’Winter is the season of waiting. It requires great trust and a willingness to believe that this angst will not last forever. Even though all appears dead and void of movement, there is quiet growth taking place. During the darkness, gestation occurs…… In the unmoving soil, flower bulbs are strengthened for their future journey upward toward the sun. In the frozen human heart, the silent seeds of confidence are prepared for amazing new growth.’ Rupp and Wiederkehr, ‘The Circle of Life
Thought for November
In this season, we find large spaces left where something beautiful once lived. As one by one the leaves let go, a precious emptiness appears on the trees. The naked beauty of the branches can be seen, the birds’ abandoned nests become visible……. This is an important autumn lesson – when certain things fall away, there are other things that can be seen more clearly. Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr
Thought for October 2019
‘Autumn stands as an epiphany to the truth that all things are passing and even in the passing there is beauty…… This is a decaying season, but the rotting ritual that surrounds us has another face. Compost and mulch are food for the soil. There is life in the dying….. As we face the painful reality that nothing lasts forever, autumn teaches us humility. We learn to honor the dying. Everything is moving, flowing on to something new.’ Macrina Wiederkehr and Joyce Rupp
Thought for September
‘What is beginner’s mind? It is dropping our expectations and preconceived ideas about something, and seeing things with an open mind, fresh eyes, just like a beginner.’ Leo Babuta
Thought for August
‘……peace lies not in the avoidance of conflict but in avoiding internalising and acting out conflict, or colluding with the powers and dynamics of conflict within the systems by which we order our societies. It begins with our small, insignificant selves saying no to every thought, word and attitude that is an aggressive approach to the other and living a daily yes to all that lives…..’ Gemma Simmonds
Thought for July
‘People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognise: a blue sky, white clouds, curious eyes of a child – our own two eyes. All is a miracle. Thich Nhat Hanh
Thought for June
‘Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.’ Howard Thurman
Thought for May
‘Instead of allowing ourselves to be led and trapped by out feelings, we should let them disappear as soon as they form, like letters drawn on water with a finger.’ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Thought for April
True compassion arises from a healthy sense of self, from an awareness of who we are that honours our own capacities and fears, our own feelings and integrity, along with those of others. Jack Kornfield
Thought for March
‘Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all……as long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude – it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.’ G K Chesterton
