Lotus flowers

 Inspired by Thich Nath Hanh

In everyone’s life there are mistakes, painful mistakes; in everyone’s life there is suffering and pain and it muddies the waters of life. And what happens so often? We keep stressed about what went wrong in the past, we keep grudges against others, against ourselves and we keep stirring up the dirt, disturbing our life.

If we manage on the other hand to make it quiet in our mind, heart and soul through forgiveness (for others and, equally important or even more important, for ourselves) and gratitude for the all the wonderful things that remain in our life, the dust and mud tends to settle on the bottom of the waters of our life and the water becomes clear.

The mud and dirt, the suffering and pain we experienced or created for ourselves does not disappear but if we allow it to be settled solidly at the bottom of the lake of our life,it can become a great fertilizer for wonderful lotus flowers that are rooted deep in the mud but make our life so beautiful, not only to ourselves but to everyone to who sees them. The flowers are the lessons learned, the wisdom and love we gained through sincere forgiveness, the sweet peace lying in heartfelt gratitude,...

On and off, a storm may come and stir up the mud from the bottom but the more we practice peace of mind, the more skilled we become in quieting down everything and allow the dust and mud to settle very fast again. Becoming again the very much needed fertilizer for the wonderful flowers in our life.  

Awakening

There are periods in time, when I forget to be grateful for all "small" miraculous things, events, feelings that happen that we experience on a daily basis. These are the weeks that pass unnoticed and tend to be less filled with satisfaction and with personal growth. Choosing to be grateful for the daily presnts we get from the universe, we automatically become more aware of the peace, the beauty, the love and all other amazing things that surround us. Below a small poem about the end of a few weeks that had gone by without making time for reflection about this:

 

After what seemed an eternity of spiritual hibernation

I felt a surge of appreciation for all wonders of creation

Like a tree in winter that had looked as if ti was dead too long

I had been void of gratitude, but now it all came back, so strong

 

Just like melody of two birds sitting on a branch in spring

I have started again to listen to my heart and my soul sing

Their song, while always there had fallen on deaf ears.

Now that it over,:my mind loves again the music it hears.

 

Aufie Zophy 

 

 

 

  

Choosing peace

    As I walked in my garden an egret suddenly flew up. 

I had not seen it and it may have been scared by my presence

It was flapping its white wings and in my mind 

it made me think of the white dove that brings peace.

 

 

At these times, let us choose peace

Let us not buy into any of the fear and war mongering messages of our greedy politicians who willfully distort truth, preaching the necessity of a war, that will fill only their pockets, while the rest of us face immense destruction of property and enormous suffering. 

 

Please do not buy into war.

War is only one thing: terrible! 

Please condemn all war mongers

and strive for peace

Peace is ours naturally

Do not let any stupid politician change this. 

 

The Kiss

I am not a great fan of angel stories myself,

but in these times with so much talk about another world war

this one touched moved my soul.

Let it be a source of love and inspiration to all: 

 

I saw white angel

I saw a black angel

 

They met each other

They kissed each other 

 

The kiss formed a halo

And a bright light shone 

 

 It envelopped the angels

and everyone around them 

 

 The halo increased in size

The light became more intense

 

And soon the whole world

was bathing in the light of love