Joy in the body

A weekend sunset at the Point.

Winter: Tonight: Sunset
by David Budbill

Tonight at sunset walking on the snowy road,
my shoes crunching on the frozen gravel, first

through the woods, then out into the open fields
past a couple of trailers and some pickup trucks, I stop

and look at the sky. Suddenly: orange, red, pink, blue,
green, purple, yellow, gray, all at once and everywhere.

I pause in this moment at the beginning of my old age
and I say a prayer of gratitude for getting to this evening

a prayer for being here, today, now, alive
in this life, in this evening, under this sky.

(“Winter: Tonight: Sunset” by David Budbill, from While We’ve Still Got Feet. © Copper Canyon Press,  2005.)

Tidbits

Sometimes the clouds have wings.

We already have everything we need.  There is no need for self-improvement.  All these trips that we lay on ourselves — the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds — never touch our basic wealth.  They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun.  But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here.  This is who we really are.  We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.

~ Pema Chödrön

Taking it easy

Peace.

Silence is the source of healing.  When we bring things from within ourselves out into the light of awareness, a healing process happens.  In the silence, we can let go of all anger, sadness, fear, loneliness and frustration.

~ Swami Dhyan Giten, Presence — Working from Within

1. The 55-Day Challenge

Floating to the top.

The best six doctors anywhere
And no one can deny it
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air
Exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend
If only you are willing
Your mind they’ll ease
Your will they’ll mend
And charge you not a shilling.

~ Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields, What the River Knows, 1990

Hidden in the fog

Foggy morning.  (Strong winds last week, or maybe it was the week before, knocked out a panel of wood on the door of the shed.)

Water, stories, the body,
all the things we do, are mediums
that hide and show what’s hidden.

~  Rumi

Not this year

Sunrise

Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course.

~ Lemony Snicket, The Blank Book

Healing

Another day

The more I can love everything — the trees, the land, the water, my fellow men, women, and children, and myself — the more health I am going to experience and the more of myself I am going to be.

~ Carl Simonton