A Beautiful Place Inside

AA said: J’adore, je l’apprends par coeur

BB said: Ja! Und ich fühle mit mit allen, die innen keinen schönen Ort haben. Danke für diesen schönen Text!

CC said: Jag håller med dig. Det är nog en gåva om man kan gå in i sin inre värld, under förutsättning att man finner något gott där förstås.

DD said: Wow, couldn’t be told more beautifully. Exactly happiness comes from within 

A Beautiful Place Inside

The inside belongs to me. I have the right to live inside in a beautiful place. If the outside is not beautiful it doesn’t have to come in and disturb my inner world.       
                                 Michael Singer 

You might find the above quote sounds egoistic. Well, I do not agree. I find that each person is responsible for his or her own happiness. If you do your best to keep your inner place beautiful, harmonious and happy, that is what you will radiate outwards. If one person has a positive radiation, it will affect other people and that way the world becomes a more beautiful place. 

Singer’s quote is my credo: preserving my inner place is holy. I protect my sanctuary from harmful influence and keep it as fresh, sunny, happy, and beautiful as I can. Beauty heals the world.

Thank you, dear M., for your inspiration :-)

Infused with Love

Infused with Love

Any virtue, attribute, or aptitude of personality will come to its full power only when it is bound together with love. No talent in its own right and no quality of character will reach the apogee of its impact until we marry it in our hearts to the love that will alchemize it to its full potential.

Therefore, whatever your form of expression, whether it be language, music, color and design, or the movement of your body, be sure you fill it with love, so it can be received to the depths of its power.

                                 Daphne Rose Kingma: A Garland of Love

Fill your form or expression, creating, and living with all your love, and miracles will happen...

Stillness in Nature

AA said: à pratiquer encore et encore et encore 😀

BB said: Encore un message qui tombe bien: malgré nos échanges hier avec NN, il y a aussi eu des moments de silence et de partages avec la nature, la forêt magnifique des hauts de XX...

Stillness in Nature

To bring your attention to a stone, a tree, or an animal does not mean to think about it, but simply to perceive it, to hold it in your awareness. Something of its essence then transmits itself to you. You can sense how still it is, and in doing so the same stillness arises within you. You sense how deeply it rests in Being – completely at one with what is and where it is. In realizing this, you to come to a place of rest deep within yourself.

Nature can bring you to stillness. That is its gift to you. When you perceive and join with nature in the field of stillness, that field becomes permeated with your awareness. That is your gift to nature.

                                 Eckhart Tolle: Stillness Speaks

For me, nature is one of the greatest sources of energy and inspiration. “Walking Through Life” is my motto, but hiking is not mainly a sports activity, where I count my pulse, my steps or the minutes… What makes me come alive on a much deeper level is the communion with nature and the shared stillness. It is not about me, it is about us. 

Next time you go for a hike, take your time to walk attentively and let the thinking mind rest. Stop at flowers, rocks, torrents or trees and simply hold them in your awareness. Those are sacred moments and, just like Tolle puts it, you will sense that there is an exchange. Your awareness permeates nature, and the stillness of nature permeates you. We are made of the same fabric and we belong together.

Learn from the tree “how deeply it rests in Being – completely at one with what is and where it is”. Fully accept who you are, right here and right now, and enjoy sharing your vital energy with nature. 

Be Like Bread

AA said: Tack för detta Sabina!!  J

BB said: Oh this is cool. I loved it!

CC said: La pleine conscience du trop plein fut le levain qui me permît de faire un pain plus aéré pour nourrir ma vie de l’essentiel! Merci pour tes messages du lundi chère Sabina

Be Like Bread

Bread takes the effort of kneading but also requires sitting quietly while the dough rises with a power all of its own.

David Richo: How to Be an Adult in Relationships

The Corona crisis forced us to slow down, and for many of that was a truly positive side effect. The hurried pace of our society has a negative impact on many things; among others it leads to impatience – one main reason for human unhappiness.

Be like bread: do a good job, and then leave it at that. Be patient. Let the fermentation works its way.

During resting periods we grow and develop, often in surprising ways.

Sit Down and Let Go

AA said: Ça me parle tellement que je l’ai mise sur mon statut WhatsApp! 

Sit Down and Let Go

Can the heart of a meditative path be so simple – to sit down and let go? The lessons of simplicity teach us to love deeply and to let go; to savour each sound, taste, sight, and smell and to let go: to cherish each moment as a precious gift and to let go; to appreciate with profound sensitivity each connection with others, every thought and feeling, every birth and death, and to be a calm presence and conscious participant in their natural unfolding and passing. The path of simplicity is learning to live in harmony with the rhythms of life and each moment.              

                              Christina Feldman:  The Buddhist Path to Simplicity

Life would be so much easier if we learned to let go, instead of constantly reacting on everything that happens. So many inner and outer conflicts would be avoided! 

