Mirror

by Sylvia Plath

I am silver and exact.

I have no preconceptions.

Whatever I see I swallow immediately

Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.

I am not cruel, only truthful-

The eye of the little god, four cornered.

Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.

It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long

I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.

Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,

Searching my reaches for what she really is.

Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.

I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.

She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.

I am important to her. She comes and goes.

Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.

In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman

Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

Sylvia Plath

The flash of understanding

I do not know if you have noticed that there is understanding when the mind is very quiet, even for a second; there is the flash of understanding when the verbalization of thought is not.
Just experiment with it and you will see for yourself that you have the flash of understanding, that extraordinary rapidity of insight, when the mind is very still, when thought is absent, when the mind is not burdened with its own noise.
So, the understanding of anything -of a modern picture, of a child, of your wife, of your neighbor, or the understanding of truth, which is in all things- can only come when the mind is very still.
But such stillness cannot be cultivated because if you cultivate a still mind, it is not a still mind, it is a dead mind.

The more you are interested in something, the more your intention to understand, the more simple, clear, free the mind is. Then verbalization ceases.
After all, thought is word, and it is the word that interferes.
It is the screen of words, which is memory, that intervenes between the challenge and the response.
It is the word that is responding to the challenge, which we call intellection.
So, the mind that is chattering, that is verbalizing, cannot understand truth -truth in relationship, not an abstract truth.
There is no abstract truth. But truth is very subtle.
Like a thief in the night, it comes darkly, not when you are prepared to receive it.

J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Joy rising

I am sitting here quietly in a quiet room. The only sounds that are perceptible are those of the birds twittering outside, the wind that occasionally raises its voice to howl and the staccato tick-tock of the clock. I wonder if this is how Thoreau felt as he sat next to the Walden Pond and thought up his writings. But he must have also felt the sun warm on his cheek, the breeze leafing through his hair and the moist earth under him pulsating with the growth of a million things.

At times like these, when the moment seems full, with nothing lacking, and oddly enough, utterly empty, devoid of anything, when the past has lost its hold over you and the future its ability to evoke fear or anticipation, when the moment is all there is, startlingly clear in its simplicity, its infiniteness, one feels a joy rising. Like a single note, it rises from deep within, sonorous and crystal clear. In wave upon wave. Then, like an exquisite fragrance it spreads in all directions until the whole being is filled and trilling with joy. The world, with its pretty or miserable images, falls away and you are left with being, just being. 

Painting : 'In Contemplation' by Ravi Varma
Source : Internet

Desires

Desires are just waves in the mind.

A desire is just a thing among many.

I feel no urge to satisfy it, no action needs be taken on it.

Freedom from desire means this: the compulsion to satisfy is absent.

- Sri Nisargadatta

Mindblowing quotes

Your experiences cannot tell you who you are; they do not define you in any way. You are not that which you experience. 
You are not a victim of your experiences. 
There is an essential essence, a core within you that is not touchable by any experience. 
This is why happiness cannot be affected by exterior circumstances; happiness is a fragrance rising from this core essence. 
This is who you really are. 


- Jac O'keeffe

Lose the hope for affirmation of being and you will find the peace and release of the void. 
Emptiness is the natural state of reality, it can only be felt/known. 
Reality is not intellectual, it is mindless. 
You must feel/know it. 
Once you feel/know it then you will be finally free.

-Steven Norquist

Happiness cannot be given or taken away by anything that life throws at you. 
It is internal, unchanging, and constant. It is still, it is calm, and it is complete. 
It searches for nothing, it does not seek anything, it is absolute, and it is. 


- Jac O'keeffe

Real happiness can never be found outside you simply because everything outside you is constantly changing. 
Instead, turn within and notice what does not change. 
Stay with this. 
Meditate on this. 
Rest in this. 
Upon doing so, surprise, surprise, you just might experience a joy and happiness that has been there all along, but was never noticed because the mind was too busy looking outside you!
- Giles Chamboraire

Before thinking about making any unverified assumptions, passing judgement, choosing sides or burning bridges, keep in mind that there are always at least 3 sides to see any story… Through the eyes of Love, the victim or the perpetrator…
- Hal Tipper

You and I have spoken all these words, 
But for the way we have to go words are no preparation. 
I have one small drop of knowing in my soul. 
Let it dissolve in your ocean!
- Rumi

And gently she flows ...

.. a blue, benign beauty with laughter on her lips, bubbles in her hair and sparkles in her steps. Pulled mesmerisingly by the sea, sometimes fast and rapid, yet at other times placid, almost still, gently she flowed. And I fell for her charms all over again.

Now that I am back, I am out on my walks again and today the river calls me towards it. The sun is inching its way slowly towards the horizon having graced the day in an almost cloudless sky. But now as I walk, it hides its glare behind white cottony clouds casting a surreal light on everything.

The park is sparkling green and heavy with grass. I feel the resistible urge to go and roll in it, to feel its soft, cool touch and smell its grassy fragrance. But no, the river is waiting and I  must go to its side before the sun dips over the horizon. 

The river as you can imagine flows in a valley that has formed between hills and throughout the year, the rain run-off from the hills gather in streams and flow towards the river. Near the point where it meets the river, all the streams converge and this stream flows between a grassy embankment, finally meeting the river in a gorgeous little waterfall.

