Light on the Path
Posted by Song
If changes are to come
there are things
that must be done
And a song is somewhere to begin.
— "Somewhere to Begin" by T. R. Ritchie, sung by Sara Thomsen
Artistic Wisdom
Flowers grow out of dark moments.
— Sister Mary Corita Kent, American pop artist
Poetry
The birds have vanished down the sky
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.
— "Zazen on Ching-t'ing Mountain" by Li Po in The Poetry of Impermanence
Story
"Mr. Gandhi, you have been working fifteen hours a day, seven days a week, for fifty years. Why don't you take a vacation?" Gandhi's reply was, "I am always on vacation."
— Eknath Easwaran in The Mantram Handbook
Practice
Learn to be happy, here and now, under all conditions, and to include others' happiness in your own joy. Go out of your way to make others happy.
— Paramahansa Yogananda in Buddha's Little Book of Life
edited by Mark Zocchi
Wise Advice
Invite the Sacred to participate in your joy in little things, as well as in your agony over the great ones. There are as many miracles to be seen through a microscope as through a telescope.
— Alice O. Howell in The Soul Aflame edited by Phil Cousineau
Vow
I will try not to panic, to keep my standard of living modest, and to work steadily, even shyly, in the spirit of those medieval carvers who so fondly sculpted the undersides of choir seats.
— John Updike, American novelist