This is what I strive for: to “be a calm presence and conscious participant” in the natural unfolding and passing of the events in life. To let the flow of life pass through me, drop the story line, and move on. To put the smile back onto my face knowing that this, too, will pass. 

The habit of adding our own thoughts, experiences, prejudices etc. to everything is deeply rooted and it is the task of a lifetime to break it, but every single little victory makes the effort worthwhile. 

Opening and Closing Doors

AA said: Ska träna på detta.

BB said: merci! je vais essayer..

Opening and Closing Doors

Opening this door
I enter with mindfulness,
Fully open myself
To what is.

Closing this door
I exit with mindfulness
Fully open myself
To what is

                                 Buddhist gatha

Opening and closing doors is something we most often do completely without awareness. In fact, when we’re opening or closing a door our minds are already in that other room or out of the one we came from. We’re simply not in the Here and Now – entering or exiting a room.

In periods I have worked actively with the verses above, trying to remind myself to make little awareness pauses during the day and to be more present. It was especially helpful during work life, when I moved around in an office with lots of colleagues and different issues to deal with. However, even now, when spending much of my time alone at home it is a good reminder to pause, drop whatever my mind is busy with, and start afresh.

Someone said about the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh: “As I saw him closing a door, I knew he was a real monk”. I think it’s worthwhile trying to gain a little of that calm composure, be it only while opening or closing doors… 

There Will Come Soft Rains

AA said: Lovely! And btw, meant to tell you I am planting seeds to grow flowers and thyme! Slow going though! But i loved this and the sowing seeds messages.

BB said: No apologies needed. It is beautiful, I love this one.

CC said: j’ai beaucoup apprécié la période poèmes 😊 Merci 

DD said: Tack Sabina!!


There Will Come Soft Rains

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Sara Teasdale

I apologise for overwhelming you with poetry - and I promise this will be the last one for a while! - but my favourite Teasdale poem feels so relevant right now. Written during World War I, these beautiful verses fit into today’s situation, where many live in an anxious state of confinement.

Teasdale refers to spring’s awakening, which is what we’re experiencing here in the northern hemisphere at this moment and which makes the whole situation easier. Nature takes its course, despite the dealings of mankind. 

I find the poem comforting; it’s a call not to despair, but to live in the here and now and enjoy the spring unfolding outside. Everything changes all the time, and soon the confinement will be over. 

A Little Seed

AA said: Der Text hätte auch von mir sein können... ich wandere morgens auch als erstes in den Garten und schaue, wo sich eine grüne Spitze zeigt. Die ersten Samen in den Beeten keimen schon. Es ist schon wieder sehr warm hier, für die Jahreszeit leider auch zu trocken. Deshalb gieße ich jeden Tag den ganzen Garten, vor allem dort, wo etwas sprießt. Und ja, was für ein Glück, einen Garten zu haben...

BB said: magnifique poème, merciiii!

A Little Seed

A little seed for me to sow

A little earth to make it grow.

A little hole,

A little pat,

A little wish,

And that is that.

A little sun,

A little shower,

A little while,

And then – a flower.

                Mabel Watts

This time of year little wonders are happening in my garden every day. During my morning tour I discover plants I had forgotten about, showing up here and there. Tulips, periwinkle, cowslip, and honesty smile at me all over the place and the flowering wild cherry trees add a touch of lightness and grace. Such an amazing period!

Some weeks ago I sowed lots of different seeds in pots inside the house. It brings a very special joy to observe growth that close: you plant your seed and – oh, the miracle! -  one fine day a tiny living being, the top of a green plant, emerges from the soil. In May when the Ice Saints have passed, I will plant out the seedlings of beans, peas, tomatoes and spinach into my veggie patch.

Not everybody is as lucky as me to have a garden, but even if you live in an apartment you can enjoy planting a little seed and watching it grow. All you need is a pot, soil and some seeds – and then you can watch how the miracle of life unfolds... 

Here’s What Poetry Can Do

Here’s What Poetry Can Do 

…And if you’re not asleepby now, or bored beyond sense,the poem wants you to laugh. Laugh atyourself, laugh at this poem, at all poetry.Come on:
Good. Now here’s what poetry can do.

Stephen Dunn : Poem for People That Are Understandably too Busy to Read Poetry

A period of confinement like the one we’re going through right now makes people creative. Among other things, I have immerged myself in reading poetry and re-launched the habit of learning favourite poems by heart.

Even if memorising isn’t your thing, reading poems can do a lot for you. When poets write about confinement during other periods of history, we can see that concentrating on all the little miracles of everyday life is a good way to deal with it. Poetry relativizes our problems. Poetry sharpens our perceptions and makes us feel more keenly and, last but not least, poetry simply beautifies our world…

PS The complete poem by Stephen Dunn can be found here.

Hug a Tree

AA said: Schön schön schön!!!!   Danke dafür!

