It may be that when we no longer

know what to do we have come to our

real work.

And when we no longer know which way

to go we have come to our real

journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not

employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

-Wendell Berry

Internal busyness comes from the feeling of not having enough time. When you act with inner focus, it shifts you out of your time bind by anchoring you in the place where time is always enough.

As you make your effort, as you go about your daily tasks, the yoga lies in your intention to keep turning to the one who is not busy and to feel her steadiness, her detachment, and her freedom. You won't always see her immediately, but once you're committed to looking through activity to stillness, the one who is not busy starts to find you.

- Sally Kempton, Yoga Journal Nov. 2009

We will remember that underneath it all, we are already happy. Recognizing, acknowledging, and releasing thoughts by bringing our mind back to the object of meditation helps remind us that the frantic agitation of blame is unnatural and temporary. The wisdom and love beneath the clutter of negativity are natural and permanent.

- from Ruling Your World, by Sakyong Mipham p. 97

'Contentment' means whatsoever the situation is, you accept it without any complaint. In fact, you not only accept it without complaint, you rejoice in it with deep gratefulness. This moment is perfect.

Contentment is the discipline of yoga.... if nothing can create discontent in you, if nothing can create restlessness in you-- if nothing can push you off your center-- there arises supreme happiness.

- from The Essence of Yoga, by Osho

A man is walking in a field

and everywhere at his feet

in the short grass of April

the small purple violets

are in bloom. As the man walks

the ground drops away,

the sunlight of day becomes

a sort of darkness in which

the lights of the flowers rise

up around him like

fireflies or stars in a sort

of sky through which he walks.

- IV by Wendell Berry

from Leavings

And over one more set of hills,

along the sea,

the last roses have opened their factories of sweetness

and are giving it back to the world.

If I had another life

I would want to spend it all on some

unstinting happiness.

I would be a fox, or a tree

full of waving branches.

I wouldn't mind being a rose

in a field of roses.

Fear has not yet occurred to them, nor ambition.

Reason they have not yet thought of.

Neither do they ask how long they must be roses, and then what.

Or any other foolish question.

from Roses, Late Summer, by Mary Oliver

from the collection House of Light

I lounge on the grass, that's all. So

simple. Then I lie back until I am

inside the cloud that is just above me

but very high, and shaped like a fish.

Or, perhaps not. Then I enter the place

of not-thinking, not-remembering, not-

wanting. When the blue jay cries out his

riddle, in his carping voice, I return.

But I go back, the threshold is always

near. Over and back, over and back. Then

I rise. Maybe I rub my face as though I

have been asleep. But I have not been

asleep. I have been, as I say, inside

the cloud, or, perhaps, the lily floating

on the water. Then I go back to town,

to my own house, my own life, which has

now become brighter and simpler, some-

where I have never been before.

from Six Recognitions of the Lord, by Mary Oliver

from the compilation Thirst

I have just three things to teach:

simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures.

Simple in action and in thoughts,

you return to the source of being.

Patient with both friends and enemies,

you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate towards yourself,

you reconcile all beings in the world.

from #67 of the Tao Te Ching

translated by Stephen Mitchell

Once we see how our mind works, we see how our life works, too. That changes us.

-from Turning the Mind into an Ally, by Sakyong Mipham p. 5

If you organize your life around the things you are passionate about, nothing is a time burden. You end up spending time with people you want to spend time with and doing what you love.

-Jeffrey Bores, Minneapolis, Minnesota

from Yoga Journal, October 2011