Birthday wishes

Dear friends, today is my 91st birthday. My fondest wish for all of you is that you find peace and contentment right where you are. Often, we try to put these feelings into words, and just as often fail: the Buddha would tell us stop looking so hard and just be — a pretty difficult task when writing poetry! Many of us find that stillness is an impossible goal, especially in a culture that values achievement, accomplishment, and a focus on “what happens next.” If we can stop just for an hour a day, enjoy what we have without envy or desiring something else, that would be a wonderful, everyday present to ourselves. Here are some similar thoughts from Walt Whitman, who shares my birthday month. Thanks, Gene

I exist as I am, that is enough,
If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
And if each and all be aware I sit content.
One world is aware, and by far the largest to me, and that is myself,
And whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand or ten million years,
I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness, I can wait.

 

(from “Leaves of Grass”)