cycles of life

[cycles--of--life]

[cycles--of--life]

So that’s how it would be (…) I’ll continue to flow endlessly through life… And nothing will get in my way. 

Banana Yoshimoto, Amrita

[cycles--of--life]

Listen with ears of tolerance. See through the eyes of compassion. Speak with the language of love.

Rumi

[cycles--of--life]

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

Lao Tzu

[cycles--of--life]

VI

(...)

Let's be simple and calm, Like brooks and trees, And God will love is by making Beautiful things like trees and brooks for us, And give us greenness in his spring, And a river for us to go to when we end...

Alberto Caeiro

[cycles--of--life]

Sunshine is green leaves

Green leaves are sunshine

Sunshine is not different from green leaves

Green leaves are not different from sunshine

The same is true of all forms and colours.

As soon as the sun of awareness shines, at very moment a great change takes place. Meditation lets the sun of awareness rise easily, so we can see more clearly. When we meditate, we seem to have two selves. One is the flowing river of thoughts and feelings, and the other is the sun of awareness that shines on them. Which is our own self? Which is true? Which is false? Which is good? Which is bad? Please calm down, my friend. Lay down your sharp sword of conceptual thinking. Don't be in such a hurry to your "self" in two. Both are self. Neither is true. Neither is false. They are both true and both false.

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun My Heart

[cycles--of--life]

"Up down, same thing. And also different, too."

She entered her text and sat back again to wait. When the bell sounded, she read the incoming message and nodded. She thought for a moment, running her hand over her smooth head, and then she started typing again.

"When up looks up, up is down.

When down looks down, down is up.

Not-one, not-two. Not same.

Not different."

Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being"

[cycles--of--life]

[cycles--of--life]

Exercise

First forget what time it is for an hour do it regularly every day

then forget what day of the week it is do this regularly for a week then forget what country you are in and practice doing it in company for a week then do them together for a week with as few breaks as possible

follow these by forgetting how to add or to subtract it makes no difference you can change them around after a week both will help you later to forget how to count

forget how to count starting with your own age starting with how to count backward starting with even numbers starting with Roman numerals starting with fractions of Roman numerals starting with the old calendar going on to the old alphabet going on to the alphabet until everything is continuous again

go on to forgetting elements starting with water proceeding to earth rising in fire

forget fire

W.S.Merwin

[cycles--of--life]

Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think and twice as beautiful as you'd ever imagined. Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.

Rumi

[cycles--of--life]

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.

Swami Vivekananda

[cycles--of--life]

People don't settle for people. They resolve to be with them. It takes faith. You draw a circle in the sand and agree to stand in it and believe in it.

Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man

[cycles--of--life]

I only want to live in peace, plant potatoes and dream.

Tove Jansson

[cycles--of--life]

First Yoga Lesson “Be a lotus in the pond,” she said, “opening slowly, no single energy tugging against another but peacefully, all together.”

I couldn’t even touch my toes. “Feel your quadriceps stretching?” she asked. Well, something was certainly stretching. Standing impressively upright, she raised one leg and placed it against the other, then lifted her arms and shook her hands like leaves. “Be a tree,” she said.

I lay on the floor, exhausted. But to be a lotus in the pond opening slowly, and very slowly rising– that I could do.

Mary Oliver

[cycles--of--life]

[cycles--of--life]

There are two ways to wash the dishes. The first is to wash the dishes in order to have clean dishes and the second way is to wash the dishes in order to wash the dishes.

Thich Naht Hanh

[cycles--of--life]

The entire Universe is condensed in the body, and the entire body in the Heart. Thus the Heart is the nucleus of the whole Universe.

Sri Ramana Maharshi