keeping small

the empty places

phyllisalyse — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:59:07 +0000

often in those empty places – where we have nothing left to give and no energy to take – the most interesting parts of our stories are born.

home is a holy thing

phyllisalyse — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:30:34 +0000

Home is a holy thing—nothing of doubt or distrust can enter its blessed portals … Here seems indeed to be a bit of Eden which not the sin of any can utterly destroy. Emily Dickinson : a letter to her … Continue reading →

the real bitterness of death

phyllisalyse — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:14:19 +0000

In spite of everything, your bitterness because others are enjoying what you are denied is always ready to flare up. At best it may lie dormant for a couple of sunny days. Yet even at this unspeakably shabby level, it is still an expression of the real bitterness of death – the fact that others are allowed to go on living.

Dag Hammarskjöld : Markings

to walk humbly with thy God

phyllisalyse — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:03:15 +0000

… and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Micah 6:8

abandon the struggle for private happiness

phyllisalyse — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:38:42 +0000

To abandon the struggle for private happiness, to expel all eagerness of temporary desire, to burn with passion for eternal things — this is emancipation, and this is the free man’s worship. Bertrand Russell : A Free Man’s Worship : … Continue reading →

close your eyes in prayer

phyllisalyse — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:41:25 +0000

close your eyes in prayer and tell me what you see.

gentle body, gentle mind

phyllisalyse — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:15:33 +0000

Meditation is practicing gentleness with the body, gentleness with the mind. I start the day gentle with my body, gentle with the mind. It is a practice of letting go. There are so many things that I carry in my body, in my mind. Unnamed burdens that keep my stomach on edge. It’s muscles angry and twisted into a fist. Every slow and purposeless breath a letting go. Setting the weight down. Casting the irons off. So, that I may be free.

for all that has been, thank you

phyllisalyse — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:34:43 +0000

For all that has been, thank you.
For all that is to come, yes.

Dag Hammarskjöld : Markings

unthankfulness is theft

phyllisalyse — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:52:46 +0000

Unthankfulness is theft.

Martin Luther

there i saw hope barbed as barbed wire

phyllisalyse — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:46:59 +0000

A night drive to Ein Yahav in the Arava Desert,
a drive in the rain. Yes, in the rain.
There I met people who grow date palms,
there I saw tamarisk trees and risk trees,
there I saw hope barbed as barbed wire.
And I said to myself: That’s true, hope needs to be
like barbed wire to keep out despair,
hope must be a mine field.

Yehuda Amichai : Ein Yahav