He realized he was a musician who needed to find and learn the instrument he was supposed to play.įrom the logic of being free-standing and in charge, experiences of this sort seem crazy-making and untrustworthy. Or how a man I know was slowly extinguishing himself, sorely depressed, when, finally exhausted of his endless considerations, he heard small birds in snow in unexpected song. In trying to hear those quiet teachers, I am reminded of the great poet Stanley Kunitz who, as a young man struggling darkly with how to proceed with his life, heard geese cross a night sky and somehow he knew what he had to do. Yet, in our pride and confusion, in our self-centeredness and fear, we often miss the teachers and feel burdened and alone.

It’s just that our roots move.Ĭertainly, we make our own decisions, dozens every day, but we are nourished in those decisions by the very ground we walk, by the quiet teachers we encounter everywhere. But we are as rooted as shrubs and trees and flowers, in an unseeable soil that is everywhere. So often we think of ourselves as free-standing and in charge, because we have the simple blessing of being able to go where we want. Teachers arise from somewhere within me that is beyond me, the way the dark soil that is not the root holds the root and feeds the flower. And to be honest, “Beneath Arriving” is based on one of my own comments which Mark wonderfully expanded.

After that? Why, begin again! You’ll find new awakenings the second, third and forth time around.īelow are the entries for August 21st and 22nd: “Teachers are Everywhere” and “Beneath Arriving.” They are good companions for each other and fit with the spirit of this website. When you come to the end of the book, you won’t have all the answers, but you will have taken yourself on a wonderful journey. A year spent reading an entry each day is a rich investment in your life. It is deceptively simple – daily quotes, reflections and practices – and quietly powerful.

Having The Life You Want By Being Present To The Life You Have

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