Thoughts: There’s your light
Thoughts: Thay reminds – watch for a cry for help
When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help.
That’s the message he is sending.
Thích Nhất Hạnh
Writings: Keeping it simple, anyway
It’s simple, really.
One of the reasons there are so many books in libraries & bookstore is that there are a LOT of ways to say things.
One of the reasons we have a lot of songs is that there are a LOT of ways to tell stories of the heart.
One of the reasons it’s cool we have different days is that each day is different, in a LOT of ways – love that.
But when it comes down to figuring out what to do next, it’s easy.
Just one formula (if you wanna call it that.)
Just one rule (if you insist on calling it that.)
Just one mission statement (if you need that.)
Share & heal.
Then go read your book & sing your song & watch the sunrise – knowing it’s really that simple.
Thoughts: The day which begins with this, is brighter already
Today is the feast day of St Francis!
Lord, make me a channel of your peace.
That where there is hatred, I may bring love.
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony,
That where there is error, I may bring truth,
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith,
That where there is despair, I may bring hope,
That where there are shadows, I may bring light,
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort, than to be comforted,
To understand than to be understood,
To love than to be loved.
For it is by forgetting self that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,
And it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Amen.
According to Bob Holmes, *this is the version of the St Francis Prayer that Mother Teresa prayed.
Thoughts: Peace….
“Peaceful coexistence on this beautiful planet we share cannot be achieved by warfare. It cannot be achieved by power. And it cannot be achieved by ignoring each others’ suffering. We cannot kill our way to peace, oppress others to create to peace, or close our eyes to achieve peace.
“Peace is the only path to peace. Our humanity is indelibly linked to our treatment of one another.”
― L.R. Knost
Art by Isaac Murdoch
Thoughts: Empty time & your heart
You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken for the race of days.
At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.
You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.
Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.
~ John O’Donohue, “For One Who Is Exhausted, a Blessing.”
[Image: Konsta Punkka]
Every once in a while…
It actually doesn’t matter where you have been swimming, or where you’re going to, but it does better where you’re swimming right now. It is only when we identify what grows in this moment that we have the chance to live fully.
Before & after – this leads to growth in our heads. Now – this leads to growth in our hearts.
It is within this mode of operating that we can grow and grow and grow.We find this by living each moment fully. That creates moments that are more memorable & a future that is more attainable.
You just watch.
The flower – keep your eyes wide…
One day the Buddha held up a flower in front of an audience of 1,250 monks and nuns. He did not say anything for quite a long time. The audience was perfectly silent. Everyone seemed to be thinking hard, trying to see the meaning behind the Buddha’s gesture.
Then, suddenly, the Buddha smiled. He smiled because someone in the audience smiled at him and at the flower. The name of that monk was Mahakashyapa. He was the only person who smiled, and the Buddha smiled back and said, “I have a treasure of insight, and I have transmitted it to Mahakashyapa.”
That story has been discussed by many generations of Zen students, and people continue to look for its meaning. To me the meaning is quite simple. When someone holds up a flower and shows it to you, he wants you to see it. If you keep thinking, you miss the flower. The person who was not thinking, who was just himself, was able to encounter the flower in depth, and he smiled.
That is the problem of life. If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything. When a child presents himself to you with his smile, if you are not really there—thinking about the future or the past, or preoccupied with other problems—then the child is not really there for you. The technique of being alive is to go back to yourself in order for the child to appear like a marvelous reality. Then you can see him smile and you can embrace him in your arms.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Writings: Works with improv, works with life…yes!
In the old days, one of the cool jobs I was lucky enough to fall into was teaching drama at a junior high. We had a great time. One of the things we did was improvise scenes.
It was easy – we’d put two or three kids on the floor, give them a first line (something like “What do I do now?” or “Why, tell me why you had to do that!” or “You’re not the person I thought you were!” or something), and then say “Go!”
Then their job – everybody else’s – was to carry the scene forward with whatever came up. No rules (junior high kids LOVE that), no script, with a wide-open road as to where things might go. Usually it was fun – sometimes really funny (usually unintentionally), sometimes emotional, sometimes as mixed up as life. The part we were looking for: When you’re off-script, it’s a little scary, but often honest.
Every so often, we’d get it going, maybe with saying, “What do I do now?” and…the kid would respond with, “I don’t know.” Then the first person would say, “OK,” and we’d be done. So then we’d use the same people and start it with, “Wow, you look funny!” and they might respond, “Oh, OK. Thanks for telling me.” And we were done.
We really didn’t want things to die there.
So then we had to make some rules for this no-rule lesson plan. Frankly, I don’t remember them, ’cause I used to, well, improvise. But I heard that Tina Fey (in this article) has these as her Improv Rules:
The Rules of Improvisation
Always Agree.
Say Yes, AND…
After the “and” add new information.
Focus on the Here and Now.
Establish the location.
Be Specific, provide details.
Now that changes things. That makes you want to stay in the conversation, and see how it turns out. Part of improv comedy’s genius is the ability, even necessity, to say, “Yes! And…” even in the face of the strangest things. In real life, we just end the conversation & walk on.
Wait. Maybe we don’t have to create a “real life” like that. The more I think about it, I like the Rules of Improv. Good way to wrestle with the stuff that comes our way.
I have an early night, so I think maybe you & I will visit about this some more. Because that’s the way you are…I say something, and no matter what, you agree, so that you can say “Yes! And…” (not “Yes! But…”) and we take it from there. And that’s why it’s fun talking to you. I love it.
Love you & the way we make all this up, together.
Brother Ian
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About Brother Ian
Over the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.
In the spirit of noting that organized crime, organized baseball, organized labour, and organized religion tend to engender controversy & occasional discord, I promise to be neither organized or critical of those who are.