The value of sitting

A good one I found on Pinterest.

In Praise of Leisure

Here's something I found over on Goodreads. How wonderful!

For moderns - for us - there is something illicit, it seems, about wasted time, the empty hours of contemplation when a thought unfurls, figures of speech budding and blossoming, articulation drifting like spent petals onto the dark table we all once gathered around to talk and talk, letting time get the better of us. Just taking our time, as we say. That is, letting time take us.

"Can you say," I once inquired of a sixty-year old cloistered nun who had lived (vibrantly, it seemed) from the age of nineteen in her monastery cell, "what the core of contemplative life is?"

"Leisure," she said, without hesitation, her china blue eyes cheerfully steady on me. I suppose I expected her to say, "Prayer." Or maybe "The search for God." Or "Inner peace." Inner peace would have been good. One of the big-ticket items of spirituality.

She saw I didn't see.

"It takes time to do this," she said finally.

Her "this" being the kind of work that requires abdication from time's industrial purpose (doing things, getting things). By choosing leisure she had bid farewell to the fevered enterprise of getting-and-spending whereby, as the poet said, we lay waste our powers.”
― Patricia Hampl, Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime

(photo found on Pinterest)

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Messages

"Why are you so afraid of silence? Silence is the root of everything. If you spiral into its void, a hundred voices will thunder messages you long to hear."

~Rumi

Joy!

May this wonderful evening be blessed for you all.

And do keep meditating!

Class is ON!

Center participants: Okay. It's raining outside. Rain. As in WET. (Not sleeting.) SO, we will have class. (But use your judgment. If you think it's unsafe, stay home!)

December 21 class?

Hello, everyone.

Please refer back to this spot regarding Saturday morning class cancellation for December 21, 2013. We are under ice storm warnings. 

No Class Tonight

Hello, everyone!

Foundations class for tonight, December 5, 2013 is cancelled tonight due to the weather. Everybody stay safe!!

(And keep meditating, of course!)

Indeed

So, so true

And this is a wonderful way to look at everything.

Garage Sale Postponed

Well, dear Tulsa area people, I'm disappointed to report that, for the first time in the history of the Center, we have decided to postpone the garage sale originally scheduled for tomorrow, May 4. There is going to be 40% chance of rain all day tomorrow AND the temperature is going to be mainly in the 40s and low 50s. We've decided it will hurt customer response for it to be so damp and chilly --- even if we luck out and it doesn't actually rain.

So now we are planning the sale for Saturday, May 11.

We apologize for any inconvenience!

Saturday class back on

Saturday morning class members: We WILL have class tomorrow morning (May 4) after all since we are postponing the garage sale.

Excellent question, actually

It goes both ways....

Simple; also profound

Overcoming despair

Today I want to let you know about a brief but very sensible article that will help when we feel a bit overwhelmed by the way the world is:

4 Ways to Overcome Despair

Here's  the first way:

1. Act. As Joan Baez once said, “Action is the antidote to despair.” If you despair about a problem or crisis in the world, do something. Choose actions that will lead to positive, sustainable, lasting solutions; that use your best skills; and that you enjoy doing. You’ll find friends and support in the process; see the positive effects of your efforts, and feel buoyed by the capacity of action to create change

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Simple. Profound.

So very true

Much unhappiness would be avoided and much suffering alleviated by comprehending this great truth.

No class today!

Hello, dear Center folks.

Due to the snow, Wednesday ongoing class is cancelled.

Stay safe!!

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