Walking On This Earth

AA wrote: Så väl den stämmer på de tankar jag har nu. På sista tiden har jag upptäckt att jag inte längre har speciellt många förväntningar, varken på folk eller skeenden. Och det är så skönt. Jag märker att när jag hör andra människor spekulera om än det ena och än det andra, t.ex. varför gör hon si, varför gör hon så, tänk om etc, så känner jag bara att de slösar bort sin tid. Det som blir blir! Det är så skönt att ha kommit hit – men det är ju tur att man gör det någon gång!

Walking On This Earth

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth.
Thich Nhat Hanh

When you start paying closer attention to your life and the world around you, things start to change. It is as if the outlines get sharper, the colours more vivid, and the sounds clearer. Fewer and fewer things are taken for granted, and your main feeling is gratefulness.

A life in mindfulness is, at its best, a constant feeling of wonder and awe. Like a small child you ask yourself: How is all this possible? 

When we think of it, it truly is a miracle that we can walk on this green earth! The earth is a miracle, we are miracles, as well as the fact that we can walk on it. And, as the quote by Thich Nhat Hanh continues, “ …dwelling deeply in the moment and feeling truly alive”. 

Laozi Life Lessons II

AA wrote: Då västvärlden industrialiserades och befolkningen hade uppnått en acceptabel levnadsstandard så fanns det ekonomer som trodde att människan skulle välja att använda sin rikedom på att inte förvärvsarbeta. Istället växlade människan in på spåret att konsumera och tävla om vem som kan äga mest och vara mest framgångsrik. Tyvärr så värdesätter inte så många människor det du så fint uttrycker i din text. 
BB wrote:  Beautiful note for this very Monday 💚

Laozi Life Lessons II 

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.

                          Laozi

Yes, I’m presently swimming on a Laozi wave ;-) The eternal wisdom in his book Tao Te Ching has withstood centuries of changes in society, ways of thinking and living and feels just as relevant today as it did more than two thousand years ago.

With a roof over our heads, a bed to sleep in, enough food & water, and good people in our lives, what more do we really need…? The way we live in the western world today, we are used to having much more than life’s bare necessities, and we just want more, more, and more… The point is to realize we don’t have to own everything that we lay our eyes on. We can rejoice in the way things are, in seeing the beauty around us, and simply be happy with that.  “When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you”.

Emptying the Mind

AA said: Oh boy, are you reading my mind? Have a spy cam?  Love this! Thank you! 

BB said: Danke, danke, danke! Genau mein Thema mal wieder. Du triffst immer den Nagel auf den Kopf und regst mich zum Innehalten an. 


Emptying the Mind

How do we empty the mind? By not overthinking. By not storing or sorting. By not replaying fears, or dreams, or doubt, or praise.By choosing the most important thing on our endless list of things to do and doing it fully after tearing up the list.

Mark Nepo: The Book of Awakening 

Spring and summer tend to be hyperactive seasons. In nature, everything seems to happen at once, and in our lives it’s often just the same: two hundred invitations, four hundred meetings, six hundred things to do at home, and a thousand urgent tasks in the garden. Goodness gracious me….!

Stop.
Breathe.
And start with the most important thing: to empty your mind.

Give your mind a break and relax. Then, look at your list. If you can’t boil it down to one task, then at least delete two thirds of them. Slow down, and do the remaining tasks fully; one by one, with an empty mind.

Saying Thank You

AA wrote: How have I never heard of Eckhart von Hochheim…and I studied Medieval art history! I am so curious…And this is quite a lovely post  as I try to have gratitude for some crappy things and the lessons they bring…and well as the gift of the car rental lady who gave a  magical discount of $300.00 when we brought back the car!

Saying Thank You

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.

Meister Eckhart

So much is happening all the time, both inside and outside of us. The world is spinning at a mind-blowing speed, and often we don’t realize a whole day has passed until we get ready to go to bed.

There does not seem to be much time to stop and collect our thoughts or to reflect on life. However, if there is one thing we should do at a regular basis, it is saying Thank you. 

Start the day by smiling at the world, connect to your heart, and saying Thank You. Feel the gratitude for the precious life you have been given and for all the wonders in your world. Say thank you to all the people in your world. Appreciate who they are, what they do and everything you can learn from them.

Such thoughts of gratitude will not only mark your day with happiness, but also fill you with humbleness.

And if at night you round off your day by saying Thank You for what it has brought, life is perfect, isn’t it, Meister Eckhart..?