Make time for tranquility

[Ray]

“It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.”

Marcus Aurelius

I was talking to a friend yesterday who leads a highly active professional and private life. In fact it is so busy she finds herself so constantly surrounded by her immediate family, clients, and colleagues that she longs for being able to have just a little quiet time for herself once in a while. I shared with her that I thought that being able to drop out, even for a few minutes to visit with our thoughts and to be able to take a leisurely look at our world is great therapy.

In fact I think one of the greatest things that life has to offer if we are willing to take it is tranquility. Don’t you love the word? It means a state of peace and quiet. Of course I am like everyone else I know, my life is often filled with action and even turmoil, the secret is to not let it fill all our waking moments leaving no time to spend enjoying an untroubled state; free from disturbances.

The good news is that with self-discipline and practice it can become the best medicine we can take. Here is a Taoism approach that I copied from Positive Thoughts that I think has value that I thought I would share with you today for it can lead to tranquility.

 

START THE WAY

Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river

•Tao − "the way", "the path" is often represented by water because water always seeks the path of least resistance, yet is strong enough to demolish even stone when no other recourse is available. everything below flows from this.

Here are 10 guides to the Way. To live them is to follow the Simple Tao as I see it, where it is up to us to tell the story, each in our own small way.

1.Make your goal effortless action − avoid unnecessary action or action that is not spontaneous.

2.Treasure simplicity − eliminate whatever is unnecessary and artificial and appreciate the simple and the apparently ordinary.

3.Cultivate stillness − only stillness will clear muddy waters and enable you to see the truth.

4.Be patient − can you remain unmoving until the right action arises?

5.Be gentle − love peace and restraint and avoid all unnecessary violence. "do not regard weapons as lovely things, for to think them lovely means to delight in them, and to delight in them means to delight in the slaughter of men."

6.See beauty − in the mundane and the normal. Apreciate the beauty around you and in yourself.

7.Be true − dedicate your life only to that which you find beautiful or fascinating, and thus be true to yourself.

8.Live in the moment − feel the hand of time sweeping past second by second.

9.Be happy − to conduct one's life according to the Tao, is to conduct one's life without regrets.

10.Be compassionate and honor life − only those who are compassionate and treasure life in all its forms can show true bravery and acquire true wisdom.

~~~

“Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility.”

Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

~~~

Old Abraham was a poor tailor whose shop was next door to a very upscale French restaurant. Every day at lunch time, Abraham would go out the back of his shop and eat his black bread and herring while smelling the wonderful odors coming from the restaurant's kitchen. But one day, Abraham was surprised to receive an invoice from the restaurant for 'enjoyment of food'. So he went to the restaurant to point out that he had not bought anything from them. The manager said, "You're enjoying our food, so you should pay us for it." Abraham refused to pay and the restaurant sued him.

At the hearing, the judge asked the restaurant to present their side of the case. The manager said, "Every day, this man comes and sits outside our kitchen and smells our food while eating his. It is clear that we are providing added value to his poor food and we deserve to be compensated for it."

The judge turns to Abraham and said, "What do you have to say to that?" Abraham didn't say anything but stuck his hand in his pocket and rattled the few coins he had inside. The judge asked him, "What is the meaning of that?"

Abraham replied, "I'm paying for the smell of his food with the sound of my money."

~~~

There is one thing alone that stands the brunt of life throughout its course: a quiet conscience.

Euripedes

~~~

Mrs. Crumps was called to serve for jury duty, but asked to be excused because she didn't believe in capital punishment and didn't want her personal thoughts to prevent the trial from running its proper course. But the public defender liked her thoughtfulness and quiet calm, and tried to convince her that she was appropriate to serve on the jury.

"Madam," he explained, "This is not a murder trial! It's a simple civil lawsuit. A wife is bringing this case against her husband because he gambled away the $12,000 he had promised to use to remodel the kitchen for her birthday."

"Well, okay," agreed Mrs. Crumps, "I'll serve. I guess I could be wrong about capital punishment after all."

~~~

Hope is like a road in the country; there wasn’t ever a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.

Lin Yutang

~~~

A psychiatrist was trying to comfort a new patient who was terribly upset. "You see, Doc," the patient explained, "my problem is that I like shoes much better than I like boots." "Why, that's not even a problem," answered the doctor. "MOST people like shoes better than boots. Even I prefer shoes to boots." The patient was elated, "That's neat, Doc. How do you like them, fried or scrambled?"

~~~

"Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul. Where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless."

Eric Hoffer

~~~

An Amish man answered a knock on his door one morning. An electric company worker handed him a piece of paper stating that the electric company would like to run a power line through his cow pasture. The Amish man said, "No, no you cannot."

"Legally, that paper says we can." replied the gruff worker. As he turned and left returning to his co-workers in the field, the Amish man went to his barn and turned his bull into the pasture. As the bull rumbled toward the workers in the field, the Amish farmer hollered, "Show him thy paper!"

~~~

“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing?”

Swami Satchidananda

~~~

Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

 

Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

 

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