—
From the Tao Te Ching: It is not wise to dash about.
Shortening the breath causes much stress.
Use too much energy, and
You will soon be exhausted.
That is not the Natural Way.
Whatever works against this Way
Will not last long.
—
Sunday, July 19, 2009
RP: Be Still
(RP = re-posting; like retweeting (RT) only for blogger.) I'm continuing to enjoy my frequent perusal of ZenHabits.net; so much though that I expect my regular readers will be thinking that I am heading for a lifestyle of Zen myself. Well, who knows, but I do thoroughly enjoy Leo Babauta's reflections on living a life of peace and simplicity. I especially love this latest post: Be Still. An unusual plea in today's frenetic world for moments of quiet and contemplation; I've had ample time in my own life to pursue this kind of stillness lately whether I've wanted it or not, courtesy of a knee surgery that is keeping me bed-bound, but I do indeed find value in stillness myself. Worth a try when you can remember to do so...and that's really the point. You shouldn't have to remember, it should just be something you do. Yet all too often, stillness has to be found. It's only a matter of looking-- so turn off the Blackberry or laptop, the iPod or TV, and be still.
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You know, I was actually thinking about this the other day. Sometimes I think one of the deepest differences between Americans and other cultures (Canadians included, or so it seemed to me) is that we don't value leisure time. Time spent doing nothing is wasted time. If we're not being productive, we ought to be. When really, taking time to be still, to think, to contemplate and listen and all that--it's essential to a well-lived life. Perhaps we can think of it as processing time--or just defy our tendency to look for productivity in every second of our lives and think of it as pure, undiluted leisure time.
Does that make sense?
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