Making the field fertile
      The Zen master entrusted the disciple with looking after the rice paddy. In the first year, the disciple watched to make sure that the necessary water was never missing; the rice grew strong and the harvest was good.
      In the second year, he had the idea of adding a little fertiliser, the rice grew fast and the harvest was bigger.
      In the third year, he used more fertiliser. The harvest was still bigger, but the rice sprouted small and lacklustre.
      - If you continue increasing the amount of manure, you will have nothing worth having next year – said the master.
     “You strengthen someone when you help a little. But you weaken someone if you help a lot.”

The way of the tiger
      The man was walking through the forest when he saw a crippled fox.
     "How does she feed herself?" he thought.
      At that moment, a tiger approached with an animal in its jaws. It satisfied its hunger and left what remained for the fox.
     "If God helps the fox then he will help me too”, he thought. He returned to his house, locked the door and waited for Heaven to send him food.
      Nothing happened. When he was getting too weak to go out and work, an angel appeared.
      - Why did you decide to imitate the lame fox? - asked the angel. – Get up, take your tools and follow the way of the tiger!

Would anyone know the difference
      A father took his two boys to play mini-golf. At the ticket office he wanted to know the price.
     - Five coins for adults, three for those over six years. Under six years entry is free.
     - One of them is three, the other seven. I’ll pay for the oldest.
     - You are silly – said the ticket seller. You could have saved three coins, saying that the oldest was under six; I would never have known the difference.
      - That may be, but the boys would know. And they would remember the bad example for ever.

Condemned to death
     The group went down the street: the soldiers were escorting a man condemned to the gallows.
      - That man was no good commented a disciple with Awas-el Salam. – Once I gave him a silver coin to help him to get out of his misery and he did nothing important.
     - Perhaps he is no good, but he may now be going to the gallows because of you. Maybe he used the money you gave him to buy a dagger, which he ended up using in the crime committed. In that case, your hands are also bloodied. Instead of trying to support him with love and kindness, you preferred to give him alms and rid yourself of your obligation.

Nature’s natural rhythms orchestrate when day turns to night, when flowers must bloom, and provides the cue for when it is time for red and brown leaves to fall from trees. As human beings, our own inner rhythm is attuned to this universal sense of timing. Guided by the rising and setting of the sun, changes in temperature, and our own internal rhythm, we know when it is time to sleep, eat, or be active. While our minds and spirits are free to focus on other pursuits, our breath and our heartbeat are always there to remind us of life’s pulsing rhythm that moves within and around us.

Moving to this rhythm, we know when it is time to stop working and when to rest. Pushing our bodies to work beyond their natural rhythm diminishes our ability to renew and recharge. A feeling much like jet lag lets us know when we’ve overridden our own natural rhythm. When we feel the frantic calls of all we want to accomplish impelling us to move faster than is natural for us, we may want to breathe deeply instead and look at nature moving to its own organic timing: birds flying south, leaves shedding, or snow falling. A walk in nature can also let us re-attune is to her organic rhythm, while allowing us to move back in time with our own. When we move to our natural rhythm, we can achieve all we need to do with less effort.

We may even notice that our soul moves to its own internal, natural rhythm - especially when it comes to our personal evolution. Comparing ourselves to others is unnecessary. Our best guide is to move to our own internal timing, while keeping time with the rhythm of nature.(DailyOm.com)

-by P.C.

-Warrior of the Light by Paulo Coehlo

-Warrior of the Light by Paulo Coehlo

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other’s cup, but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread, but eat not the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.

For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.

And stand together, yet not too near together.

For the pillars of the temple stand apart.

And the oak tree and cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

by Khalil Gibran

   difference between holding a

   hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn’t

   mean leaning and company

   doesn’t mean security,

And you begin to learn that kisses

   aren’t contracts and presents

   aren’t promises,

And you begin to accept your de-

   feats with your head up and your

   eyes open with the grace of an

   adult, not the grief of a child,

And you learn to build all your

   roads on today because tomor-

   row’s ground is too uncertain

   for plans.

After a while you learn that even

   sunshine burns if you get too

   much.

So plant your own garden and dec-

   orate your own soul, instead of

   waiting for someone to bring you

   flowers.

And you learn that you really can

   endure. . .that you really are

   strong,

And you really do have worth.

-Ann Landers, Field Newspaper Syndicate (Reader’s Digest)