“Perhaps the biggest obstacle to loving yourself and living your Spirit is the belief that you can only do so when all your problems are solved, all your worries are alleviated, and all your concerns and fears have disappeared. The truth is, this will never happen. We’re not here to get over our humanness, but rather to accept and make peace with it… and remember our Divine nature.”

Sonia Choquette

“By the time it came to the edge of the Forest the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

From The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne (1882 – 1956), born on this day

“My heart,
sing the song of longing like a nightingale.
The sound of your voice casts a spell
on every stone, on every thorn.
First,
lay down your head,
then one by one let go
of all distractions.
Embrace the Light and let it guide you,
beyond the winds of desire.
There,
you will find a spring
and nourished by its sweet waters
like a tree
you will bear fruit forever.”

From The Hidden Music by Rumi, translated by Dina Al – Mahdy

“Old and new are the perennial poles of all feeling and sense of orientation in the world. We cannot do without the old, because in what is old is invested all our past, our wisdom, our memories, our sadness, our sense of realism. We cannot do without faith in the new, because in what is new is invested all our energy, our capacity for optimism, our blind biological yearning, our ability to forget — the healing ability that makes reconciliation possible.

We are told we must choose — the old or the new. In fact, we must choose both. What is a life if not a series of negotiations between the old and the new? It seems to me that one should always be seeking to talk oneself out of these stark oppositions.”

Susan Sontag (1933 – 2004), writer, born on this day

“Why should there be hunger and privation in any land, in any city, at any table, when men has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life?

There is no deficit in human resources; the deficit is in human will.”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968), born on this day

“The touch, sure and light, fixing something of the passing moment.. ..memory is the true, imperishable life, that which has sunk without trace and been forgotten was not worth experiencing, the sweet hours, and the great and dread, are immutable. Dreams are life itself – and dreams are more true than reality; in them we behave as our true selves – if we have a soul it is there.”

Berthe Morisot (1841 – 1895), impressionist painter, born on this day

“The white herons invisible in the snow. The beer can crushed by the roadside.
The crunch of your shoes in the snow, magnified by the winter stillness. The devastation wrought be an ice storm, throwing cars and lives off the road.
The crackle of icicles as a squirrel runs along a tree branch.
Is it all equally precious? Can we embrace both the beautiful and the terrible? What do we gain from it? Robert Penn Warren writes, “We must try to love so well the world that we may believe, in the end, in God.””

From Earth Bound: Daily Meditations For All Seasons by Brian Nelson

“Problems are not solved on the level of problems. Analysing a problem to find its solution is like trying to restore freshness to a leaf by treating the leaf itself, whereas the solution lies in watering the root.. When the problem of suffering – physical or mental – has to be tackled, it must be tackled at the root cause in order to produce lasting results..”

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1918 – 2008), born on this day

“Know first who you are and what you are capable of… We are always learning, always growing. It is right to accept challenges. This is when we progress to the next level of intellectual, physical, or moral development. Still, do not deceive yourself: if you try to be something of someone you are not, you belittle your true self and end up not developing in those areas that you would have excelled in quite naturally. Within the divine order we each have our own special calling. Listen to yours, and follow it faithfully.”

Epictetus, Greek Stoic philosopher (55 – 135 CE), quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“This morning
the beautiful white heron
was floating along above the water
and then into the sky of this
the one world
we all belong to
where everything
sooner or later
is a part of everything else
which thought made me feel
for a little while
quite beautiful myself.”

Poem of the One World by Mary Oliver