The Courage to Stand Still

When fear swells inside,look down and seespring’s first blade of grass,defiantly, lovingly green.

On this sleepy morning of nothingnesswhen I count every needle on the hemlock tree,a woodpecker lands in its alivenessand I wake up.

Let me grow down againand allow the simplequestions of wonderto fill my open heart.

How easy it is to lowerour minds and fail to noticethe sun through the trees. Blind to paradise, we seekit in places away from hereand far from now. And so we wonderwhy happiness slipsthrough our grasping hands. Then one day we wake upand laugh at how readilywe missed what’s here.

I like to step outinto the dark of nightwhere only the moonis watching.

It takes stillness and trustto remember our greatesttruth is buried deep inside uswhere the noise of the worldcan never reach.

Still morning before snowstormwhen there’s nothing to dobut wait and accept.

Simply waitingfor the first rays of heavento peep throughthe cracks in thought.

Isn’t it ironic, he said,that the easiest wayto mend what ails usis to quietly relaxand allow it in.

Why does the worldinsist on rattling me?On poking me?On dazzling me?When truth`is found in the empty placewhere everything is.

I will chooselike it doesn’treally matter.

Perhaps the secretis to travelin ever-decreasing circlesuntil we returnto the centreof our selves?

Turkey feet form perfect arrowsin the snow. You can follow them,if you wish, on their wandering path.Pointing somewhere,going somewhere else.Walking in desire.

Where do we gowhen life’s glitter fades,when we can eat and drink no more,when we’re done talking and laughing? We go to stillness,where joy lives.

Glass, the great liar,pretending to give us the world,but opaque to the truth in the air.

I won’t try to change the worldbut insteadlistenand let the worldtell me howit is.

Do I dare quiet myselfand let wonderpry openmy heartto the world?

Little green cometdilute my troublesin the truth of time.

The wild part of me is alsothe soft part of me.There are no claws, no teeth, no blood.Instead, an opening, a melting, a loving.A letting in and a giving out.

I looked up…

Joy is…

He sat down and asked…

Stop taking the long way round to happiness…

You’ll find the answers in…

The sparrow is singing…

So much is solved…

They say a stopped clock is right…

Sometimes, on the heavy days…

If we don’t have time to hear the birds…

Sometimes our muddy minds…

Moon reflects in still water…

I take refuge in the trees…

Never deny questions…

When you’re quiet, said Bird…

Walk slowly…

Even highway rain…

I will sit on a chair…

Lost in thought…

Spend five minutes…

And then he realized there was nowhere…

Find that sacred…

May I love you completely…

I could say many beautiful things…

Stillness—a home…

What if we could embrace the world…

With all my faults and mistakes…

There’s a you-shaped hole inside me…

Finally I remember you in stillness…

Love, said Bird, speaks loudlywith its quiet voice. When you’rebusy talking or thinking, you can’thear it. But if you’re still, love tellstruth so bravely you hear nothing else.

Today I throw open the windows…