I wanted to share this beautiful poem from Gautama the Buddha which I read in 'The Heart of Listening', an excellent book by Hugh Milne:
Wanting nothing With all your Heart Stop the stream. When the world dissolves Everything becomes clear. Go beyond This Way, or that Way, To the farther shore, Where the world dissolves And everything becomes clear. Beyond this shore And the farther shore Beyond the beyond Where there is no beginning, No end. Without fear, go. Meditate, Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work, With mastery. By the day, the sun shines, And the warrior in his armor shines. By the night the moon shines, And the master shines in meditation. But the day and night The one who is awake Shines in the radiance of the spirit. Monday morning blues seem to be a widespread disease, judging by the number of pictures and comments that abound on social media. Except they tend to start on Sunday for most people, as they feel their weekend of freedom slipping away and the shackles of work calling them forwards.
Where did we go wrong? We seem to be swamped and overwhelmed by jobs we don’t want to do, that are not our calling, yet we need to do to enable us to live. But the question is – are we really living at all? Has the ‘work to live’ been overtaken by ‘live to work’? My sense is we’ve become so out of touch with our dreams that we are becoming like robots, repeating the same patterns over and over, in a kind of endless GroundHog day. Yet, we are not robots, so the despair creeps in, usually around 3pm on a Sunday, as we face another week at the mill. Yet, bills need to be paid, children cared for etc, etc. So what can we do to help keep hope and zest for life going? Sometimes, it’s good to take some time out from your normal routine, find some solitude and space for soul searching. I believe anything is possible, given a strong intent. So if you believe you cannot find a new job that brings you more joy, you will not be able to do so. After all, if you don’t look, you won’t find. Taking some time to just imagine what you would do, given the chance and the opportunity, may bring you great insight into what your heart is calling for right now. Just peaking around the door lets some light through! And maybe the shift from what you do know to what you want to do is a long journey – but every long journey can be broken down into small steps. Each step you take will give you courage to continue on the journey. And what a great role model you will be to your friends and family! |
May you walk in Beauty
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Copyright of Ri Ferrier 2024
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