Author Archives: veerjih

Midsummer Day “Such a day it was as – looking back –imbues a whole Summer’s memories with warmthand places a gold overlay on all grey.Larks lifted at my feetand climbed, cascading sound, to vanishing pointin faded denim skies.Foals like glossy chestnuts newly splitlay fallen in their mothers’ shadowsand lizards flickered the furze through. At lengthContinue reading “Thought for the day, Tuesday 24th June”

“Make a new start every day, with new resolution, with enthusiasm and love, prayer and silence.” St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia (1906 – 1991)

“I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness and the willingness to remain vulnerable. All these and other factors combined, if the circumstances are right, can teach and can lead to rebirth.”Continue reading “Thought for the day, Sunday 22nd June”

Summer Solstice “The time has come to live fully. At the summer solstice (as at any high point of life, any peak of fulfilment) we can be changed by the experience of joyfulness, by the land’s loveliness or by a healing vision of how harmony could be restored to all beings – and decide toContinue reading “Thought for the day, Saturday 21st June”

World Refugee Day “The Moon rises above the surrounding, shiny starsNot to compete with the SunBut to allow it to rest.Your face can feel droplets of rainNot falling from the sky just for youBut to refresh the earth’s flower petals.The river moves and is constantNot to make a noise or shake the pebbles underneathBut toContinue reading “Thought for the day, Friday 20th June”

“In speaking of human things, we say that it is necessary to know them before we can love them…the saints on the contrary say in speaking of divine things that it is necessary to love them in order to know them, and that we only enter truth through charity.” Blaise Pascal, scientist and philosopher (1623Continue reading “Thought for the day, Thursday 19th June”

“This morning I felt I was having a touching, quiet conversation with something eternal, like standing in a forest, surrounded by whispers of wisdom that have been growing for centuries. I have spent so many years running through the world, and now I tread more gently and walk more slowly, bowing at times and pausingContinue reading “Thought for the day, Wednesday 18th June”

“I live neither in the past nor in the future. I am in the present. I cannot know what tomorrow will bring forth. I can know only what the truth is for me today. That is what I am called upon to serve, and I serve it in all lucidity.” Igor Stravinksy, composer (1882 –Continue reading “Thought for the day, Tuesday 17th June”

“It is I, Seagull! Everything is fine. I see the horizon; it’s a sky blue with a dark strip. How beautiful the Earth is … everything is going well.” Radio message from Soviet space mission Vostok 6 by Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space, on this day in 1963

Anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, 1215 “At Runnymede, at Runnymede,Your rights were won at Runnymede!No freeman shall be fined or bound,Or dispossessed of freehold ground,Except by lawful judgement foundAnd passed upon him by his peers!Forget not, after all these years,The Charter signed at Runnymede.” Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936)