“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Leonardo de Vinci (1452 – 1519), born on this day

“Self-love is the form and root of all friendship. Well-ordered self-love is right and natural – so much so that the person who hates himself or herself sins against nature. To know and to appreciate your own worth is no sin.”

Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225 – 1274)

“I used to think that achieving inner peace
would make my heart look like a calm lake
I thought being in harmony meant:
no ripples
no waves
no lapping shores
~ just still water
it turns out that serenity
isn’t the absence of movement
in fact ~ it’s quite the opposite
because the more peace I feel
the more my heart churns
and bubbles like a lake boiling
as a ribbon of lava breaks through
underneath the water
I don’t think we were created
out of nothingness to come here
just to let our hearts become
an unmoving body of cold water
covered in standing algae
I think the Great Love placed a fire in us
so that our lives will be a natural spring
of swirling hot healing water
that never looks the same way twice
the war machine thinks it is the only thing
that can move and lumber
~ and that’s not simply true
peace is the most disturbing force in the universe
peace is the tide that washes away
the ancient seaweed of division
that builds upon our shores
peace is anything but still
it’s a tsunami that can terraform rock fortresses
into open-air chapels my love,
I’m starting to realize
that the less my heart moves
~ the heavier it gets
~ the more dust it collects
~ the less kindness I feel
but when I let my heart constantly stir
like a cotton candy machine
~ the lighter and sweeter it becomes
empathy is an act of chaos
it takes the narcissistic scripts
we have been given
and rewrites them
into a handwritten gospel of understanding
peacefulness is anything but still
~ it is pure motion
peace is the ripple
that starts in the center of my heart
and rushes out through the faucets
of my eyes, hands and tongue
out into the world my love,
ripples are remarkable
because we aren’t here to be stagnant
we are here to make a splash.”

John Roedel

“We need to move into a culture of peace. What I hope to promote is the idea that we all need each other and that the greatest happiness in life is not how much we have but how much we give. That’s a wealth that’s priceless. You can’t buy compassion..

The most valuable things in life are priceless. They are courage, compassion, wisdom, respect for ourselves and others, and a host of characteristics that we call the beauty of the human spirit.”

Herbie Hancock, Jazz musician, born on this day in 1940

“It is said that young loves autumn best because it promises the fruits of maturity, but that age loves spring best because it recalls the freshness of beginnings. When we have come into that quiet place that age opens us to, into the secret, walled garden of remembrance, the deeds of our lives seem of less moment than the miraculous spiral of life. The old pains and joys, the treacheries and rejections as well as the sweets and pleasures, find their resting place. It is at such moments that we find windows to accept or bestow forgiveness, to forget injuries, to fully appreciate the riches that have come to us, and to accept and cease to regret the things we have not done..

The returning cycles of the year bring us ever nearer to the heart of things, to the core of ourselves, wherein all things cease to spiral. At the perfect heart of the still centre which is the soul’s home, there is a different vision – not the view of the traveller along the way, but the intimate perspective of age, which at last understands the motions of life from the heart’s stillness.”

From The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year by Caitlin Matthews

“There is craft in this smallest insect,
With strands of web spinning out his thoughts;
In his tiny body finding rest,
And with the wind lightly turning.
Before the eaves he stakes out his broad earth;
For a moment on the fence top lives through his life.
When you know that all beings are even thus,
You will know what creation is made of.”

Sugawara no Michizane (845 – 903)

“The manner in which you get ready for work, go to work, and the way you are while you are there affects not only those you work with, but also the quality of your work. Everything we do in our lives has an effect on our work. I, myself, am a poet but I love working in the garden growing vegetables. One day an American scholar said to me,
“Don’t waste your time gardening and growing lettuce. You should write more poems instead; anyone can grow lettuce.” That is not my way of thinking.

I know very well that if I do not grow lettuce, I cannot write poems. The two are interrelated. Eating breakfast mindfully, washing the dishes, and growing lettuce in mindfulness are essential for me to be able to write poetry well. The way someone washes the dishes reveals the quality of his or her poetry. Similarly, the more awareness and mindfulness we bring to all our daily actions, including our work, the better our work will be.”

From The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

“Because the almond tree flowers before it bears fruit, some cultures have regarded it as a symbol of hope, but others see its blossom pattern as a warning against haste. As new projects develop this spring, some will hail them automatically for the hope they promise. Others will reflexively regard any new idea as too much, too soon. Perhaps we need universities to offer courses in Spring Studies, in the nurturing of new life. It takes vision and discretion to tell the difference between the numinous and the mere novelty.”

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

“God has blessed you when he lets you believe in somebody.”

Billie Holiday (1915 – 1959), born on this day

“Freedom.
How her spirit
Haunts,
Hooks,
Entices us all!
Freedom,
Will the time come
For my ideas to roam
Across this vast land’s deserts,
Through the caverns of the Empty Quarter?
For my voice to be sent forth,
Crying out in the stillness of a quiet people,
A voice among the voiceless?
For my thoughts, that hurl around
In a never-ending spiral,
To settle
Mature, grow and flourish
In a barren wasteland of shackled minds?
Will my spirit be set free—
To soar above the undulating palm fronds?
Will my essence and heart be unfettered,
Forever
Freed,
Of man-made Thou Shall Nots?”

The Longing by Nimah Ismail Nawwab