“The path of awakening and loving is a path without end. We cannot measure the worth of a single loving action, or the impact of a single caring gesture. We cannot know the results of a single meditation, or evaluate the learning we will derive by meeting a single difficulty with open-heartedness. When we connect with the precious richness of loving, caring, and connectedness, results fade in importance. We can only trust that the landscape we paint will be coloured by our love and care.”

John Kornfield and Christina Feldman, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“If we cannot lay aside the wound, then let us say it will not always bind us.
Let us say the damage will not eternally determine our path.
Let us say the line of our life will not always travel along the places we are torn.
Let us say that forgiveness can take some practice, can take some patience,
can take a long and struggling time.
Let us say that to offer the hardest blessing, we will need the deepest grace;
that to forgive the sharpest pain, we will need the fiercest love;
that to release the ancient ache, we will need new strength for every day.
Let us say the wound will not be our final home—
that through it runs a road, a way we would not have chosen
but on which we will finally see forgiveness,
so long practiced, coming toward us, shining with the joy so well deserved.”

From The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons by Jan Richardson

“Love for the joy of loving, and not for the offerings of someone else’s heart.”

Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992), born on this day

How to Be a Poet (to remind myself) by Wendell Berry

“Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon affection, reading, knowledge, skill—more of each than you have—inspiration, work, growing older, patience, for patience joins time to eternity. Any readers who like your poems, doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breath the unconditioned air. Shun electric wire. Communicate slowly. Live a three-dimensioned life; stay away from screens. Stay away from anything that obscures the place it is in. There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence. Make the best you can of it. Of the little words that come out of the silence, like prayers prayed back to the one who prays, make a poem that does not disturb the silence from which it came.”

“Don’t tell me what you are against.
Tell me what you love.
What you cherish with your whole body.
Being against contracts the heart.
Being for opens the chest
like an orchid bending toward light.
Now is the time to depart from the kingdom of fear
and return to the palace of this human form.
One sweet dark nerve in your solar plexus
radiates a thousand times more power than any opinion.
Let this be your worship on a Sunday morning.
For a little while, don’t be against anything.
Only be for.
Be for the sun on the table.
Be for the late summer rose.
Be for tears and the laughter of children.
Wash the whole planet in the foolishness of God.”

Fred LaMotte

“Whether or not they contain the encapsulated wisdom of ages past, what is certain is that myths, fairy tales and folklore offer us a world imbued with participation mystique – a world in which humans are fully enmeshed. In this world, animals always have something to teach us, trees and plants can save or cure us, wise old men and women are waiting in the dark woods to help us, and a well may be a doorway to another world. Myths and folklore can put us back in touch with the seasons and turnings of the year, and they can restore our acceptance of the necessary cycles of life. They can also remind us that we have a responsibility to future generations, and to the planet as a whole. If we approach myth and story in non-human-centric ways, it places us more firmly into the wider life of the world: our personal story is enmeshed with a greater story of which we’re a part.”

From The Enchanted Life: Unlocking the Magic of the Everyday by Sharon Blackie

“If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926), poet

Winter Solstice

“Our souls are not broken that they should need repair, nor deficient that they should need anything added. Our souls need only to be uncovered and allowed to shine.”

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

“People [sometimes] talk about creation as a remote fact of history, as if it were something that was attended to a long time ago, and finished at the time. But creation was not an act; it is a process; and it is going on today as much as it ever was. And Nature is not in a hurry…”

John Muir (1838 – 1914), Scottish-American naturalist

International Human Solidarity Day

“My mom taught us never to look away from people’s pain.
The lesson was simple:
Don’t look away.
Don’t look down.
Don’t pretend not to see hurt.
Look people in the eye.
Even when their pain is overwhelming.
And when you are in pain, find the people who can look you in the eye.
We need to know we are not alone, especially when we are hurting.
This lesson is one of the greatest gifts of my life.”

Brené Brown