BB said: trop bien et en plus avec Moomin 😍

CC said: Tack Sabina,   Vilken underbar metafor!

Hug a Tree

The other day I went up to a beautiful clearing in the forest above the village, where my favourite tree stands. It is an old larch tree, a real survivor. Lightning struck and mutilated it years ago, but it’s still full of strength and life. 

I hugged “my” tree for a long time, including friends and family in that warm embrace. What a wonderful moment of closeness and peace. It lifted up my whole day. 

Inspired by this heart-warming experience I once again searched my garden for a tree to hug closer by. My oldest cherry tree stands on a steep slope so I had discarded it, but now I secured the path up and built a little plateau to stand on. Then I hugged this gnarled companion, and it was perfect.

In times when social and physical contacts are scarce, hugging a tree makes even more sense. It fills your body and mind with happiness and somehow it makes your heart gentle.

Tonglen

AA said: Danke, Sabina, das ist sehr, sehr gut!

BB said: Manchmal, liebe Sabina, ist es fast unheimlich wie gut Deine Briefe zu meinen Stimmungen oder Situationen passen!  Gestern ist das kleine Kind einer meiner besten Freundinnen schwer erkrankt liegt auf der Intensivstation. Lungenentzündung - ganz ohne Corona! Sie ist noch nicht zwei und mir war gestern den ganzen Tag kalt und ich, wir, haben versucht, gute Energie zu ihr und ihren Eltern zu senden und nun schickst Du auch noch eine Anleitung genau dafür! Danke! Dankedankedanke!

Tonglen

The essence of the practice is the willingness to share pleasure and delight and the joy of life on the out-breath and willingness to feel your pain and that of others fully in the in-breath.  
                         Pema Chödrön: The Wisdom of No Escape

The tonglen practice is a way to share the human condition. We train to awaken compassion. With each in-breath, we take in others’ pain and with each out-breath, we send them relief.

Here is how to do it: 

1. Get Centred

To begin with, go to your favourite meditation spot, sit down, and get comfortable. Take a few minutes to just relax and breathe, to settle in, to quiet your mind, and become centred and present here and now.

2. Call To Mind Someone Who Is Suffering

Think of someone you know who is hurting, or struggling in some way.

Call up a clear picture of them in your mind, see them as vividly as possible. Whatever it is they are going through – illness, depression, financial troubles, divorce or bad break up– imagine how hard it is, and what they might be feeling.

Really put yourself in their shoes, and try to understand the extent of their suffering; physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. The point is to feel that pain like it is your own (because it is), and to let it crack open your heart with compassion.

3. Breathe In Their Pain

Now imagine that you can relieve them of their pain, by taking it upon yourself.

Buddhist tradition instructs us to envision the other person’s suffering as a dark cloud of ash or smoke, and to breathe it in. Take a deep breath, and breathe in all that pain, fear, exhaustion, sadness, loneliness and suffering; all of the negative energy. Welcome it and accept it as your own.

As you breathe in, you may say silently, “May you be free from suffering.”

4. Transmute Darkness Into Light

Pause for just a moment, between the in-breath and the out-breath.

And as you do, take that energy into your heart, to your innermost self. There, all that pain and suffering is transmuted, cleansed and purified — it becomes fuel for the fire of awakening. See how that cloud of misery is consumed by the pure light of awareness.

But that’s not all that is consumed. As you take on the suffering of others, and transmute it, your own fear and ignorance, your pettiness, selfishness, your clinging ego, is burned up along with it.

The poison becomes the medicine. The problem becomes the solution. What you instinctively fear and avoid becomes the vehicle of your liberation.

5. Send Them Peace

Now as you breathe out, send that suffering person good vibrations – a pure white light, the energy of life, peace, happiness, well-being, relaxation, safety and freedom.

Visualize that light and energy going into their mind and body, healing and rejuvenating them. See it going into their heart, the very core of their being, bringing them relief and peace, giving them new courage and strength.

6. Repeat

Repeat steps 3 – 5 for a few minutes, or as long as you wish.

Each time you breathe in, you take in the other’s dark energy, their pain and suffering. You take it into your heart, where it is transmuted, transformed into pure light, compassionate awareness. Then you breathe out, and send them that pure, life-giving energy.

With each cycle, see them becoming more calm and at peace, more healthy and happy and strong. Until finally, in your mind’s eye, they are totally free from suffering, radiant with light and life and energy.

7. Expand your compassion

Finally, make the taking in and sending out bigger. If you are doing tonglen for someone you love, extend it out to all those who are in the same situation. If you are doing tonglen for someone you see on television or on the street, do it for all the others in the same boat. 

It’s worth noting that tonglen can be practiced for entire groups of people like a community in grief, a nation ravaged by war, all people who are hungry or homeless – or all the people suffering from the physical, psychological or economical effects of the Corona virus.