Thankful Thursdays

[I hear some of you read my posts while on your drive to work. Please don’t read and drive. Wait until you get to the office and grab your coffee.  ☕️ ]

And now we interrupt this program – the horrors of life – to bring you some Zen…

“A new student comes to the monastery and says to the Abbot, “I want to join. How long is it going to take me to be enlightened?”
And the Abbot says: “Ten years.”
And so the student goes, “Well, what if I work twice as hard?”
And the abbot says: “Twenty years.”
“Well, wait a minute! You just said ten years!” the student exclaimed.
“For you, 30 years.”

Sometimes the more we try to stop the craziness, the crazier it gets. Let’s pause in our busyness, guys, even if for a few seconds at a time, so we can find the inner strength and focus to keep our anxious minds at ease.

Truth is that there is not much we can do about a lot…but we can reflect on and pray about everything.

“Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth
let’s not speak in any language,
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines.
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about,
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.

Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.”
-Pablo Neruda

What are you thankful for today?

Until next Thursday’s post…si Dios quiere.

[Note: In case you’re not Spanglish-speaking, “si Dios quiere” means God-willing. Mom finished most of her sentences with that phrase. After her passing, I added it to my sendoff in her honor.]

I dedicate this Thankful Thursday post to my mother. Gone six years ago today, but never forgotten.  ❤️ She now enjoys the best kind of Zen.

Here’s one of her best.