The Miracle

I have arrived.

That is my insight when I breathe in and make two steps.

I have arrived, I have arrived.

Peacefully, gently, but very determined.

We have been running for all our life, it is now time to stop.

If you are not capable of stopping,

how can you enjoy touching the earth with your feet?

The miracle is not to walk on water or on fire,

the miracle is to walk on earth,

and any one of us can perform this miracle.

The miracle is to walk on earth,

that is a statement made by the Zen master Lin Chi, or Rinzai.

If you can establish yourself in the here and the now,

and make a step and touch the wonders of life in the here and the now, you are performing the miracle.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

This is the perfect time of year to remember to slow down. We can become so busy and caught in the hectic pace of the holidays that we forget the miracle of touching the earth with each step. The wonder of life is all around us! Miracles are everywhere!

Why not take a moment to just notice the gentle flow of the breath and choose to feel the miracle of being alive?

It's My Birthday!

Late Ripeness

Not soon, as late as the approach of my ninetieth year,

I felt a door opening in me and I entered

the clarity of early morning.

One after another my former lives were departing,

like ships, together with their sorrow.

And the countries, cities, gardens, the bays of seas

assigned to my brush came closer,

ready now to be described better than they were before.

I was not separated from people,

grief and pity joined us.

We forget -- I kept saying -- that we are all children of the King.

For where we come from there is no division

into Yes and No, into is, was, and will be.

We were miserable, we used no more than a hundredth part

of the gift we received for our long journey.

Moments from yesterday and from centuries ago -

a sword blow, the painting of eyelashes before a mirror

of polished metal, a lethal musket shot, a caravel

staving its hull against a reef -- they dwell in us,

waiting for a fulfillment.

I knew, always, that I would be a worker in the vineyard,

as are all men and women living at the same time,

whether they are aware of it or not.

By Czeslaw Milosz

(1911-2004)