revealed a tendency toward "all or nothing thinking" — were approximately 51 percent more likely to have died during the life of the study than those with more reasonable self-expectations. Those who were rated high on neuroticism — for instance, those who reported often feeling tense — did even worse: Their risk of death nearly doubled compared with those with a more relaxed disposition.

You know I'm going to say it: meditation will help.

There.

Starting the day

I came across this a long time ago and then just found it again:

First thing in the morning, before you meet or greet anyone, remember to greet all of nature, all visible and invisible creatures. Say to them: "I am grateful for your work, I love you and want to be in harmony with you!" At this very moment, in response to your greeting, all of nature will open to you and send you energy for the entire day.

- Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Reality

Just be with this for a while:

The sun and its light,

the ocean and the wave,

the singer and his song—

not one.

Not two.

-- Anthony de Mello

Ha! Just think about it.

Monday meditative picture blogging

Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Sign

Letting go of the contest mentality

It troubles me so much when romantic partners or friends get in a contest with each other and make their relationship a zero sum game. Here's another alternative:

Compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself wrong. At that point you could just contemplate the fact that there is a larger alternative to either of those, a more tender, shaky kind of place where you could live.

--Pema Chödrön

Inner stillness

We've all known this for a long time. It's just easy for people to forget:

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself.

— Herman Hesse

Simplification

The advice to "simplify your life" has become a classic, hasn't it? But it's rare to find a source to explain how to do it a very non-judmental, step-by-step, systematic way. I've just discovered a great blog that will do just that.

The blog is Zen Habits, and I want to quote from a page called "Simple Living Simplified: 10 Things You Can Do Today to Simplify Your Life". I like this example:

Purge a drawer. Or a shelf, or a countertop, or a corner of a room. Not an entire room or even an entire closet. Just one small area. You can use that small area as your base of simplicity, and then expand from there. Here’s how to purge: 1) empty everything from the drawer or shelf or corner into a pile. 2) From this pile, pick out only the most important things, the stuff you use and love. 3) Get rid of the rest. Right now. Trash it, or put it in your car to give away or donate. 4) Put the stuff you love and use back, in a neat and orderly manner.

As it happens, I did this yesterday - two drawers, in fact. What a great feeling. (And now I can find socks that match!)

Time Magazine called Zen Habits one of the 25 best blogs of the year.

Oh, this is great!

Just look:

Stress reduction courses in the office are not the answer. Ego reduction courses would be a lot more productive.

— Christopher Titmuss in An Awakened Life

That would really revolutionize work life, wouldn't it?
~~~

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Ideals vs. idealism

Ann Callaway posted the following quotation in a comment over on "Does Not Wisdom Call?" - one of my other blogs:

There is a difference between knowing the ideal and being attached to idealism...ideals are great as descriptions of how we want things to be; when they are used as descriptions of how things 'ought to be', they become idealism, a form of delusion.

-- Jiyu-Kennett

Annie went on to say:

I found this disctinction to be very clarifying for those times when I "expect" others to behave in certain ways and am disappointed when they do not.

I agree. Yes, indeed.

Autonomy and acceptance

Artist: Mary Cassett

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The other day I had occasion to talk with someone about autonomy. You know, from a meditative point of view, trying to be someone else is a form of unskillful attachment that creates suffering:

Today you are You,
that is truer than true.
There is no one alive
who is Youer than You.

-- Dr. Seuss

Now, here's what I want you to do: Go find a mirror and just gaze into it for a while - longer than feels comfortable - without judgment. And then ponder the little Seuss verse. See where you get with that!

Happy Mother's Day

I want to share two of my very favorite mother quotes with you today. The first one demonstrates the power and benefit of affirmation:

When I was a child, my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk you'll end up as the pope.' Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.

-- Picasso

And the second one is about tolerance and humor:

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.

-- Mark Twain

Making life workable

Well, I've found a new - new to me, that is - website called The Meditation Spot. As I browsed around I came across a page entitled Meditations for Reducing Stress. Here's the first paragraph:

Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches meditation to his medical patients. He writes: "The stress in our lives has become so great and insidious that more and more people are making the deliberate decision to understand it better and to bring stress under personal control." His two books teach a selection of meditation techniques, including body scans, sitting or walking meditation, yoga, chants, and visualizations. He writes: "When you are grounded in calmness and moment-to-moment awareness, you are more creative and you see new options. Life is more workable."

It's a pity our world brings so much stress our way. That can't be changed, really. But how we react to stress can, indeed, be changed. Personally, I find that realization both consoling and encouraging.
~~~

Saturday cat blogging!

His name is Bugs.

Photo by Paul Rogers

Purpose

When you know who you are;
when your mission is clear and you
burn with the inner fire of unbreakable will;
no cold can touch your heart;
no deluge can dampen your purpose.
You know that you are alive.

~Chief Seattle

Have I shown you this one before?

I just love it! I really do!

