tides and seasons of my secret life

When times are tough, we need something to keep us going. We need something to tempt and lure us, a beautiful sight, a warm bed and tea, the light at the end of the tunnel. There are times when we need some help from the universe, a road sign to assure us we are travelling in the right direction. Sometimes we need a lead from people, who have wandered this road before us. Their words can achieve miracles. Here is where I share them with you and collect them for myself to remember. May you find what you need at that particular moment.

“… have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”

~ Rainer Maria Rilke, “Letters to a young poet“

• “The first question you can begin to ask yourself, though, is: “Where can I find a small corner of stillness?” Because that’s where it all begins and ends. God resides in these pockets of silence. So where in your day, where in your home, where in your mind, is there some opportunity for a moment of silence? Or maybe even a few moments, during which you can start asking the questions you need to ask in order to find what you need to learn. Can you find the time to get out of your own way and try to step into your own light? As a dear friend of mine put it: “To change your life, the important thing is not necessarily to travel; the important thing is to SHIFT.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~ Anais Nin (courtesy of zazazu)

• Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

• What can you soften? ~ Penelope Dullaghan

• I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, and water them with your blood & tears & laughter ’till they bloom, until you yourself burst into bloom. ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes (courtesy of Jen Lemen)

A Cushion For Your Head

Just sit there right now.
Don’t do a thing.
Just rest.
For you separation from God, from love, is the hardest work in this world.
Let me bring you trays of food and something that you like to drink.
You can use my soft words as a cushion for your head
~ Hafiz (1320-1389) via Jen Gray

• A buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad. Such is his power that karma can’t hold him. No matter what kind of karma, a buddha transforms it.~ Bodhidharma via Donutszenmom

• Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all. ~ William Temple via Gartenfische

• I actually feel like ‘just doing’ helps me cultivate psychic laziness! I don’t have to expend energy on the ’should I, shouldn’t I’ debates. It seems counterintuitive, but it’s actually quite indulgent to just do things and not turn them into emotional debates. ~ Donutszenmom

Franciscan Blessing

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
Turn their pain into joy

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

• ‘Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.’ ~ Rumi