Beannacht / Blessing

By John O’Donohue

On the day when 


the weight deadens 


on your shoulders 


and you stumble, 


may the clay dance 


to balance you.


And when your eyes 


freeze behind 


the grey window 


and the ghost of loss 


gets in to you, 


may a flock of colours, 


indigo, red, green,

and azure blue 


come to awaken in you 


a meadow of delight. 



 

When the canvas frays 


in the currach of thought 


and a stain of ocean 


blackens beneath you, 


may there come across the waters 


a path of yellow moonlight 


to bring you safely home. 



 

May the nourishment of the earth be yours, 


may the clarity of light be yours, 


may the fluency of the ocean be yours,

may the protection of the ancestors be yours. 


And so may a slow 


wind work these words 


of love around you, 


an invisible cloak 


to mind your life.

From Ram Dass

“All form, all separateness, is just passing show.

All emotion, all relationship, is just illusion.
Bodies, personalities, astrological signs, souls –
it’s all just yourself dancing with yourself,
by making believe that you are separate.”

(Ram Dass from Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita)

The Artists

Sometimes the beauty is easy. Sometimes you don't have to try at all. Sometimes you can hear the wind blow in a handshake. Sometimes there's poetry written right on the bathroom wall.

-Ani DiFranco

When the power of love overwhelms the love of power
the world will know peace.
-Jimi Hendrix

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.
- Henry David Thoreau

There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for,
and nothing worth killing for. -Tom Robbins

Wisdom is found only in truth.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If we will be quiet and ready enough,
we shall find compensation
in every disappointment.
Henry David Thoreau

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson
All men are children, and of one family.

The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning. -Henry David Thoreau

All water has a perfect memory
and is forever trying to get back
to where it was.
-Toni Morrison

We waste time looking for the perfect lover,
instead of creating the perfect love.

Tom Robbins

Pretend you live for a living.
-Buddy Wakefield

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator

for all I have not seen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in. Leonard Cohen

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. -Anais Nin

Adopt the pace of nature:
her secret is patience. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

You Who Want

You who want
knowledge,
seek the Oneness
within

There you
will find
the clear mirror
already waiting

By Hadewijch
English version by Jane Hirshfield

Wisdom from Yogi Bajan

"May you fall in love with your beauty, your grace, your honour, your courage and your strength."

"L'instant où vous vous donnez de la valeur le monde entier vous en donne aussi."
("The instant you value yourself, the whole world gives you value.")

"When there is difficulty, go inside, maditate and face it. When there is happiness, go outside and share it."

- painted on the studio wall

"You are very powerful, providing you know how powerful you are."

"In all darkness, there is a light and in all light there is a darkness."

"There are two ways of living in this world; the way of worry and the way of relaxation. If you worry, you have to concentrate to imagine, and it becomes physical work. But if you turn your mind to the Universal Mind, then things will come to you."

"The mind is like a mirror through which you can see infinity. But if you put the blackness of hatred over it, you will see nothing."

“We meditate so that our minds can be sharp and alert. We chant mantras so that your souls may be ignited like candles. We walk in the light of this beauty.”

“Keep up and you will be Kept up.”

"There are three values; Feel good, be good, and do good."

Praying

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

-Mary Oliver