Controlling Life!

"You can no more control life than a raft on white water can control the river. You can learn to work with the river--to dance with life--but you cannot control it.....

......Real control is not about controlling---it is about going with what is there. As you learn from martial arts, the secret is not to try to control others by brute force, but to use the energy that is there to your advantage.

Those who thrive no longer push and pull at life in some tug of war. People who are living their lives fully have gone beyond spending whatever energy they have insisting that the world operate on their terms--the weather, the traffic, their children, their job. Life is, indeed, what happens when you've made other plans."

-----Quoted from a book by Henry C. Simmons, Ph. D. and E Craig MacBean: "Thriving After 55. Your Guide to Fully Living the Rest of Your Life" page 198. Copyright 2000. Published by PrimeDynamics, LLC, Richmond, VA 23228. ISBN: 0-9668813-1-1.

"......the Shaker song:"

'It's a gift to be simple,
It's a gift to be free,
It's a gift to come down where we ought to be [...]
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.'

Quoted from a book by Henry C. Simmons, Ph. D. and E Craig MacBean: "Thriving After 55. Your Guide to Fully Living the Rest of Your Life" page 198. Copyright 2000. Published by PrimeDynamics, LLC, Richmond, VA 23228. ISBN: 0-9668813-1-1.

Zen Master Wu-men: "Ten thousand flowers......"

"Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,
A cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.
If your mind is not clouded by unnecessary things,
This is the best season of your life."

-----Wu-men, ancient Zen Master

Quoted from a book by Henry C. Simmons, Ph. D. and E Craig MacBean: "Thriving After 55. Your Guide to Fully Living the Rest of Your Life" page 198. Copyright 2000. Published by PrimeDynamics, LLC, Richmond, VA 23228. ISBN: 0-9668813-1-1.

"We are all neck-deep in grace....."

"We are all neck-deep in grace. Whoever we are, we are held by the warmth of the sun and the shining embrace of the snow, nourished by the sweet waters of the rain, alive in the great mystery. Whatever our circumstances, we have the perfect capacity to awaken. With an open heart and open mind we discover a great stillness, a loving presence with things as they are. Resting in a simple awareness of the present, the heart becomes trustworthy. As we accept the stream of life, enlightenment and grace arise naturally. This is not attainment, but living wisdom."

- Once again, the above is quoted from a book I read a few years ago. I wrote down the quote but did not record the Title and Author of the book.

The end of all our exploring.....

"The end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time"

-------T.S. Eliot

(The above is quoted from some book I read a few years ago. I wrote down the quote but did not record the Title and Author of the book).

The Clay Jug

"Inside this clay jug there are canyons and pine mountains,
and the maker of canyons and pine mountains!

All seven oceans are inside,
and hundreds of millions of stars.

The acid that tests gold is there,
and the one who judges jewels.

And the music from the string no one touches,
and the source of all water.

If you want the truth,
I will tell you the truth:

Friend, listen: the God whom I love is inside."


-----------------Kabir

Quote from "The Soul is here for it's own joy. Sacred poems from many cultures." Edited by Robert Bly. The Eco Press, Hopewell, NJ 08525. 1995. ISBN 0-88001-355-9.

Walt Whitman's wise words.

"This is what you should do: Love the earth and sun and animals,
despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
stand up for the stupide and crazy,
devote your income and labour to others, hate tyrants,............
have patience and indulgence toward the people,...........
reexamine all you have been told in school or church or in any book,
dismiss what insults your very soul,
and your flesh shall become a great poem"

----------Walt Whitman

(This is a beautiful quote.....I wish I had recorded it's source.....it's from one of the books I read in April 2003. I have not posted the full quote here.)