If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another. If you wish to know that you are safe, cause another to know that they are safe. If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, help another to better understand. If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another. ~Dalai Lama
Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue. ~Buddha
The perfume of sandalwood,
Rosebay or jasmine
Cannot travel against the wind.
But the fragrance of virtue
Travels even against the wind,
As far as the ends of the world.
Like garlands woven from a heap of flowers,
Fashion from your life as many good deeds.
~The Dhammapada
A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine. ~Unknown
Khmer children in my mother’s hometown.
Photo credit: Randy Neufeldt
Spend a day with nature.
Start before the sun.
Leave your cozy house
For something new and fun.
Walk along a path,
Close your eyes and see.
Feel the cold wind brushing
Your skin so tingly,
What do you hear? Listen now.
Listen for the voice.
It whispers softly to your soul
Through all of nature’s noise.
The sky is growing slowly brighter
The breeze seems to quicken,
As if to hide from what is coming
O’re the East horizon.
What is it saying as it hurries,
While foliage laughs in song?
It’s changed its tune as the sun
Comes out to greet the throng.
Feel the warmth now penetrate
Where goose pimples had been,
And a fresh rejuvenation
Fills you from within.
Open your eyes and see the beauty
That you had not yet seen:
Dew on the grass, white butterflies,
Different shades of green,
Mist rising from the earth
Almost like a dream,
Busy bees check on blooms,
Working as team.
Petals on the tiny flowers
Seem more delicate.
And the breezes rise and fall,
Telling the day’s fate.
Breath in the fragrance of the morn’s
Mix of musty smells,
With pollen, dew, earth and such things
The breeze will carry well.
What is it saying? Do you hear?
The wind is whispering.
It’s asking you do dance among
Its fairies on the wing!
The birds now sing the chorus loud
From every nook and cranny.
And if you join in nature’s dance,
You find your joy uncanny.
As you whirl to nature’s song,
You start to feel so free,
You forget all but the sound
Of the wind and trees. Continue reading
When the winds of life is pushing you back, That’s when you push forward the hardest. ~ Yvonne Pierre
Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty – they merely move it from their faces into their hearts. ~Martin Buxbaum
When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. ~Peter Marshall
Master your senses,
What you taste and smell,
What you see, what you hear.
In all things be a master
Of what you do and say and think.
Be free.
Are you quiet?
Quieten your body.
Quieten your mind.
By your own efforts
Waken yourself, watch yourself,
And live joyfully.
Follow the truth of the way.
Reflect upon it.
Make it your own.
Live it.
It will always sustain you.
~The Dhammapada
These red and golden dreams so fresh breeze by,
And then they help my worry to decrease.
Sweet stars a glowing in the sky so dark,
They shine and give an everlasting light,
Their winks to me give out a brilliant spark,
My frown does fade; I see their love so bright.
Sweet sunsets grace the heavens in a breath,
And sweep smooth paint across the sky so blue,
To make a fantasy so free from death,
The colors of delight perfect my view.
The beauty of nature each day is grand;
My heart does dance with warmth upon the land.
~Janna M. Landry
