Don't Push the River

AA wrote: Beautiful!!! I feel like painting it! 

BB wrote: Javisst är det så här! Jag hade en chef som gav mig lite visdomsord en gång. Vi var långt före vår tid och jag kämpade och kämpade och blev hela tiden besviken för att beslut inte togs när de behövde tas osv. Då sa han: Du måste låta processen ta sin tid – världen är inte redo än. Jag tänker på det ofta – don’t push the river!! Så sant.
CC wrote: Dieser Brief hat mir am Besten gefallen.... wie wahr. Ich bin der „ober-pusher“ und das hat mich mal wieder daran erinnert.

Don’t Push the River

Don’t push the river. It flows by itself.

                                    Laozi

Man is supposed to differ from animals because of his free will. Unfortunately, this free will often complicates things for us: we want so much so hard. We keep on struggling to get exactly what we want, and exactly when we want it. 

We tend to forget that our attempts to control things are in vain; that life moves in its own mysterious ways. We forget to have faith: the universe will bring by what we need in due time. 

When we have set our minds to our deepest desires, and when we have done what we can to go in that direction we just have to let things go. The river of life will do its own part of the work. Maybe our wish will come about in an unexpected way, not exactly how and when we imagined it, but life will bring it by when the time is ripe. Don’t push the river; it flows by itself.

Be the Soul of the Place

AA wrote: Très beau chère Sabina : " feel the solid ground under your feet, the immense universe above your head, and your tender heart beating in the center of it all."

Be the Soul of the Place

Wherever you stand

Be the soul of that place

Rumi

Again and again I come back to the same subject: that we spend so much time in our lives living half-heartedly. We float on the surface of life, looking neither up nor down, just dealing quickly with whatever we’re facing - most often with our minds elsewhere - and then hurrying on to the next task. Is there any time or space for our souls in all this quick living?

This week’s challenge is to stop and pause at least once a day: stand still for a moment, connect with yourself, stay there, and just be. Wherever you are, feel the solid ground under your feet, the immense universe above your head, and your tender heart beating in the center of it all. Feel that You are right where you belong, and be the soul of that place.

I Contain Multitudes

AA wrote: How Beautiful and refreshing, I loved it!!! thanks for sharing my dear sis....please surprise me with a visit to Chile ...:-))

 BB wrote: Yes!! One of the big question marks in my life about myself so often ever since I stopped being a child: why did I feel like this then, why do I feel like something else now.
I love your reflection pieces, I like that you put out thoughts that I had or have, but never actually follow up on, or at least rarely, because my life is so full. Thank you, and be happy!


I Contain Multitudes

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself.

I am large, I contain multitudes 

                                  Walt Whitman: Song of Myself

 We’re sometimes disappointed when people around us don’t act coherently. Well, do we ourselves do that all the time..? Of course not. 

We are an ever-changing system of feelings, thoughts, and ideas. Millions of cells in our bodies die every second, and are replaced by new ones. Our environment, that strongly influences us, changes the same way, all the time. How can anybody believe to be the same person you were a year ago, let alone as a child?

So let’s allow ourselves to contradict ourselves! Let’s have all the different, old an new aspects of ourselves enter the scene and make statements, choices, and actions according to what feels best right now. Let’s enter each situation with “a beginner’s mind” and surprise each other by behaving according to what we feel and need, and not to what may be expected of us. We are large, we contain multitudes!

The Best Thing to Cultivate

AA wrote:  Du hast - wie so oft - den Nagel genau auf den Kopf getroffen... Wir hatten heute lange Gespräche genau über dieses Thema und konnten es nicht fassen, als wir deinen Newsletter gelesen haben. Du hast in wenigen Zeilen zusammen gefasst, was wir über Stunden diskutiert haben. Vielen herzlichen Dank dafür.  Uebrigens haben wir uns jetzt auch das Buch "You are here" gekauft. Deine Newsletters haben uns dazu inspiriert. Das Buch zu lesen tut einfach nur gut.  
 
The Best Thing to Cultivate

Enjoyment can become a habit. Some of us only have the habit of suffering. Others among us have cultivated the habit of smiling and being happy. The capacity of being happy is the best thing we can cultivate.
                                             Thich Nhat Hanh: Buddha Mind, Buddha Body

Our habits rule our lives. Whether it comes to what and how we eat, if and how we do sports, or what state our minds are in. What we do again and again shapes us and turns us into healthy and happy persons – or not.
Most of us concentrate on our physical habits. With a lot of zeal we cultivate healthy bodies by following more or less strict diets, and by doing some kind of exercise to compensate our sedentary (work) lives.
That’s all good and fine, but what about our minds?
Our minds rule our lives. If we wake up every morning with the firm resolution to be happy, and remind ourselves all along the day to smile and look at things positively we’ll become happier persons. We will feel good about our lives, about the people around us and we will probably even spread that feeling to others.
Let’s work on it together, let’s make ours a Happier World :-)