#Proverbs
THE WORLD is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater. J.R. R. Tolkien
A FRIEND is someone who dances with you in the sunlight, and walks with you in the shadows.
Quotes
#hope TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places-and there are so many-where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory. Howard Zin
#choice WHATEVER our age, a child still lives within us. We are innocent in ways we do not understand-and we find great contentment in having no need to know all and be all. Hope lives in the inner child that is aware and guileless. Befriend this childlike part of yourself. Lean back into this- the most real part of yourself – and pray. Little things make us who we are:what we say to ourselves in the privacy of our own minds, what we believe about ourselves, and what we see as important. This little child within us is important. We are who we are because of our choices, and some of our smallest choices have the greatest influence.Listen to the child within, and you will be guided well in the choices you make. All men are made by the same Great Spirit Chief. Chief Joseph – Nez Perce – Cherokee Book of Days
#meditation THERE IS a gathering of energy at the core of us, a vitality which is drained by the struggle to fit in. Living without vitality may even become normalized, until such time as we choose to leave, or are cast out of, a too-small circle of belonging. Only then do we begin to explore the inner regions of solitude, learning our own dimensionality. Making this encounter with that loneliness and longing is what gives us the eyes to recognize those companions and quests which, rather than demanding our smallness, call us into growth. Toko-pa Turner – Belonging
#maryoliver TODAY I’m flying low and I’m not saying a word. I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep. The world goes on as it must, the bees in the garden rumbling a little, the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten. And so forth. But I’m taking the day off. Quiet as a feather. I hardly move though really I’m traveling a terrific distance. Stillness. One of the doors into the temple. Mary Oliver
#ruleoflife TO LIVE in God as a fish in water, not always awake but totally dependent for survival. To aspire to a shift in consciousness, even a tiny one. To know what I think, when I am thinking. To know what I am feeling . To not resist what I’m feeling, but to acknowledge and even embrace these feelings. To take actions through deliberate choice. To be present to the moment and to those who witness the moment. To sense my dependence in each of these moments and trust that I’m deeply loved and totally taken care of. To surrender and fall backward into the abyss of the underlying Soul of the Universe. And to know that it’s a gift – all gift. And to be grateful! This is my practice. To be patient and compassionate with my dullness, my ignorance, my willfulness, my sloth, my self-indulgence. And to understand and accept that this is also my practice. To live in God as fish live in water, neither clinging nor resisting. To come to consciousness, to be awake, to be aware, to be present to the present moment. To live in now – not yesterday; not tomorrow. Moving with the flow. Breathing in. Breathing out. Aware of and focused only on the sacred now. This is my practice. Herb K – Practicing the Here and Now
#uncertainty NOTHING ever remains quite the same – but a time comes when we have to follow new guidelines and think new thoughts and do new things. It does not take a superhuman, but it does take a believer – a worker with ears to hear and eyes to see – not just the physical but the spiritual. We cannot take for granted that any other human can have accurate perception and spell things out for us. The miracles are not all in other heads, other hands, other methods. There must be a burst of inner fire that sparks a miracle, that opens a door to a greater life, a greater calm. We are never so blind as when we close ourselves off by our critical views, our hardened hearts, our failure to perceive the greatness of gentle things. O friend, look away from lack and need and pain. Alter your vision and it will alter life. Cherokee Book of Days
Harken 