Thought for the day

"A person who works with his hands is a laborer.

A person who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman.

A person who works with his hands, his brain and his heart is an artist."

—Louis Nizer

Today

The Art of Disappearing

~ Naomi Shihab Nye

When they say Don't I know you?
say no.

When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.

If they say We should get together
say why?

It's not that you don't love them anymore.
You're trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.

When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven't seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don't start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.

Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.

Gently now...

We are so hard on ourselves, trying to be superheroes all the time, expecting enormous things to happen so quickly and efficiently and perfectly. We get impatient, think ourselves inexpert, foolish, graceless, wasteful, doddering, tedious, afraid, weak, less than. We forget who we are. We forget what we know. And we forget what we’re capable of, exactly as we are with exactly what we know. Maybe we can learn to be a little gentler on ourselves. To stop telling ourselves we need to change so much so soon. This is the weather. This is space. This is the path we’re on. It’s expansive and gorgeous and rich with possibility, and best of all, it’s ours. Why would we want to start anywhere else?

-maya stein

i realized today that i've posted over 100 times and i started this blog back in June 2008 - one year ago.  the journey continues - i'm going to keep walking this path and see where it goes from here.

xoxo

today, like everyday, 

we wake up hollow and frightened.

don't open the door to the study & begin reading.

reach for the musical instrument.

let the beauty we love be what we do,

there are hundreds of ways to kneel & kiss the ground.

~ rumi

xoxo

Mary Oliver - oh my

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean-

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

Zen of Creativity

Reading the Zen of Creativity by John Daido Loori this week - it is full of gems and ideas like this:

"Whether serious or playful, witty or evocative, Zen is alive because it is spontaneous.  If you want to experience this spontaneity in your own life, don't waste your energy on judgement or reflection. ' This is a good photograph, this is a bad photograph.  I like this, I don't like that '. That is just the brambles, the entanglements that keep us from really getting in touch with our creative heart.

"Naturalness, spontaneity, and playfulness are all aspects of the ordinary mind that catches a glimpse of the world of things just as they are.  To live this life fully means to see all of it.  The doorway to this experience is the creative process.  Delve deeply into it.   Give it a chance.  Engage it fully with the whole body and mind.  If you do, sooner or later, this limitless way of being will be your own. It will never make sense, and you'll never be able to explain it to anybody, but you will experience it, and by so doing, you will make it real."

i'm loving the journaling because it is this - being spontaneous and not judging - it is just a flow out of me onto the paper and each day is different.