hope



the guys above didn't have it,
but the lot that survived did:


anyhow, that
wasn't

what I wanted to write about
.
at the weekend I went to the bookshop (one of my "how to survive a panic attack" distraction activities); I couldn't find a book on Hepworth, so I went to the poetry section and bought a couple of anthologies
.
I opened one at a random page this morning and found this:
.
"Western civilization places so much emphasis on the idea of hope that we sacrifice the present moment.
.
"Hope is for the future. It cannot help us discover joy, peace, or enlightenement in the present moment. Many religions are based on the notion of hope, and this teaching about refraining from hope may create a strong reaction. But that shock can bring about something important. I do not mean that you should not have hope.
.
"Hope can create an obstacle for you, and if you dwell in the energy of hope, you will not bring yourself back entirely to the present moment. If you re-channel those energies into being aware of what is going on in the present moment, you will be able to make a breakthrough and discover joy and peace right in the present moment, inside yourself and all around you.
.
"We don’t need the future. We can smile and relax. Everything we want is right here in the present moment."

Thich Nhat Hanh
.
*
and then I read something from Lao Tzu, which ended:


"know what is enough; be without disgrace;
know when to stop, be without danger"
.
*
.
and I realised something I have known all weekend, since Friday night:
.
I have to learn when to stop*
.
so that was kind of a small moment of serendipity for me
..
(*not blogging!) (yeah, you have to put up with me for a little bit longer)

8 comments:

Gordie said...

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

mig bardsley said...

Such a hard lesson. I spent years dithering on the edge of it.
Lots of hugs to you and I'm so glad stopping doesn't mean blogging. I can put up with you a LOT longer - please :)
xxx

Mel said...

Bychance I found a whole buncha legos when I was cleaning up the storage room. It woulda been a pity to box 'em up! I was feeling pity-ful and I brought 'em up to play with 'em......uummm...I mean I brought 'em up so I could take better care of 'em?

(Now I gotta wonder if there's enough for a rainbow...hmmmm....)

LOL Speaking of knowing when to stop and living in today and hope.

Great thing to have learned!
Obviously you're talkin' to the Queen of 'more!' who still struggles with that one.....

(and an ark....I think there's enough brown ones.....LOL..)

mig bardsley said...

I forgot to say, I LOVE the lego rainbow :)

Gordie said...

Google says that today is the 50th anniversary of Lego!

Anonymous said...

I think living in today without an eye toward tomorrow is a recipe for disaster. Isn't that the definition of hedonism anyway?

And, yeah lady, you'd BETTER not consider an end to your virtual home here.

After all I am German: Und ve haf vays uf makink you blog!

I, Like The View said...

shot erm, not hedonism - not here, not right now anyway!

guess I was thinking more about the un/achievable kinds of "hope" and focussing on the immediate issues vs ridiculous dreams and procrastination

gordie I wonder what happened to Mecano?

mig it's great, innit. . .

mel not sure I've learned the lesson, but it's a prompt on all three fronts: knowing when to stop, living in today, the valuable sort of hope. . .

mig it is hard - but I'll get there! (or somewhere, at least)

gordie :-)

Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.


beautiful - thank you


XXXX everybody!

Anonymous said...

The Brick Testament teaches us all we need to know about life and the Study of Religions and Theology (this is creepy/coincidental because I was perusing their Noah's arc section looking for pictures for our Noah's Arc Themed R&T soc. Pub Crawl to be held later this week)(I personally liked the bit with the horses eavesdropping on God's conversation with Noah).