Nurturing Thursday: Lines or Illusions

The story behind this Nurturing Thursday post begins during my time with the book “The sun my heart” by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. I am in love with the book and read every page at least twice. I try to relate the stories in the book by what I have heard/learned in different situations  from different people in my life.

Then comes the weekly photo challenge theme: lines. I started looking for a photo with some interesting lines and I found one abstract phtograph. But with a questions, are these lines or just illusions? The line in this frame has only present neither past nor future.

As Alan Watts has said, ” I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is”.

Now its time to share some lines from the book to nuture ourselves:

“From time to time you may become restless, and the restlessness will not go away. At such times, just sit quietly, follow your breathing, smile a halfsmile, and shine your awareness on the restlessness. Don’t judge it or try to destroy it, because this
restlessness is you yourself. It is born, has some period of existence, and fades away, quite naturally. Don’t be in too big a hurry to find its source. Don’t try too hard to make it disappear. …

Do not turn your mind into a battlefield. Do not have a war there; for all your feelings-joy, sorrow, anger, hatred-are part of yourself. … To meditate does not mean to fight with a problem. To meditate means to observe. Your smile proves it. It proves that you are being gentle with yourself, that the sun of awareness is shining in you, that you have control of your situation.