The Call

This is what it means to answer the call, to commit to being here in a human life, as a human being: 

to love what is mortal, 

to love what is unpredictably changing & impermanent, 

to love while being mindful that everything, 
every person, every place, every moment we love will change & pass, 
but to love anyway. 

And to love what you love fiercely, no holds barred, nothing held back, 
knowing that the reality of who & what you are here & now 
as a human being is inseparable from this world, 
this life you claim & inhabit fully.

                                               ~ Oriah Mountain Dreamer, from The Call


There's a fierceness, a fiery passion in what is spoken here. It takes commitment to live each moment in authenticity. To love life, each moment and each person, including oneself, seems an impossible task. Yet there are glimspes, flashes, moments where this is unmistakably experienced. And the peace that comes in those moments is beyond verbal expression. 

Live the Actual Moment

Drink your tea slowly and reverently,
as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves 
- slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future;
Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.
                                             ~ Thich Nhat Hahn



In our busy world where accomplishment is revered and just being seldom acknowledged, Thich Nhat Hahn gently reminds us of the present moment. This moment is all we actually have. The earth doesn't rush through it's day, and either the sun. The stars enjoy shining until they are extinguished.


Such a simple pleasure making a cup of tea and slowly drinking it, sip by sip. With each sip the taste washes over the tongue and fills the mouth, then flows like an inner river down the throat. The warmth and the flavor remains and expands into the spaciousness of the body. How wonderful to be alive and aware of such simple wisdom! 

Life is...

Life is like arriving late for a movie, having to figure out what was
going on without bothering everybody with a lot of questions, and
then being unexpectedly called away before you find out how it
ends.

                                                                 ~Joseph Campbell

Do you ever feel like this? I am notorious for wanting to ask questions during a movie and my husband has threatened more than once to go alone rather than endure my endless inquisitiveness. But lately I've been content to watch life unfold with curiosity and childlike wonder. There is no explanation for this change in attitude. Life truly is a great mystery. Will I be called away before discovering the ending? I know not, but maybe it's OK to just enjoy the moment. I think that is the only place to find joy, love, and peace.

This Silence

This silence, this moment, every moment, 

if it's genuinely inside you, brings what you need.

There's nothing to believe. 

Only when I stopped believing in myself did I come into this beauty.

Sit quietly, and listen for a voice that will say, 'Be more silent.'

Die and be quiet.

Quietness is the surest sign that you've died.

Your old life was a frantic running from silence.

Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.

Live in silence.

~ Rumi ~

When I am on the beach, the connection to silence is so easy. This silence is not quiet but rather it is filled with all of creation and I am, too. No more frantic running, no tangle of fear-thinking ~ just living in silence.