Something to fall back on...

'Don't listen to the clamor that goes on in your mind. Wait for the small, quiet voice.'

I read this in one of my morning meditations, and I felt it is something that I need to keep reminding myself.

So often something happens, and the clamor in the mind is truly loud. Opinions, suggestions, directives....all equally strong, pound the mind, and each one sounds so right, probably because they are so loud. And the louder they get the more sure they seem, and come across as the only way forward, the only way to act/think/be... .

And.......... invariably these end in some form of grief/disappointment/unhappiness/misunderstanding/strife.....

This is something we all battle with many times every day.

When I'm in the 'aware' frame of mind, I just wait till the noise dies down - don't do anything and go about my routine work. But if it catches me unawares..................I promptly fall into the trap....

So, something I'm working towards, and working really hard on, is to still myself, hold myself down quietly, and let the clamor die down, and then wait for the quiet little word, the whisper. Thing is, till now the whisper has never failed me - so I ask myself, then what's the hurry to act/speak/do....?

One day it WILL happen..........

Random thoughts...

Never go by what you see or hear - go by what you feel and sense...

A soft voice is louder than the loudest sound...

and,

Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The biggest human temptation is to settle for less - Thomas Merton (and it's a temptation we resist in our greed? desire? search for more/bigger/better...)

The tears...

neither fall from my full eyes...

nor do they stop...

There is a lovely word.....

in Hindustani - soonapan - it signifies the haunting loneliness of one's heart...
a pain which can be softened only by an all-accepting, all-embracing, non-stifling, totally respectful love...

Needed to affirm...

and reaffirm.....

and reassure and re-reaffirm those who are in jobs they are questioning......

that it is true - the more you stick with something, no matter how difficult and unreasonable the task may be at times, or how many cul-de-sacs there are and you have to reverse to get out of it and try another route, or how  steeply uphill it is for long stretches, or how many mental gymnastics you have to do to keep on top of it........

stick with it, and the rewards do come in......
('twas proved again to me this morning!)

I read this...

in my book of meditations - Streams in the Desert.


A little seed lay on the ground
And soon began to sprout.
"Now which of all the flowers around,"
It mused, "Shall I come out?"

The little seed said to itself: "I don't want to be a lily, for lilies are so cold and lofty. I don't want to be a rose, for the rose is loud in color, it dies quickly, its edges wilt and it isn't very practical. I don't want to be a violet, for the violet is too small, too dark, and grows too close to the ground." Thus, the little seed was critical of everything around it. It found fault with all its neighbours. It didn't like the color of some, the perfume of others, the size and shape of others. It had nothing constructive to offer, even in its own behalf.

And so it criticized each flower
This supercilious seed,
Until it woke one summer hour
And found itself a weed!

We really don't need to be like anyone else......there is a place for each one under God's sun, and all we have to do is to love ourselves, love where we are, do what we can to the very best of our abilities in the place that He has placed us, and above all, love the God who created us for His purpose....

And so, there are weeds, and weeds, and weeds....and,
I may be a weed, but I am God's weed......

And this is only for those...

over 50, or 60, or 70, or 80......

what is your dream when finally, finally your responsibilities and commitments are over?

Mine is to live in a forest in the hills, or become a beach bum......

Dream of this time, for this the dream of life........and the stuff of life.....