Mary Niker Mindfulness

The Depth of Life

When medieval monks were asked how they practiced their faith, they said, “By falling down and getting up.” This is the human journey from which no one is exempt. We are constantly challenged to get up one more time than we fall, to open one more time than we close, and to put things together one more time than we take them apart. The Japanese proverb, Nanakorobi yaoki, puts it this way, “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.”

This rhythm between fragility and resilience informs the practices that keep us human. Yet no one can give these practices to you. Each of us must discover and inhabit them for ourselves. This is why the heart of my teaching has always been a commitment to introduce you to your own gifts and wisdom. And so, [we] explore the perennial choice-points we all face such as surviving and thriving, managing risk and enhancing risk, opening and closing, giving and receiving, living a balance between solitude and community, enlarging our sense of things when pain and fear make us small, and the never-ending practice of course-correcting and tuning as we go.

An excerpt from my book: Falling Down and Getting Up

"Love does not have to be expressed in words; it is seen and felt in action. Love is the language of silence."

Guidance received by Eileen Caddy for today, from 'Opening Doors Within' 💗

Read the full guidance for today here:
https://tinyurl.com/Daily-Guidance-Eileen-Caddy

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Start your Monday the right way! Free, online & beginner friendly 15 minute meditation practice with Heather Regan-Addis 6.45am & 21.45pm, link in bio☀️🌊🐚

Take a pause, come home to yourself and sit with community 🌿

Join Plum Village UK online for evening meditation practice: Together in Peace Monday to Saturday and our Sunday Sangha. A chance to cultivate mindfulness, compassion and peace wherever you are. www.plumvillage.uk/events

Everyone is welcome 🙏

“Animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms.”
George Eliot

Artist: Heinrich von Zügel

Paired by Whispers from the Heart

"Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance."
Brené Brown - Daring Greatly

Artist: S. hee

Paired by Whispers from the Heart

“Energy moves in cycles, circles, spirals, vortexes, whirls, pulsations, waves, and rhythms—rarely if ever in simple straight lines.”

~ Starhawk, The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature
Starhawk

Art: Oksana Ivanik, “Getting Off the Ground”
Oksana Ivanik Art

St Melangell's Day - May 27th

Melangell was an Irish princess in the 7th/8th century who fled an arranged marriage and became a consecrated virgin in the wilderness of the Kingdom of Powys, Wales living as a hermit in the Berwyn Mountains.

She supernaturally protected a hare from a prince's hunting dogs, when the Prince of Powys discovered her while hunting, his hounds fled from a hare that had taken refuge under her cloak. The prince granted her land to found a sanctuary and convent.

Since the medieval period, she has been venerated as the patron saint of hares, rabbits, small animals and the natural environment.

Solitude is one of the most precious things in the human spirit. It is different from loneliness. When you are lonely, you become acutely conscious of your own separation. Solitude can be a homecoming to your own deepest belonging. One of the lovely things about us as individuals is the incommensurable in us. In each person, there is a point of absolute nonconnection with everything else and with everyone. This is fascinating and frightening. It means that we cannot continue to seek outside ourselves for things we need from within. The blessings for which we hunger are not to be found in other places or people. These gifts can only be given to you by yourself. They are at home at the hearth of your soul.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from his book, Anam Cara,
25th Anniversary Edition.
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/anam-cara

County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill