Tag: awareness

Our True Heritage {Thich Nhat Hanh}.

Our True Heritage

The cosmos is filled with precious gems.
I want to offer a handful of them to you this morning.
Each moment you are alive is a gem,
shining through and containing earth and sky,
water and clouds.

It *needs* you to breathe gently
for the miracles to be displayed.
Suddenly you hear the birds singing,
the pines chanting,
see the flowers blooming,
the blue sky,
the white clouds,
the smile and the marvelous look
of your beloved.

You, the richest person on Earth,
who have been going around begging for a living,
stop being the destitute child.
Come back and claim your heritage.
We should enjoy our happiness
and offer it to everyone.
Cherish this very moment.
Let go of the stream of distress
and embrace life fully in your arms.

– Thich Nhat Hanh

This precious moment needs you, my loves – to bear witness, to the wonderment of being.

You are a brilliant source of light, my darlings, shining through this seemingly impenetrable darkness…to find your way ‘home’, once again…

And share, your richness with this world.

“Let go of the battle. Breathe quietly and let it be.”

[blockquote source=”Christopher Pointdexter”]”Never could I breathe love if I did not first learn to inhale a little bit of chaos.” [/blockquote]

There is a saying in Buddhist teachings, “though you may be capable of great things, remember always – that life consists within the small.”

There is often a density to our struggles, a tendency to amplify the true nature of our experience. To attach our ‘story lines’, to editorialize – instead of opening to the center point of our awareness.

Certainly, it’s human nature to withdraw when we feel at risk. But, how much running is really to be done when the threat is mostly in our head?

More importantly, how do we – in those microscopic, split-second moments of reactivity – discern between that which is perceived and real?

Insight Meditation Center teacher, and author Tara Brach offers,

“It’s hard to hang out with the truth of what we’re feeling. We may sincerely intend to pause and be mindful whenever a crisis arises or whenever we feel stuck and confused, but our conditioning to react, escape, or become possessed by emotion is very strong.”

Which begs the question, how do we continue to ‘carry our Zen’ – when all of our senses urge us to run away?

Breathe…“Let go of the battle. Breathe quietly and let it be.”

And though, it might seem impossible, at best – remember, that this breath is the ‘stepping point’ in opening to our awareness.

With each breath, comes the opportunity to pause…to reflect; to breathe deep the laughter, the joys, the regret; to open to our sorrows and our splendor, as well; to take it all in, before we react.

My darlings, it is this very breath that becomes our soul connection.

And, in this tiny, split second fraction of a moment – we find our passageway to awareness.

Namaste, my most beautiful friends…remember, to let go and just simply breathe.

“I Take My Waking Slow.”

I found a beautiful branch on my morning walk – crushed between a fallen tree, and a pile of muddied debris. It had been stripped from the heights of our tallest Elm, no match for the latest winds.

At any other pace, it surely would have been missed.

But, slowly through these winding trails – I take my time to see.

To some, it might appear a dreadful fungus – overtaking the limbs of a once very strong tree. While others, may barely notice with their noses pressed to mobile screen.

But, I can see the colors, that this earth has so graciously shared with me.

[blockquote source=”Thích Nhất Hạnh”]“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” [/blockquote]

My dears, with a simple slowed pace comes the opportunity for discovery.

So, may we always take our waking slow.

 

“The Waking

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.”

― Theodore Roethke, The Collected Poems