In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend an imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart. As soon as you compare that shadow with the shadows of other people, you lose all joy, because you have begun to trade in unrealities, and there is no joy in things that do not exist. Thomas Merton

Lord, I’m thankful for this time.
To search the corners of my mind.
To clear away the thoughts that rust,
And face the fears I know I must.

To see at length what I believe,
Words that form or preconceive .
Tools that taught the youth to see,
That hold us back from future dreams.

And so I sit and rearrange,
The puzzle pieces in my brain.
When I think I’ve reached the end,
You flood the room with Light again.

(Domino wrote this.)
http://www.mindfulnet.org/Doing_your_time_with_peace_of_mind.pdf

A friend just learned his daughter is dating a man his age, 23 years her senior.  Two years ago that might have bothered him.   He and I both have significantly younger partners, so it’s a topic of discussion now and then (patience!)  He wrote to me:  “You know these younger people are finding out more and more that those of us from the 60’s generation are a different breed altogether. I asked my Daughter who I have a great relationship with and by the way is going with a guy that was a year younger than I am, ” Why are younger woman attracted to me?”  Her answer was straight to the point.  She said ” Dad It’s not just you.  But in your case, you are an attractive man, you exude confidence but are not cocky, make a woman feel like she is the only person in the world when you talk to them, even the old women at the grocery store, you give them your undivided attention when conversing. You are successful, dress well have kept yourself in good physical shape… and always smell good.  But to get to the main reason.  Going out to dinner is not Burger King in a pick up truck followed by hanging out with a bunch of drunken buddies that end up fighting.  And later having to loan the younger guy money for gas because he won’t work.  A quick unsatisfying round of sex where he asks wasn’t that good and who’s your daddy LOL.  Then she said, “Seriously, dinner at a nice restaurant, or he cooks for you.  A movie or a play, long walks and to top it off an older man knows his way around a woman’s body, the sex is awesome and he does not need to ask, he knows he did everything right. ”
Out of the mouths of babes…

I was talking to a sister in law last night and we share a nephew in common.  She’s got a new rescue puppy and she’s been trying to calm it down.   Nephew is getting ready to move back in with them and she said he’d better not resume his pacing from room to room, going out the back door, back inside, out the front door, back inside that he does constantly when he’s there.  I thought that was funny since when he’s here, he’s looking at my library books, or off in the corner writing, or he’ll join me in yoga or meditation, or we’ll sit and have long discussions or just silently walk the grounds together.  I know a completely different person than she knows.  It could be that her husband keeps the tv on CNN  and here there is either silence so we can hear the nature sounds, or I might have ambient music playing in another room.  Caroline Myss says ” Silence nourishes you because in the stillness you become reflective. You learn to discern your distractions and to respond to your distractions in nondestructive ways. Through silence, you enter into the realm of your imagination, expanding your creativity beyond well beyond the width and breadth of the familiar and ordinary.”  Yay, then my job is done.

Dear IRS: We owe what?

A dear friend and her husband have been in business together for 23 years.  She handles the clients and he handles all the bookkeeping, the billing, the vendors and the taxes.  He died three months ago.  She is just now going into the files for the business to get documents together for the tax accountant.  She finds no receipts have been kept, no check register maintained, a bank account and thousands in frivolous credit card charges that she didn’t even know about.  She never thought to not trust him with everything.  She’s never even opened the checkbook or mail — he handled everything, for 23 years.      DON’T DO THAT.  No matter how much you trust your partner, know what is going on if it is something you will ever be financially responsible for.   (I personally never mix dollars and partners, ever: pre-nuptial agreements, separate bank accounts, each pays for their own, period — less hassles that way.)  They are only recently behind in paying bills, since records were not kept as to the source of money used for deposits that did not corelate to sales at the store that day or week.  She doesn’t know where it came from, but she could use it right now.  As well as our prayers.  She can use some prayers right now if you’ve got a moment.

The Vinegar Tasters

“You see, Pooh,” I said, “a lot of people don’t seem to know what Taoism is…””Yes?” said Pooh, blinking his eyes.”  So that’s what this chapter is for – to explain things a bit.”   “Oh, I see,” said Pooh.  “And the easiest way to do that would be for us to go to China for a moment.”  “What?” said Pooh, his eyes wide open in amazement. “Right now?’  “Of course. All we need to do is, lean back, relax, and there we are.”  “Oh, I see,” said Pooh.  Let’s imagine that we have walked down a narrow street in a large Chinese city and have found a small shop that sells scrolls painted in the classic manner. We go inside and ask to be shown something allegorical – something humorous, perhaps, but with some sort of Timeless Meaning. The shopkeeper smiles. “I have just the thing,”, he tells us. “A copy of The Vinegar Tasters!” He leads us to a large table and unrolls the scroll, placing it down for us to examine. “Excuse me – I must attend to something for a moment,” he says, and goes into the back of the shop, leaving us alone with the painting. Continue reading →

O Birther! Father – Mother of the Cosmos Focus your light within us – make it useful.  Create your reign of unity now  through our fiery hearts and willing hands.     Help us love beyond our ideals  and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures.  Animate the earth within us: we then  feel the Wisdom underneath supporting all.  Untangle the knots within  so that we can mend our hearts’ simple ties to each other.     Don’t let surface things delude us,  But free us from what holds us back from our true purpose.  Out of you, the astonishing fire,  Returning light and sound to the cosmos.        Amen.

Translation by Neil Douglas-Klotz in Prayers of the Cosmos

Related: Another version here