March 27, 2020 – Patience and Acceptance

“They say how long a minute is, essentially depends on which side of the bathroom door you are on.”

You cannot force things to happen before their time. The Spring Will come and the flowers will blossom, but you cannot force the Spring. The Rain will come, the clouds will cover the sky, the whole thirst of the earth will be gone- but you cannot force it. And this is the beauty… that the more patient you are, the quicker is the coming of Spring. ~ osho

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

“No matter how many times we burst into flames, we can always rise from the ashes. It’s okay to not be okay all the time. What a beautiful thing it is to be able to stand tall and say, “I fell apart, and I survived.”

“Sometimes good things fall apart, so better things can fall in their place.”

“If you don’t have time for what matters, stop making time for what does not.”

“Accept what is, Let go of what was and have faith in what will be.”

“A caterpillar must endure a season of isolation before it turns into a butterfly. Embrace the time you have alone, it will only make you stronger.” ~Steven Aitchison

“I breathe in calmness, I breathe out stress. I inhale peace and tranquility, I exhale fear.”

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. Robert Louis Stevenson

Unconditional Spiritual Surrender

In the Vedic texts, spiritual surrender is referred to as the “joy of surrender.” It is the wonderful, positive feeling you have when you simply let go. It’s stepping out of all limitations, expanding beyond your usual conditioning, and opening to infinite possibilities. It’s offering up the small self or personal identity to that of the absolute.

In the Bible, Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

The ego loves to control everything. It creates the boundaries and limitations in which you imprison yourself. Surrender allows you to break free and step into what Deepak Chopra calls “the wisdom of uncertainty.” With surrender, you can connect fully with your source where the whole universe conspires to support you. You can become timeless, eternal, infinite, joy-filled, and fearless. Individual aspirations and desires are surrendered to a higher power. Your individual desires dissolve into “Thy will be done.”

Eckhart Tolle says, “Surrender is to say ‘yes’ to life—and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.”

Debbie Ford says, “Surrender is a gift that you can give yourself. It’s an act of faith. It’s saying that even though I can’t see where this river is flowing, I trust it will take me in the right direction.”

When you are evolving to your higher self, the road is long and lonesome, but you’re simply shedding energies that no longer match the frequency of your destiny. The hardest walk is walking alone, but it’s also the walk that makes you the strongest.”

“It is better to travel well than to arrive.”

Life is amazing. Then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in-between the amazing and awful it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary.

“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.” – Pema Chödrön

“Anything that annoys you is for teaching you patience.

Anyone who abandons you is for teaching you how to stand up on your own two feet.

Anything that angers you is for teaching you forgiveness and compassion.

Anything that has power over you is for teaching you how to take your power back.

Anything you hate is for teaching you unconditional love.

Anything you fear is for teaching you courage to overcome your fear.

Anything you can’t control is for teaching you how to let go and trust the Universe”

― Jackson Kiddard

In Exodus 31:12–17: the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: ‘Verily ye shall keep My sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the LORD who sanctify you

Pandemic

What if you thought of it

as the Jews consider the Sabbath —

the most sacred of times?

Cease from travel.

Cease from buying and selling.

Give up, just for now,

on trying to make the world

different than it is.

Sing. Pray. Touch only those

to whom you commit your life.

Center down.

And when your body has become still,

reach out with your heart.

Know that we are connected

in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.

(You could hardly deny it now.)

Know that our lives

are in one another’s hands.

(Surely, that has come clear.)

Do not reach out your hands.

Reach out your heart.

Reach out your words.

Reach out all the tendrils

of compassion that move, invisibly,

where we cannot touch.

Promise this world your love–

for better or for worse,

in sickness and in health,

so long as we all shall live.

Lynn Ungar is a poet, and wrote this poem on March 11, 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.