No Expectations, No Plans

A clear drink of water.  A cloudless sky.  A moment’s silence.  An unexpected breeze.

Waking up in a small motel in Fiji, somehow light and filled with joy.  Nothing to do, nothing not to do.  A feeling of no problems, no concerns, just being there, easily, effortlessly, the air soft and sweet, a loving subtle energy permeating everything, yet everything totally normal.

Visiting the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver, and suddenly turning to look through a perfect circular frame into a vision of water, trees, and sky.

Sitting on the grass in Descanso Gardens in Los Angeles, time falls away and there is only peace.

There is a space in between, outside of time.  When the mind lets go, when somehow we see and feel that spaciousness. When something unknown comes in of its own accord.  It can’t be forced, yet a taste here and there can give a sense of it, like opening a window. Pema Chodron says she likes to close her eyes and turn her head until she doesn’t know what’s in front of her, and then abruptly open her eyes and try to take a mental snapshot of that instant before the mind restarts. Kim Rosen says she deliberately tries to remember something that’s impossible to remember – What did she have for breakfast ten days ago? Where did she put her shoes last Tuesday? – and then notice the blank spot, that empty in-between.

That space is like the sky that all concerns pass through like weather. Its vastness holds everything. Its space is never diminished.  No matter what appears or passes by, that never-ending sky is always present, around us and within us. Whatever else is going on, we can learn to more and more be aware of that unending sky.

© 2023 Shanti Natania Grace

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If Someone Asks

If someone asks

about the mind of

this monk,

say it is no more than

a passage of wind

in the vast sky.

 Ryokan Taigu

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Priceless Gifts

An empty day without events

And that is why
it grew immense
as space. And suddenly
happiness of being
entered me.

I heard
in my heartbeat
the birth of time
and each instant of life
one after the other
came rushing in
like priceless gifts.

Anna Swir

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