An assortment of thoughts, quotes and musings upon which to reflect. . . . . .
Enough
Enough. These few words are enough. If not these words, this breath. If not this breath, this sitting here. This opening to life we have refused again and again. until now Until now David Whyte Love after Love The time will come when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other's welcome and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you have ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters form the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life. Derek Walcott 
The Guest House This being human is a guest-house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, Still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. Rumi (translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks, Say I Am You, 1994) Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day. Rainer Maria Rilke Letters to a Young Poet 
You Reading This, Be Ready Starting here, what do you want to remember? How sunlight creeps along a shining floor? What scent of old wood hovers, what softened sound from outside fills the air? Will you ever bring a better gift to the world than the breathing respect that you carry wherever you go right now? Are you waiting for time to show you some better thoughts? When you turn around, starting here, lift this new glimpse that you found; carry into evening all that you want from this day. This interval you spent reading or hearing this, keep it for life-- What can anyone give you greater than now, starting here, right in this room, when you turn around? William Stafford |
"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." The Buddha "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food." Hippocrates Take the One Seat Just go into the room and put one chair in the center. Take the one seat in the center of the room, open the doors and windows, and see who comes to visit. You will witness all kinds of scenes and actors, all kinds of temptations and stories, everything imaginable. Your only job is to stay in your seat. You will see it all arise and pass, and out of this, wisdom and understanding will come. Achaan Chah "Awareness is not the same as thought. It lies beyond thinking, although it makes use of thinking, honoring its value and its power. awareness is more like a vessel which can hold and contain our thinking, helping us to see and know our thoughts as thoughts rather than getting caught up in them as reality." "Recall that in a line six inches long, there are an infinite number of points, and in a line one inch long there are just as many. Well, then, how many moments are there in fifteen minutes, or five, or ten, or forty-five? It turns out we have plenty of time, if we are willing to hold any moments at all in awareness." Jon Kabat-Zinn Wherever You Go, There You Are 
Live with abandon. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with Abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn. Appreciate your friends. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. Mary Anne Radmacher Sometimes Instructions for living life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. Mary Oliver "Our mind is analagous to a cup of muddy water. The longer you keep a cup of muddy water still, the more the mud settles down and the water will be seen clearly." Bhante Henepola Gunaratana I said to the wanting-creature inside me: What is this river you want to cross? There are no travelers on the river-road, and no road. Do you see anyone moving about on that bank, or resting? There is no river at all, and no boat, and no boatmen. There is no tow rope either, and no one to pull it. There is no ground, no sky, no time, no bank, no ford! And there is no body, and no mind! Do you believe there is some place that will make the soul less thirsty? In that great absence you will find nothing. Be strong then, and enter into your own body; There you have a solid place for your feet. Think about it carefully! Don’t go off somewhere else! Kabir says this: just throw away all thoughts of imaginary things, And stand firm in that which you are. Kabir (translated by Robert Bly) 
The present moment is where life can be found, and if you don't arrive there, you miss your appointment with life. Thich Nhat Hanh Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.
Henry David Thoreau Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
Lao-Tzu 
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