When you get into a tight place,
and everything goes against you
till it seems as if you couldn't hold
on a minute longer, never give up
then, for that's just the place and
time that the tide'll turn.
Dear Friends ~ In autumn, the golden glow of tawny hues signals the waning of the chlorophyll that has been transforming sunlight into food. Trees let go of their leaves, plants their flowers, and we let go of bird song and water play and butterflies on the wing. Fall is the season of letting go. In the inner landscape of our hearts perhaps it is a time for forgiveness, the letting go of past hurts and misunderstandings, of anger and resentment. Perhaps it is a time for letting go of our expectations — maybe of what we thought we needed or what we thought we ought to have or the way we intended something to be done — so that we can embrace with gratitude what is. We often think of spring as a time for new beginnings, yet beginnings need space and time and endings and clearing away and incubation in order to emerge. So perhaps autumn is actually a fitting moment to embark on our own "beginning anew ceremony" by taking the first step and letting go.
Life is not hurrying on to a receding future, nor hankering after an imagined past. It
is the turning aside like Moses to the miracle of the lit bush, to a brightness that
seemed as transitory as your youth once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
...it is not the thing itself...that is the problem; but it is our clinging to the thing even
when it causes us, ourselves, and others mental or physical pain, which blinds us to a
bigger view and snowballs into more suffering. Ultimately, the challenge of letting go
becomes a spiritual act in some way: in many
spiritual traditions, surrender is the backbone, as
Mohammed says in the Qur'an, "True religion is
surrender." And so as we grasp at the beautiful red
leaf, we just might let it spin again in the autumn
wind, delighting in that tiny leaf-filled and empty
moment.
~ from HAIKU MIND: 108 POEMS TO CULTIVATE AWARENESS & OPEN YOUR HEART by Patricia Donegan
The cosmos is filled with precious gems.
I want to offer a handful of them to you this morning.
Each moment you are alive is a gem,
shining through and containing Earth and sky,
Water and clouds.
It needs you to breathe gently
for the miracles to be displayed.
Suddenly you hear the birds singing,
the pines chanting...
You, the richest person on Earth,
who have been going around begging,
stop being the destitute child.
Come back and claim your heritage.
Enjoy your happiness
and offer it to everyone.
Cherish this very moment.
Let go of the stream of distress
and embrace life fully in your arms.
I wonder if gratefulness is the
bridge from sorrow to joy,
spanning the chasm of our
anxious striving. Freed from the
burden of unbridled desires, we
can enjoy what we have,
celebrate what we've attained,
and appreciate the familiar. For
if we can't be happy now, we'll
likely not be happy when.
Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow; they toil not,
neither do they spin...be not
therefore anxious for the
morrow for the morrow will be
anxious for itself.
When I started the practice of
"no preference," a special
quality of mind began to grow—
a unique understanding and
affirmation of the way things
are— and I discovered something
extraordinary: the heart of
stillness sits perfectly balanced in
the middle of chaos. This is the
true dwelling place of the soul.
~ from ENDURING THE SACRED MOUNTAIN by David A. Cooper
Forgiveness is a complex experience that changes an offended
person's spiritual feelings, emotions, thoughts, actions, and
self-confidence level. I believe learning to forgive the hurts
and grudges of our life may be an important step for us to feel
more hopeful and spiritually connected and less depressed.
If the heart has forgiven and excused,
Offenses will not be remembered.
They are remembered only in the attic, the memory,
Without the heart's participation.
