listening...

To listen is to lean in,

softly,

with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.

- Mark Nepo

like a flash of lightning...

what is born will die
what has been gathered will be dispersed
what has been accumulated will be exhausted
what has been built up will be brought low

this existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds
to watch the birth and death of beings is like
watching the movements of a dance

a lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the dark of night
rushing by like a torrent down a steep mountainside

- from the Buddhist Sutras

brass into pure gold...

Go ahead, light your candles and burn your incense and ring your bells and call out to God, but watch out, because God will come and he will put you on his anvil and fire up his forge and beat you until He turns brass into pure gold.

Sant Keshavadas

to be whittled and sandpapered...

We are not on this earth to accumulate victories, things and experiences, but to be whittled and sandpapered until what's left is who we truly are.

Arianna Huffington
from On Becoming Fearless: In Love, Work and Life

growing unevenly...

We do not grow absolutely chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present and future mingle and pull us backward, forward or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.

Anais Nin

dreaming together...

If you dream alone, it's just a dream. When we dream together, it's reality.

Brazilian folk song

a vision with a task...

A vision without a task is but a dream. A task without a vision is but drudgery. A vision joined with a task is the hope of the world.

Anonymous