“When water is still, it is like a mirror, reflecting your chin and eyebrows, everything. And if water obtains lucidity from stillness, how much more will the faculties of the mind do the same? The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, of all creation.

Repose, tranquillity, stillness, inaction – these are the levels of the universe, the ultimate perfection of the Tao. Therefore wise rulers and sages rest in these.

Repose, tranquillity, stillness, inaction – these are the sources of all things. Hold to this when coming forward to pacify a troubled world.

Your merit will be great, your name illustrious, and the world united into one.

In your repose you will be wise. In your movements, powerful. By inaction you will gain honour, and by confining yourself to what’s pure and simple, you will prevent the whole world from struggling with you just for appearance’s sake.”

Chuang Tzu, 4th Century BCE, China

Just One by Denise Bristow,

“It only needs one,
one tiny light
in a dark hopeless place.

It only needs one,
one small smile
amidst anger and hate.

It only needs one,
one voice in a crowd
waiting to be heard.

It only needs one,
one act of truth
to overcome fear and lies

It only needs one,
one hand extended
in friendship and love.

It only needs one,
one person to lay
the foundations of peace.

It only needs one,
one of us, all of us
can be that one.”

“Our breath is a gift from God. It is what gives us life. It is how we commune with the created world. With each breath we breathe in a little bit of the world around us and it becomes part of our physical body. With every breath we breathe out a little piece of our physical body returns to the great circle of life. When our breath ceases so does our life on this earth. In the biblical tradition, the breath of God is what gives life to the universe. Breath, Spirit, and Wind are all synonymous. To breathe is to be filled with the Spirit and to be given the gift of life. It renews us and sustains us. God breathes in us.

We are made of dust and to dust we shall return, but until that time comes it is the breath which God breathes in us that gives us life. What more tangible presence of God is there to be found than that which animates us and surges up the vital life force within us?

In the contemplative life the breath is also a great tool. We allow our breath to guide our prayer. By following our breath, we simultaneously follow the wisdom of the ephemeral Spirit and our material body. We join our animal nature to our angelic nature and out of that unity springs forth a great well of possibility which flows freely into our lives and the lives of those around us. To follow our breath is to follow the Holy Spirit.

We are intertwined with all of creation and our breath is one and the same breath that every other person in the past present and future has breathed, is breathing, or will breathe. It is also the same breath that the trees and animals breathe. There is no greater form of communion than that which God has created us to partake in without ceasing and without choice. We need only recognise it, bless it, and use it to praise our God.”

Justin Coutts

“There is no humility in pretending you are worthless. Humility is not an obsession over failure. Humility is a sensitivity to that which lies beyond.
Humility is when you recognize that, yes, you have talents, you have something to contribute to the world, you have a certain stature and authority—and yet all that has a larger context.
Humility means to reframe the meaning of your existence within that larger whole.
From where, after all, do all these talents and achievements come? They were granted you from Above so you may fulfil the mission assigned you in this life.
“And so,” the humble person asks, “What have I done with the gifts endowed to me?”
Take pride—but not in the gifts placed in your hand. Take pride in what you do with it.”

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

“The World is not ours to keep. We hold it in trust for future generations.”

Kofi Annan, born on this day in 1938

“I am a living member of the great family of all souls; and I cannot improve or suffer myself, without diffusing good or evil around me through an ever-enlarging sphere. I belong to this family. I am bound to it by vital bonds. I am always exerting influence on it. I can hardly perform an act that is confined in its consequences to myself. Others are affected by what I am and say and do, so a single act of mine may spread and spread in widening circles, through a nation or humanity.”

American Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing (1780 – 1842), born on this day

“For nothing is fixed,
forever, forever, forever,
it is not fixed;
the earth is always shifting,
the light is always changing,
the sea does not cease to grind down rock.
Generations do not cease to be born,
and we are responsible to them
because we are the only witnesses they have.
The sea rises, the light fails,
lovers cling to each other,
and children cling to us.
The moment we cease to hold each other,
the moment we break faith with one another,
the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.”

James Baldwin

“The grass does not refuse to
flourish in the spring wind.
The leaves are not angry at
falling through the autumn sky.
Who, with whip or spur.
can quicken the feet of time?
The things of this world
flourish and decay,
each at their own hour.”

Li Bai, 8th century CE, China

“We have flown the air like birds and swim the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.”

Martin Luther King Jr, assassinated on this day in 1968

The Old Wisdom by environmentalist Jane Goodall, born on this day in 1934,

“When the night wind makes the pine trees creak
And the pale clouds glide across the dark sky,
Go out my child, go out and seek
Your soul: The Eternal I.

For all the grasses rustling at your feet
And every flaming star that glitters high
Above you, close up and meet
In you: The Eternal I.

Yes, my child, go out into the world; walk slow
And silent, comprehending all, and by and by
Your soul, the Universe, will know
Itself: the Eternal I.”