Love and Kindness

      Ubi caritas et amore,ubi caritas Deus ibi est.

 

Where there is love and kindness, God is there.

Suchness

      In Buddhism the word "suchness" is used to mean the essence or particular characteristic of a thing or person. If we want to live in peace and happiness with a person, we have to see the suchness of that person. The key is knowing the person's essence. We must not expect a person always to be a flower. We have to understand his or her garbage as well.
                                                   ~Thich Nhat Hanh~

Always Laugh

The most utterly lost of all days is the day on which you have not laughed.

 

   I'm always curious at the end of a Chinese meal to unveil the little saying in the fortune cookie. This saying I will carry with me as a reminder that laughing, joy, and humor is key to happiness and of being mindful. 

  Recently, I've been reading about the life and philosophy of a great teacher, poet, writer, Zen Master and Vietnamese Buddist monk. Thich Nhat Hanh or Tie as his students call him. He was born in Central Vietman in 1926, and has lived in southwest France where he was exiled for many years. In his book Answers from the Heart Tie reveals how we can live a life of peace and happiness by being mindful of what our environment is revealing to us and how we can respond to the demands of everyday life in a serene and meaningful way. He says, "Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what's the use of seeing?" In other words peacefulness and happiness can be obtained when we can fully see that our connection here and now is not of the past or in the future. The things we must see are the moments we are living now.





Earth Day Celebrate Creation

Let the Blooms Begin

     A wonderful childhood memory of mine is arriving home after church one Sunday to find a clump of yellow, daffodils beaded with rain. To this day, nothing says spring to me like the fragrance of a simple daffodil. As my gardens begin to awaken to the first signs of spring, I delight in the beauty of these harbingers of a new season. I agree with John Keats that a thing of beauty is a joy forever.
     The best things that can come out of a garden are gifts for other people.

No Reason

One is loved because one is loved.

No reason is needed for loving.

Paulo Coelho

Waking Up Early

Taken April 13, 2013 6:55am

Why I Wake Up Early

Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who made the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety –
best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light –
good morning, good morning, good
morning.
Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.

          ~Mary Oliver~