Saturday, August 18, 2012

Three Things, One Direction

Consider the squash blossoms, how they grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet . . . even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these!

(a gentle revision from Matthew 6: 28 - 29, KJV)

Thanks to my friend Eileen for sharing the following inspirational words of practical wisdom from one of her heroes, Mark Nepo:

"Consider three things you must do today. Carefully put two down. Immerse yourself in the one thing that is left."

"Live deeply enough and there is only one direction."


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A couple more related thoughts from the sixth chapter of Matthew:

I am usually loyal to the KJV in all things literary, but when it comes to Matthew 6: 27, I think I prefer hours to cubits:

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? (KJV)

27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?" (NRSV)

then there's the classic:

34: Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (KJV)

And finally, how about this cool vocabulary
word that Gerry came across last week:

overmorrow (Middle English) or übermorgen (German) which literally translates to "overmorrow" and means "the day after tomorrow."

Who knew? Looks like I'll be writing a new post overmorrow!

1 comment:

  1. Victoria shared these words of wisdom:

    A Lojong teaching: Two Activities: One at the Beginning, One at the End

    "At the beginning of your day when you wake up, express your aspiration: "May I practice the three difficulties. May I see what I do. When it happens, may I do something different, and may that be a way of life for me." At the beginning of your day, using your own language, you could encourage yourself to keep your heart ope
    n, to remain curious no matter how difficult things get. Then at the end of the day when you're just about to go to sleep, review the day. Rather than using what happened as ammunition for feeling bad about yourself, about how the whole day went by and you never once remembered what you had aspired to do in the morning, you can simply use it as an opportunity to get to know yourself better and to see all the funny ways in which you trick yourself, all the ways in which you're so good at zoning out and shutting down. If you feel like you don't want to practice the three difficulties anymore because it's like setting yourself up for failure, generate a kind heart toward yourself. Reflecting over just one day's activities can be painful, but you may end up respecting yourself more, because you see that a lot happened; you weren't just one way. As Carl Jung said at the end of his life, "I am astonished, disappointed, pleased with myself. I am distressed, depressed, rapturous. I am all these things at once and cannot add up the sum."
    (Start Where You Are)

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