"Take Time to Smell the Flowers"

One of my hopes in writing the book "Flowers from Gardens of Faith" is to inspire people to take the time to "smell the flowers," as the saying goes.

To take time to really enjoy, inhale the fragrance, and appreciate the beauty of the sacred words of wisdom from various faith traditions is an important decision anyone can make for their own good.

So many things clamor for our attention. It is too easy to spend that attention on what does not really nourish our soul, and allow ourselves to be distracted from doing what is really good for us. It takes a constantly renewed determination and considerable courage to claim special time for spiritual practice---but the rewards are great indeed.

In today's blog, I want to quote from a wonderful little booklet that came into my hands this past week, entitled

"A Golden Mind, a Golden Life." It is written by a wise and eloquent contemporary Indian woman guru, named Gurumayi. The first quote is actually from the Forward to the book.

"From the most ancient of times, teachers in the various religious traditions of the world have instructed spiritual seekers to practice a special kind of contemplation in which aspirants read or listen attentively to concise passages of scripture or to powerful words of sages. Seekers then quietly and with deep reverence reflect on the inner significance of the teachings and search within themselves for ways to apply those lessons in their own lives.

Having heard or read a powerful teaching, a seeker must endeavor to bring the liberating insights and tranformative truths presented by those words into effect in his or her life. Otherwise the words merely entertain, mystify, or even clutter the mind. True contemplation is part of a process: hearing, contemplating, understanding, imbibing, and becoming. As one sage puts it "Knowledge that is not put into action is a burden."

Contemplating these truths, we can recognize the Truth they contain because the same Truth lies within us.

It may be that much of time that Truth is, for us, still vague and unformed because we have not found the words with which to express it. Contemplating words of wisdom from scriptures and sages inspires the awakening and blossoming of our own inner wisdom."

This has certainly been my experience, and the words I will choose from the saints, sages, and scriptures of the seven great Wisdom traditions I have mentioned in an earlier blog will, I hope, inspire the blossoming of your own inner wisdom as you "take time to smell the flowers."

I would like to conclude today with just a little bouquet from Gardens of Faith.

If you think you are free, you are free.

If you think you are bound, you are bound.

For the saying is true: You are what you think.

Ashtavakra

You are wherever your thoughts are.

Make sure your thoughts are where you want to be.

Rabbi Nachman

Habits are human nature.

Why not create some that will mint Gold?

Hafiz

God is the friend of silence.

Trees, flowers, grass grow in silence.

See the stars, moon, and sun

how they move in silence.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Spring flowers, autumn moon,

summer breeze, winter snow---

When the mind is free

from unnecessary thoughts,

Every season is just perfect!

Ekai