How simple

I think I'm going to print this one out and tack it up somewhere in my house - on my bathroom mirror or on my way out the door or something. This is so good, so true, so helpful:

How simple it is to see
that all the worry in the world
cannot control the future.
How simple it is to see
that we can only be happy now.
And that there will never be a time
when it is not now.

-- Gerald Jampolsky, MD

Henry Finlay (May 1, '95 - May 5, '09)

Henry Finlay

My wonderful, wonderful cat, Henry, died "the good death" peacefully in my arms around 12:30 PM today.

His kidneys had failed and he had stopped eating and drinking. It was time.

Henry was magnificent in every way - beautiful, possessed of great dignity, and more affectionate than any other cat who has ever shared my life. He specialized in both nose kisses and ear nuzzles! He was the "old man" of the family and never lost his "top kitty" status --- even after he got sick.

I am, of course, grief stricken - especially losing him so soon after my beloved Izzy.

But I am grateful and always will be. Grateful to have had the opportunity to give him a forever home when he needed one and even more grateful for all the emotional and spiritual support he has given me for thirteen years now.

Rest in peace my sweet boy. You are purring for the angels now.

~~~

Monday meditative picture blogging

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Words, words, words

This is very true, I think:

The words 'I am...' are potent words; be careful what you hitch them to. The thing you're claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you.

-- A. L. Kitselman

Years ago, my very cynical (at the time) mother sent me this equally cynical little verse (I'm quoting from memory so this may not be perfectly accurate):

When the universe began
God, they say, created Man.
Later (dancing round the sod),
Man, they say, created God.
Watch your words or they will do
Something of the same to you.

Oh, oh, oh. Really ponder those last two lines, would you?

I just read that today is the first World Labyrinth Day. Take a look at this:

The Labyrinth Society has declared the first Saturday in May as World Labyrinth Day a global day of celebration of the labyrinth with an invitation to walk a labyrinth at 1PM around the world, in your local time zone. The first annual World Labyrinth Day will be celebrated on May 2nd, 2009.

Sorry I didn't bring this to you in time for the 1:00 PM walk. Next year!

I found the information here.

I don't know; could be!

Well, sometimes it's like this! :-)

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo by Walter Calahan (with permission)

Inner work

Here it is - expressed with the utmost eloquence and simplicity:

I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion - and where it isn't, that's where my work lies.

-- Ram Dass

Monday meditative picture blogging

Photo fromWikimedia Commons

Somthing about standards and values

This articulates so beautifully one of the reasons I recommend that people let go of making "shoulds" and "oughts" the basis of their lives:

Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am. I must listen for the truths and values at the heart of my own identity, not the standards by which I must live - but the standards by which I cannot help but live if I am living my own life.

-- Herbert Alphonso, SJ

What are you waiting for?

How many of us have said over the years, "I'll meditate when I have time," or "I'll start going to class again when I get more organized," or something like that?

I like this:

Do not wait! The time will never be 'just right'. Start where you stand and work with whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.

~ Napoleon Hill

The writer may not have been talking about meditation as such but what he says in this instance certainly applies.

Wisdom

It's a well known story that I've read many times before but I'm not sure I've posted here. So, in case you haven't seen this, take a look:

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the
stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

-- Author unknown

This says it all, really!

We can reflect on this one for a long, long time to our great benefit:

Non-attachment brings deep truth,
And a truthful nature brings immortality.
Empty your heart.
Sit quietly on a mat.
In meditation we become one with All.

-- Loy Ching-yuen

Meditation and The Bard

It's Shakespeare's birthday today, folks, and so I thought I'd share a few things he wrote that speak to the meditative process:

*Go to your bosom: Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.

*There is nothing either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.

*And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.

*Expectation is the root of all heartache.

*I shall the effect of this good lesson keeps as watchman to my heart.

*What is past is prologue.

*We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.

*But no perfection is so absolute, That some impurity doth not pollute.

*And many strokes, though with a little axe, Hew down and fell the hardest-timbered oak.

Have fun with these. And it can be illuminating to look for others that are consistent with meditative principles.

Happy Earth Day!

Image: Sacramento Earth Day 2009 Poster

Please, please, please, let's not forget this:

"The earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future."

-- Marya Mannes

Kissing the earth

Well, I've read a lot of Thich Nhat Hanh over the years but he is very prolific and so I'm sure I've not nearly read everything he has written. Here is a wonderful approach to walking meditation that is new to me:

When we walk like (we are running), we print anxiety and sorrow on the earth. We have to walk in a way that we only print peace and serenity on the earth... Be aware of the contact between your feet and the earth. Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.

-- Thich Nhat Hanh

I do so love the idea of kissing the earth with our feet.

Monday meditative picture blogging

"Contemplation"

Artist: Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant

Image from Wikimedia Commons

How do we treat the vulnerable?

Remember "Dear Abby"? Here's something I just found that we would all do well to remember:

The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.

-- Abigail Van Buren

Saturday cat blogging!

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Staying in the moment

Here's another approach to being utterly in the now:

