Rest like a giant tree

Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind.  To be happy, rest like a giant tree, in the midst of them all.

~ The Buddha

Paying attention

(Everlasting Pea growing beside a granite boulder.)

The little things?  The little moments?  They aren’t little.

~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

A form of meditation

(Fishing the Colorado River.)

Fishing provides that connection with the whole living world.  It gives you the opportunity of being totally immersed, turning back into yourself in a good way.  A form of meditation, some form of communion with levels of yourself that are deeper than the ordinary self.

~ Ted Hughes

Restoration area

What do I want to take home from my summer vacation?  Time.  The wonderful luxury of being at rest.  The days when you shut down the mental machinery that keeps life on track and let life simply wander.  The days when you stop planning, analyzing, thinking and just are.  Summer is my period of grace.

~ Ellen Goodman

(I will be cross posting this at Life in the Bogs today as it seems to fit both blogs.  It should also be noted that this bird may well be the same playful bird pictured in an earlier post but he showed up at a different spot on a different day.)

In the garden

(Cleveland Botanical Garden)

True spirituality is a mental attitude you can practice at any time.

~ Dali Lama

Summer flowers

a butterfly deigns
to come and dance…
summer flowers

~ Issa, 1806

Playfully…

(A playful bird.)

Playfully you hid from me.
All day I looked.

Then I discovered
I was you,
and the celebration
of That began.

~ Lalla (India)

About a month or two ago I was flipping through Yoga Journal magazine.  I think it was the June issue but don’t hold me to that as I no longer have the copy to check.  I came across the poem quoted above as part of a review of the book Mala of the Heart: 108 Sacred Poems.  I had an almost immediate and interesting inner reaction to it.  It was as if someone opened a window in my soul, letting in a strong breeze and a bright light.

It is a difficult thing to describe.  It was a lot like looking at a breathtaking sunrise or sunset and suddenly, briefly, feeling a connectedness to everything.

From time to time I would think about it as I meditated.  It came to mind again when we were at the Lake Irene trail head in Rocky Mountain National Park and I saw a bird flitting around playfully in a pine tree, almost inviting me to follow as it hopped from branch to branch, peering out every now and then in a game of hide-and-seek.

I bought a copy of the book just before we set out on our trip to Colorado.  I haven’t had a chance to do much more than flip through it to look for the exact wording of Lalla’s poem.  I’m looking forward to reading more, and the journeys and adventures that might bring.

Round and open

You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.

~ Rumi

Wake up

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Enjoyment

(Playing in Kidspace.)

Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity.

~ Paul Goodman