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For today, I choose the poem Perfect Equanimity by Hafiz…when reading it, my heart softly settled down and a sense of goodness infused my whole breath…This inspiring breath connects me with the Spirit, with God, with what we call the Thing Which is Bigger than us. We all have different names for God and I trust that this Bigger, Loving Presence surrounds us all in Its goodness…

Perfect Equanimity

Look how a mirror
will reflect with perfect equanimity
all actions
before
it.

There is no act in this world
that will ever cause the mirror to look away.

There is no act in this world that will
ever make the mirror
say ‘no.’

The mirror, like perfect love, will just keep giving
of itself to all
before
it.

How did the mirror ever get like that, so polite,
so grand, so compassionate?

It watched God.

Yes, the mirror remembers the Beloved
looking into itself as the Beloved shaped existence’s heart
and the mirror’s
soul.

My eye has the nature of God.

Hafiz looks upon all with perfect equanimity,
as do my words,
dear.

My poems will never tell you no,
because the Mirror is
not like
that,

and if God ever hits you with a don’t –

He has His fingers crossed,

He is just fibbing
for your own
good.

During this summer holiday, I felt inspired by Rabia, an Arab Muslim saint, one of the earliest Sufi mystics, who could be described as an embodiment of the Sufi path of fana, annihilation of the separate self, which then leads to baqa, divine union.

While reading Wild Mercy by Mirabai Starr, I came across this wonderful short poem written by Rabia:

I exhausted myself, looking.
No one ever finds this by trying.
I melted in it and came home,
Where every jar is full,
But no one drinks.

I took these words in, breathed in the beautiful silence of a bright summer day and felt a precious love of the divine presence….

People wanted to ask Rabia what she meant in her poem…and then she told them: ”You want to know about the how…But I know only the how-less”…

Can you make some space in your inner heart for the how-less?

I choose to welcome today’s daylight contemplating Rumi’s lovely poem…The Guest House…

It has not been easy on my side…I have been offering myself a lot of patience and compassion and I have been praying for inner peace…And then, in the midst of emotional turmoil, I remembered Rumi’s words to open your heart and welcome every moment, every *unexpected visitor…*

I invite you to take a moment and welcome *every unexpected visitor* in your life right now…What happens if you allow it? Are you finding it difficult? Of course, it might not be easy, but just wait, take a breath, look inside and open your arms – just welcome and see what happens…

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

A short moment of silence… Can you pause right now?
Can you allow yourself to pause for a bit?

How is it to just experience pausing? Do you feel some anxiety at the thought that you haven’t finished all tasks? Do you feel the anxiety rising just as you encourage yourself to do something so different than your usual rush?

What is the fear there inside if you pause a bit? Just now. Inviting yourself to put aside for a fraction of second all thoughts, all chores, all “should-s”…
I wonder whether in this beautiful pause you might have a touching meeting with your lovely heart…

You do not have to be good
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles
Through the desert repenting
You only have to let your soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, an I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are
Moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the
deep trees, the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offer
Itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese,
Harsh and exciting – over and over announcing your place in
The family of things.

Wild Geese, by Mary Oliver

Today…22nd of January…first thought entering my mind… “how come its the 22nd?…
Just yesterday we were celebrating Christmas…  where did this time go?”…

I pause…and notice some anxiety and sadness at the thought of how quickly this time goes by…
Looking out the window.. Its so much light, the brightness of the sun brings joy in my heart… I smile…

This is being alive, its now, in this moment… beyond dates, months, years…
The warmth in my heart made me think of Rumi’s poem… and how every moment is a new arrival…
how every joy comes “as an unexpected visitor”

Can I welcome every moment in my heart? in my body?

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

from Rumi: Selected Poems, translated by Coleman Barks