zaterdag 13 augustus 2022

The sunset doesn’t know it’s the sunset,

but it is the sunset.

And as with the sunset,

all things are like disappearing thoughts.

- Sodo Yokoyama -

Dire Straits – Where Do You Think You're Going? (HQ audio)

Reading is an act of civilization;

it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization

because it takes the free raw material of the mind

and builds castles of possibilities.

- Ben Okri -

R.I.P. Jean-Jacques Sempé (1932-2022)

if you want to find me

I'll be up early

painting the clouds

- GRANT SNIDER -

vrijdag 12 augustus 2022

ill. by Bettina Baldassari

There is a peaceful hour in the day

that could be defined

as the absence of noise,

it is the clear hour of twilight.

-Victor Hugo -

Le bonheur qu’on attend

gâche parfois

celui qu’on vit.

- Ulysse from Bagdad - Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt -

Don't fight your demons.

Your demons are here to teach you lessons.

Sit down with your demons and have a drink and a chat and learn their names and talk about the burns on their fingers and scratches on their ankles.

Some of them are very nice.

- Charles Bukowski -

One should always be curious.

Not a passive curiosity

dependent upon information received,

but an aggressive curiosity

that compels one to seek things out

and ascertain them for oneself.

- Issey Miyake -

NITCH

The healer also needs healing.

The planner also needs surprises.

The giver also needs to receive.

The thoughtful also needs to be thought of.

The considerate also needs to be considered.

It is easier to let go of someone’s opinion

when you understand that people see you

through a combination

of their past conditioning plus their current emotion.

Without realizing it,

they see themselves first

and through that lens

they get an unclear picture of you.

- Yung Pueblo -

Nieuwe mogelijkheden ontstaan juist

als we bereid zijn

om tegen de stroom in te gaan.

Uit ons boek 'Huh?! - de techniek van het omdenken'

donderdag 11 augustus 2022

David Bowie - Changes [Official Lyric Video]

To work with changes now, in life:

That is the real way to prepare for death.

Life may be full of pain, suffering, and difficulty,

but all of these are opportunities handed to us

to help us move toward an emotional acceptance of death.

It is only when we believe things to be permanent

that we shut off the possibility of learning from change.

- Rigpa Glimpse of the Day -

woensdag 10 augustus 2022

Je ressens,

donc je suis.

Wees gewoon aardig

A man is great

not because he hasn't failed;

a man is great

because failure hasn't stopped him.

- Confucius -

Yiddish Jokes With Leana: "You're Smarter Already!"

dinsdag 9 augustus 2022

You can give someone an advantage

or provide them with an opportunity,

but you can't force them to do something

if they don't want to.

Je kunt maar beter leren van de fouten van anderen, want het gaat je nooit lukken ze allemaal zelf te maken.

maandag 8 augustus 2022

Ik bedoel...

Zie je, de plek waar het water stopt...

ze gaat langs het strand en stopt dan...

het duurt maar even, kijk, hier bijvoorbeeld...

zie je, het duurt maar even en dan verdwijnt het,

maar als we dit moment kunnen vastzetten...

het moment dat het water stopt,

precies op deze plek,

deze bocht...

Dat is wat ik bestudeer.

Waar het water stopt.

- Alessandro Baricco -

Trying to be somewhere other than here, trying to have an experience other than the one you're having, trying to escape or push away the moment, trying to reach some future state, experience or event; it all becomes so exhausting in the end.

But the end is really the beginning, and the exhaustion is really your dearest and most trustworthy friend, for it contains within itself an invitation to deep rest, and the end of seeking.

Exhaustion is simply the One you long for, brilliantly disguised, whispering softly into your ear, "Surrender, my love. I am already here.

No need to look elsewhere.

Relax now.

You are tired from seeking me, I know.

It is safe to rest.

- Jeff Foster -

“Le courage de la nuance”, dat wens ik de samenleving toe.

De moed van de nuance, naar het boek van de Franse journalist en essayist Jean Birnbaum.

Dat zalft mijn hart.

Het is belangrijk om in nuance naar verschillende perspectieven te luisteren – vanuit het idee dat nuance pas ontstaat wanneer je andere meningen meeneemt.’

(DS, 31 december 2021)

- Caroline Pauwels -

Suffering,

when allowed to mature,

finds its own release.

- Krishnamurti -

When you are in gratitude, you are already in abundance.

There is no second step.

The moment you are grateful for your life, and all that’s in it, good and bad, painful and joyful, tragic and comic, you are already in the Kingdom, overwhelmed by riches.

When you are grateful, you are fully present in your life. You are not caught up in past and future, in what could have been, or what might be, in regret or anticipation.

You appreciate deeply what you have and what you are. How far you’ve come and how much courage and strength it’s taken to get here.

With tears in your eyes, you drink a cup of tea, or spend an hour or two with a friend. You appreciate the rain, the sunshine, the clouds, the darkness and the light. Each meal is a gift. Everything you drink. Your clothes, however tattered. Your body, however imperfect.

It doesn’t matter how much time you have left. You appreciate the time you’ve had.

You appreciate this day. This day is the portal!

Oh, you may lose everything before long. Or you may gain the world. You may rise high or fall low. Who knows. Who the hell knows.

But you are here, now.

Sitting. Standing. Breathing. Feeling.

Thinking. Confused or clear.

It is always a good day to begin.

Yes, when you are truly grateful, you are a child in the Kingdom.

Abundance is here, friend, when you the have the eyes to see it.

- Jeff Foster -

We assume that happiness has to come through great effort.

And since we don’t value what we do have, we think we need to get something new.

Actually, we already have true happiness, but we don’t see what’s worthwhile.

I’m completely certain that we don’t have to acquire something new.

Happiness is to recognize what we already have.

- 17th Karmapa -

In today’s rush,

we all think too much...

seek too much ...

want too much...

and forget about the joy of just being.

- Eckhart Tolle -

The Cider House Rules (Full album) - Original Sound Track by Rachel Portman

I never wish to be easily defined.

I’d rather float over other people’s minds

as something strictly fluid and non-perceivable;

more like a transparent, paradoxically iridescent creature

rather than an actual person.

- Franz Kafka -

NITCH

Ideally, the ultimate retreat is to retreat from the past and the future, to always remain in the present.

However, our mind is so empowered and controlled by habit all the time.

One characteristic of habit is not being able to sit still, not being able to remain in the present.

This is because being in the present is so scary, so boring, and unbearable for our deluded and spoiled mind.

Little do we know that actually being in the present is so exciting and the most liberating from all kinds of pain, suffering, and anxiety.

– Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche -

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

- Derek Walcott - Love After Love -