Finally, I reach the river itself, a blue beauty sparkling between green banks. I walk down the pebbly path and sit down by the river side and let out a deep sigh. It’s been long since I have seen her and experienced her serenity, joy and exuberance.

A duck paddles by, swimming hard against the current. Bubbles float and pop into the crisp air. Birds coming home to roost call from the trees on the banks. I dip my hands into the water, it is cool and refreshing.

Soon, the shadows lengthen as the sun prepares to bid adieu. As a farewell gift, it splatters its gold onto the waters, and the river is now as a radiant bride with gold on its body and rose on its trim.

As I head back home, everything is draped in the golden orange of the sunset sky. The houses perched on the hills sparkle with reflected sunlight and even the hush in the air is golden.

I bid adieu to the river, now darkening under the azure sky and take one last shot of a beauty that is everlasting and that never fails to gladden my heart.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross quotes

"It is very important that you only do what you love to do. you may be poor, you may go hungry, you may lose your car, you may have to move into a shabby place to live, but you will totally live. And at the end of your days you will bless your life because you have done what you came here to do. Otherwise, you will live your life as a prostitute, you will do things only for a reason, to please other people, and you will never have lived. and you will not have a pleasant death.”

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” 



“There is within each one of us a potential for goodness beyond our imagining; for giving which seeks no reward; for listening without judgment; for loving unconditionally.” 



“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose.” 
“Everything in this life has a purpose, there are no mistakes, no coincidences.” 


― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Trust and acceptance

I decided some years ago that instead of trusting another to be what I thought they should be, when I trusted them implicitly to always be exactly who they are with what they have at all times in every moment, I was never disappointed and never lost trust or loving feelings .....

~ Kristal McVicar on FB

Dignity

Dignity does not mean sticking to social norms, it is the fragrance that arises from a pure and noble soul.

- lines from the film Pranayam by Blessy

Freedom

"A superficial freedom to wander aimlessly here and there, to taste this or that, to take a choice of distractions (in Pascal's sense) is simply a sham. It claims to be a freedom of “choice” when it has evaded the basic task of discovering who it is that chooses. It is not free because it is unwilling to face the risk of self-discovery.

The free man is the one whose choices have given him the power to stand on his own feet and determine his own life according to the higher light and spirit that are in him. The slave, in the spiritual order, is the man whose choices have destroyed all spontaneity in him and have delivered him over, bound hand and foot, to his own compulsions, idiosyncrasies and illusions, so that he never does what he really wants to do, but only what he has to do."

~ Thomas Merton

Oneness

"There are people one meets in books or in life whom one does not merely observe, meet, or know. A deep resonance of one's entire being is immediately set up with the entire being of the other (Cor ad cor loquitur)—heart speaks to heart in the wholeness of the language of music; true friendship is a kind of singing." 

~Thomas Merton

Marianne Williamson quotes

Inner peace doesn't come from getting what we want, but from remembering who we are.

The spiritual path is a journey of surrendering who we aren't in order to experience who we are.

 

30-day "Blessing Way Challenge"

This is a 30-day " Blessing Way Challenge". If you accept the challenge, you will practice these four steps diligently every day for the next 30 days. After that, you will notice how much better your life has become, in every aspect, and you will practice them for Life!

To accept this challenge, make a commitment to following these four steps for a period of not less than 30 days.:

1. I will suspend all judgment and will, instead, bless every person and situation I encounter, both those I physically meet and those that simply come to mind.

2. I will actively search for the blessing in every circumstance and in those times when none can be found, I will trust that the blessing will be revealed when the time is right.

3. I will daily express an attitude of gratitude, for all the blessings in my life, even those I cannot see.

4. Whenever I feel stressed, pressed or confused, I will take a Blessing Breather, quieting my mind for a moment and focusing only on my breath, breathing deeply and slowly. With each inhalation, I will mentally affirm "I am so blessed" and with each exhalation, I will mentally affirm "I am a blessing to the world," repeating the process at least three times and allowing my body to relax completely before returning to the task at hand.

I understand that in accepting this challenge, there is a distinct possibility that my life will be forever changed for the better.

I am willing to take the risk.

~~~

Source : Internet

Pain

If you feel hurt, know that there is a way through it. Know that you will only deepen yourself and your world if you allow the pain to be there so that you can heal it. Go with it instead of fighting it. “The cure for pain is in the pain." 

– Rumi

Be

I am a leaf
Be a Branch
nourish me

I am grass
Be Earth
hold me maternally

I am a mermaid
Be the Ocean
channel me safely

I am a wave
Be the wind
caress me afar

I am a bee
Be nectar
rejuvenate me

I am me
Simply Be you
we can Be Free.

~ Dr.Deena Sadik on FB

Joy, unadulerated

priceless ...

Do good and forget

Millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury the nuts and then forgot where they hid them.

"Do good and forget".

Source : FB

Love is Being

by Native American poet Janet Marie Rogers

I would not pretend
to be someone I’m not
to make you love me
for fear
you may love
the illusion
more than me.

Love is BEING
listening to silence
content in our skin
knowing we are
the very thing
that Created us
in love.