Thisness

A day of chores, chopping wood and carrying water. Not really, more like laundry and mowing the lawn but it amounts to same thing.

“I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.”

— Mary Oliver

“Living itself means nothing other than being questioned; our whole act of being is nothing more than responding to — of being responsible toward — life. With this mental standpoint nothing can scare us anymore, no future, no apparent lack of a future. Because now the present is everything as it holds the eternally new question of life for us.”

— Viktor Frankl

Allium out, loud and proud.

Good morning. It’s been raining.

Good afternoon.

Does contemplation have a place in the world?

”We don’t need more teachers, we need more practitioners, and importantly, we need more journalists of the inner landscape, and more spiritual friends, companions and guides.”

— Andō

I like the idea of ‘journalists of the inner landscape’.

”The universe is wider than our views of it.”

— Henry David Thoreau

On her favourite sheepskin rug.

Good evening.

Good afternoon.

Contemplatively/ meditatively speaking, the secret to getting somewhere is to go nowhere.

“Humans love to add, to expand, and to clarify. And in doing so, we create complexity… The irony is that we also have an innate attraction to simplicity.“

— Dan Cullum

“Wherever you are, is the place you need to be.”

— Anon

It’s a long way down for little old arthritic legs…

The end of a tiring week of work. Pretty knackered but, as always, rewarded and fulfilled.

The weather has been such a blessing and is forecast to continue for another week so am also grateful for that too.

Glass of red wine anyone? 🍷

”No matter how many years you sit doing zazen, you will never become anything special.”

— ‘Homeless’ Kodo Sawaki