Coming Back Down to our Fragile Oasis

Take a moment to listen dear ones....

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/shuttle_station/features/Peter_Gabriel_Oasis.html




note: Music by Peter Gabriel, video c. 2011 NASA

Your Daily Hafiz

"I do not

Want to step so quickly

Over a beautiful line on God's palm

As I move through the earth's

Marketplace

Today.

I do not want to touch any object in this world

Without my eyes testifying to the truth

That everything is

My Beloved.

Something has happened

To my understanding of existence

That now makes my heart always full of wonder

And kindness.

I do not

Want to step so quickly

Over this sacred place on God's body

That is right beneath your

Own foot

As I

Dance with

Precious life

Today."

Hafiz, Sufi Poet

From the Archives: Going with the Flow

Clients will often ask me how they can create what they want in their lives. They believe they are clear on what they want because they think about it all the time, write about in a journal, seek advice, recite affirmations and so on and yet whatever their goal is , it remains elusive.

The solution is deceptively simple: It is the "Wu Wei" of Taoist thought or "The Way" which is non resistance to that which is. Accept the moment with the knowledge that it is perfect.

How do you know that this moment is the "right" moment for you? Because it exists.

Take for example a day when you want to sit in your garden and enjoy the beauty of nature yet you struggle internally with the need to work. Accepting that there is time to work with joyousness and knowing that there is time to sit in the garden also relieves us of the struggle that ties us up internally. There will be another time for the garden or work, just as there will be time for many other things.

A helpful question might be "Which way is the River flowing here"? This is to say the natural flow of energies are in the direction of work, then accepting that as a positive choice can relieve one of the anxiety of struggle. If it is flowing in the direction of the garden, then you can make a choice to fully experience that moment with openness and delight without another thought of work! 

Each and every thought is a choice, you can choose to think positively, or not. It's up to you.

Navarro River Photograph by Victoria Marina-Tompkins

Lao Tzu Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

"Brim-fill the bowl,

it'll spill over.

Keep sharpening the blade,

you'll soon blunt it.

Nobody can protect

a house full of gold and jade.

Wealth, status, pride,

are their own ruin.

To do good, work well, and lie low

is the way of the blessing."

Lao Tzu Chapter 19

Raw Silk and Uncut Wood

Stop being holy, forget being prudent

It'll be a hundred times better for everyone.

Stop being altruistic, forget being righteous,

people will remember what family feeling is.

Stop planning, forget making a profit,

there won't be any thieves and robbers.

But even these three rules

needn't be followed; what works reliably

is to know the raw silk,

hold the uncut wood.

Need little,

want less.

Forget the rules.

Be untroubled.

Translation by Ursula K. Le Guin

Tao Te Ching 37

The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu

Chapter 37

"Eternal Tao doesn't do anything yet it leaves nothing undone.

If you abide by it, 

everything in existence will transform itself.

When, in the process of self-transformation,desires are aroused, 

calm them with nameless simplicity.

When desires are dissolved in the primal presence,

peace and harmony naturally occur,and the world orders itself."

Taking the First Step

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, 

just take the first step".  Martin Luther King