I will greet this day with love in my heart. And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness as it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.

-- Og Mandino

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Impermanence

This can be experienced as distressing or consoling. Your choice:

What is life? It is a flash of a firefly in the night. It is a breath of a buffalo in the winter time. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

~ Crowfoot, Blackfoot Tribal Chief

X marks the spot

Here's a lovely articulation of what it means to be in the present moment:

No one longs for what he or she already has, and yet the accumulated insight of those wise about the spiritual life suggest that the reason so many of us cannot see the red X that marks the spot is because we are standing on it. The treasure we seek requires no lengthy expedition, no expensive equipment, no superior aptitude or special company. All we lack is the willingness to imagine that we already have everything we need. The only thing missing is our consent to be where we are.
...
My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them.

~ Barbara Brown Taylor

Sounds like what she's saying is, "Be here now."

Monday meditative picture blogging

Artist: Lesser Ury
Image from Wikimedia Commons

Empathy

Very powerful, folks. Especially given the age of the writer:

EMPATHY

He prayed — it wasn't my religion.
He ate — it wasn't what I ate.
He spoke — it wasn't my language.
He dressed — it wasn't what I wore.
He took my hand — it wasn't the color of mine.
But when he laughed — it was how I laughed,
and when he cried — it was how I cried.

by 16-year-old Amy Maddox of Bargersville, Indiana

"The darkness shall be the light"

I said to my soul, be still,

and wait without hope.
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing;

and wait without love,
for love would be love of the wrong thing;

there is yet faith.
But the faith, and the hope, and the love

are all in the waiting.
And so the darkness shall be the light,

and the stillness, the dancing.

— T. S. Eliot

Something we'd all do well to remember

Read more about it right here.

Play with this one

It's a bumper sticker. And it really tickled my funny bone!

"Circular Definition: see Definition, Circular."

Valuing sacrifice

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The quotation below may surprise you for a meditation blog but I'll tell you why I chose it. Today, of course, is Good Friday - a day of somber holiness for Christians. So it seemed an appropriate day to look at the function and value of sacrifice - for that is a universal value and concept to people of all faiths as well as to those who claim no particular religion. And, as we observe over and over again, sacrifice (especially for one's young) is also a part of the life of many animals - sometimes truly astonishingly so.

To me, the statement below makes it luminously clear why valuing sacrifice in others and being willing to make sacrifices ourselves need to be not only cultivated but treasured in our interior work:

There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren't willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

-- Michael Jordan

Expectations

Now I admit that this is very hard to put into practice:

It is important to expect nothing,
To take every experience,
Including the negative ones,
As merely steps on the path,
And to proceed.

-- Ram Dass

It was in 1990 and I was preparing to make a trip to the city that had been my home for many years (having only moved away the previous year). I was very, very excited about the upcoming vacation and found myself fantasizing about how wonderful it would be. I visualized visits with all the people I cared about and just what those occasions would be like. Suddenly it hit me how I was idealizing my expectations and truly setting myself up for disappointment. And so I decided to make my only objective that of getting there and getting back. That, I told myself, would make it a successful trip and anything else would be icing on the cake.

As it happened, I had a truly wonderful time. But that wonderful time was different from my earlier fantasy. If I had not let go of the expectations I had been cultivating I don't think I would have experienced my visit "home" as wonderful at all.

Letting go of black and white thinking

Two of my favorite Zen slogans are these:

Not this; not that.

Not one; not two.

And then today I find the following:

Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity.

-- Sigmund Freud

The intrinsic goodness of difference

"Comparisons are odious" goes the old saying.

So many people who come to talk to me suffer because they don't have someone else's gifts or are not able to live up to someone else's expectations. He's something very encouraging that speaks to this:

If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, and in my heart he put other different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows.

-- Chief Sitting Bull

I truly believe that if you're doing what you are called to do that your heart will dance. I don't mean that there will never be difficulties but that fundamentally, at the very core of your being, there is a deep delight.

Wherever you go, there you are

I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the Stern Fact, the Sad Self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Where are you right now, anyway?

A couple of years ago, I got a Christmas present for myself -- a book by Kent Nerburn called Simple Truths. I truly think he is very wise and he writes just beautifully. Today I found the quotation below:

When you are here, you are here. When you are gone, you are gone. It isn't a problem to be gone, so long as you are really here when you're here.

-- Kent Nerburn

Remember that famous slogan, "Be Here Now"? That's what Nerburn is on about.

An encouraging saying

This is both strengthening and consoling. And also very, very true:

Be humble for you are made of earth.
Be noble for you are made of stars.

- Serbian Proverb

An inspiring, empowering principle

Sojourners sent this quotation out today. What Chávez is saying here is so, so focused, so radiant with clarity, that it inspires me greatly. I think I will post it on all three blogs because it speaks to the theme and purpose of each one:

The first principle of nonviolent action is that of noncooperation with everything humiliating.

- César Chávez