Often, when I am just plain exhausted, and don't have the energy to think much, I like to find comfort in inspirational quotes/poems/etc. So I wanted to start up a thread, where people can share their own favourite quotes/poems/etc, that give them strength when they most need it. I have noticed there are already some wonderful quotes in this spirituality section - but I just wanted a brain-fog friendly thread where only little pieces of inspiration are shared. Lengthy discussion can go on other threads. It doesn't matter what religion you are, or whether you do not belong to any particular religion, just as long as the quotes are in some way inspiring or moving to you. Here are a few of my own. I may add more later when I have the energy: 'You make a life out of what you have, not what you're missing' - by Kate Morton, from the book 'The Forgotten Garden'. 'Don't tell God how big the storm is; Tell the storm how big your God is.' - unknown. 'You will not grow if you sit in a beautiful flower garden, but you will grow if you are sick, if you are in pain, if you experience losses, and if you do not put your head in the sand, but take the pain as a gift to you with a very, very specific purpose.' -Elizabeth Kuhbler-Ross I said what about my eyes? 'Keep them on the road.' I said what about my passion? 'Keep it burning.' I said what about my heart? 'Tell me what you hold inside it?' I said pain and sorrow. He said: 'Stay with it.' - Rumi
In this moment I am free. I now become I --- I who lives by my own rules the rules of the Devine, the rules of the Universe.
I've always loved the words in this song. These are all I can remember at the moment: Winters come and gone My heart is thawing In the warmth of the sun Like a whisper in the wind Love is calling To touch the heart of anyone who will listen I do believe I have heard it this time I do believe, its opening, this heart of mine...
Row row row your boat GENTLY down the stream merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a DREAM... very simple, but very profound song, which I have always loved.
Not sure if it counts as spiritual but here's an inspiring quote that I like: There are many diseases and disabilities of the body, but there is only one plague of the mind. It is to believe that one's life is not enough. -- Arnold Beisser, Flying Without Wings
"This too shall pass" This one helps because I've come out the other side of some awful, long-running problems. "Good things come to he who waits" "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings as eagles." Isaiah 40:31 My soul and spirit are often soaring these days.
Be near us Lord,when words of trust are broken, And all we know of brightness has died . When words of friends,and even our own words , Like waves on the sea,prove transitory and hazardous, Be near us ,Lord Be our integrity . Thanks for starting this thread .poetry always raises my spirit And I find it really calming
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace. - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NASB)
Three of my favorites: An abridged part of a response from Adyashanti to someone who wrote asking him to respond to her chronic illness. He speaks to the part of us that is always aware - even if what it is aware of is our fatigue, our illness: In the midst of illness and fatigue notice that there is something that is not sick or tired at all.... Be still and give that awareness your attention....Take notice of what is always free. Blessings, Adya This I recently re-discovered, to my delight: And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything. - Shakespeare, As You Like It (2.1.13) And this latter portion of a poem by John O'Donohue (in To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings): For One Who Is Exhausted ... ... ... You have been forced to enter empty time. The desire that drove you has relinquished. There is nothing else to do now but rest And patiently learn to receive the self You have forsaken in the race of days. At first your thinking will darken And sadness take over like listless weather. The flow of unwept tears will frighten you. You have traveled too fast over false ground; Now your soul has come to take you back. Take refuge in your senses, open up To all the small miracles you rushed through. Become inclined to watch the way of rain When it falls slow and free. Imitate the habit of twilight, Taking time to open the well of color That fostered the brightness of day. Draw alongside the silence of stone Until its calmness can claim you. Be excessively gentle with yourself. Stay clear of those vexed in spirit. Learn to linger around someone of ease Who feels they have all the time in the world. Gradually, you will return to yourself, Having learned a new respect for your heart And the joy that dwells far within slow time.
This is an oldie, but I think a goodie. Serenity Prayer God grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right If I surrender to His will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life And supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr
