Dear New Year...

For all that has been, thanks. 

For all that will be, yes.

~Dag Hammarskjold

here, now, this is enough

Every Christmas during dinner we each write a Christmas Wish and put it in these cute little silver ball ornaments (I got them at Red Envelope). The following Christmas, during dinner, we open the ornaments to see if our Christmas Wish came true. Last year I wished for adventure and travel in Spain.
This year I hesitated... what do I want? There's the standard: good health, love, family, peace, happiness?

What's your Wish?

As the New Year approaches, have you considered - What has gone well for you in 2011? What do you hope for in 2012?

I think my wish for 2012 will be... letting go, striving can be exhausting.

Here, now, is beautiful and I'm grateful for it.

santa meditation...

Silent Mind 

(sung to the tune of Silent Night)

Silent mind, holy mind,

All is calm, all is bright,

Deep Vipassanna, thoughts rise and fall,

With clear insight detached from them all,

Sit in heavenly peace, sit and contemplate.

joy

I see joy as a sustained sense of well-being... 

an internal peace. 

Joy is a connection to what matters.

Wishing you joy this holiday.

to the wonderful world...

I've traveled the world twice over,

Met the famous; saints and sinners,

Poets and artists, kings and queens,

Old stars and hopeful beginners.

I've been where no one's been before.

Learned secrets from writers and cooks;

All with one library ticket...

To the wonderful world of books.

practicing peace

I'm reading a beautiful little gift of a book,

Practicing Peace in Times of War, by Pema Chödrön. 

“A solid reinforcement on how to stop the reflexive and habitual emotional reaction to perceived hostility through patience, pausing, and breathing. It’s not easy, but it is simple.”—Publishers Weekly

"War and peace begin in the hearts of individuals," declares Pema Chödrön at the opening of this inspiring and accessible book. She goes on to offer practical techniques any of us can use to be peace in our own lives. We can soften our habits of thought and action. It's never too late, she tells us, to look within and discover a new way of living and transform not only our personal lives but our whole world.

The journey toward peace in the world begins with peace in our own lives. War begins when we harden our hearts, and we harden them easily... at first in minor ways and then in quite serious, major ways... such as judgement, hatred and prejudice.

Peace is softening what is ridged in our hearts. It's not easy, but it's simple.

looking at the stars

We are all in the gutter, 

but some of us are looking at the stars. 

~ Oscar Wilde

  "His mom smiled, and pointed to a bulletin board next to her desk. Unlike the refrigerator at home, it had just one quote taped to it.
   Ben read it out loud: "'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'"
   Because his mom was the town librarian, Ben was used to being surrounded by quotes from books, many of which he didn't fully understand. But this one struck him as particularly strange.
   He thought about it for a moment, came up with nothing, then said, "What does that mean?"
   His mom smiled and shrugged.
   He was sure she knew exactly what it meant, but she liked him to figure out things for himself."

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

It is one of those weeks when I notice that I have stumbled into the gutter further than usual. And yet, once I notice that fact, I can simply look up and there they are... the stars. They are still there; and they always have been.

Sometimes clouds come and cover it, but the moon is always behind them. Clouds go away, then the moon shines brightly. So don't worry about clear mind: it is always there. When thinking comes, behind it is clear mind. When thinking goes, there is only clear mind. Thinking comes and goes, comes and goes, You must not be attached to the coming or the going.

— Zen Master Seung Sahn