“The best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present
moment.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Tag: Present
Weekend: Poetry Pot Luck
Task: So: this weekend, share with us a poem that you love (by someone who isn’t you, please). You can quote a particularly striking line (or two) in a new message in the Commons, or drop a link to the whole piece. Most importantly: tell us, in a sentence or two, what about it moves you.
This poem has followed me since my schooldays. I love sheep, chickens and cows. They ooze calmness and serenity and most of the time sheer contentment. Being ‘present’, ‘in the moment’ with these animals, which is how they live, rubs off on me almost instantly.
And yes, I am well practiced in communicating with them moooo!
Enjoy …
Cows, by James Reeves
Half the time they munched the grass, and all the time they lay
Down in the water-meadows, the lazy month of May,
A-chewing,
A-mooing,
To pass the hours away.
“Nice weather,” said the brown cow.
“Ah,” said the white.
“Grass is very tasty.”
“Grass is all right.”
Half the time they munched the grass, and all the time they lay
Down in the water-meadows, the lazy month of May,
A-chewing,
A-mooing,
To pass the hours away.
“Rain coming,” said the brown cow.
“Ah,” said the white.
“Flies is very tiresome.”
“Flies bite.”
Half the time they munched the grass, and all the time they lay
Down in the water-meadows, the lazy month of May,
A-chewing,
A-mooing,
To pass the hours away.
“Time to go,” said the brown cow.
“Ah,”’ said the white.
“Nice chat,” “Very pleasant.”
“Night.””Night.”
Half the time they munched the grass, and all the time they lay
Down in the water-meadows, the lazy month of May,
A-chewing,
A-mooing,
To pass the hours away.
Day 20: The Future
Future? The word still holds a residue of unease. A programmed response I know but it is still creating a reaction.
As a child I was bombarded with the word. It seemed everything depended upon it. I on the other hand, had other ideas. I was too enthralled by the Present to be concerned with a future.
But, true to form, with persistence and punishment, I came to understand that the world around me valued it more than the Present. So I began the long and painful process of trying to shoehorn my expansive perspective of life into the limited one – the only one acceptable to all around me.
Little did I know then, that all along my perspective had been totally the ‘right’ one for me!
It has taken years to come full circle, to return to myself, but it has been a thoroughly interesting journey up to now.
As for the future ….
I shall continue to write more.
Stopping every now and then to gaze into the skies, up a tree, in the grasses, listen to the birds and ….
I need to find somewhere to live.
So I shall enjoy the searching, the plotting and the planning.
Remembering that it’s a fun journey and allowing it all to unfold, in its own way, in its own time.
But more than anything I shall remember to value myself and my perspective beyond all else.
Remembering that the opinions of others are interesting and sometimes valuable but ultimately, the only person who really knows what is right for me is me.
And the only way I know how to do that is by allowing myself to be Present in this moment, in my life right Now.
Land of Images 