Thursday, April 23, 2020

Thursday ~ April 23, 2020

My efforts now turn from trying to outrun suffering
to accepting love wherever I can find it.
Stripped of causes and plans and things to strive for,
I have discovered everything I could ask for is right right here -
in flawed abundance.
We cannot eliminate hunger,
but we can feed each other.
We cannot eliminate loneliness,
but we can hold each other.
We cannot eliminate pain,
but we can live a life of compassion...
There is nothing to do and nowhere to go.
Accepting this, we can do everything and go anywhere.

(Mark Nepo, b. 1951)

Monday, April 20, 2020

Monday ~ April 20, 2020

Relax
Bad things are going to happen...
There's a Buddhist story of a woman chased by a tiger.
When she comes to a cliff, she sees a sturdy vine
and climbs halfway down. Bit there's also a tiger below.
And two mice - one white, one black - scurry out and begin to gnaw at the vine.
At this point she notices a wild strawberry growing from a crevice.
She looks up, down, at the mice.
Then she eats the strawberry.
So here's the view, the breeze, the pulse in your throat.
Your wallet will be stolen, you'll get fat,
slip on the bathroom tiles of a foreign hotel and crack your hip. You'll be lonely.
Oh, taste how sweet and tart the red juice is, how the tiny seeds crunch between your teeth.

(Ellen Bass, b. 1947)

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Sunday ~ April 19, 2020

"Hope" is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

(Emily Dickinson, 1830 - 1886)

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