(photo by one of his party)
(Here is our beloved William with his warm thoughts from the frozen North. I am so happy with this arrangement of our Bureau Chiefs putting their material in once a week. Thank you all!)
Awakening The Joy In Your Heart
I liked the following……..
These words are from “the speaking tree” by Thich Nhat Hanh.
(I have modified the wording slightly as I saw fit.)
Everyone who is human has a spiritual dimension. Without a spiritual dimension it is difficult for us to deal with challenges. If you have a good spiritual practice, you are no longer afraid, because you know how to deal with difficulties and can meet any situation with calm and peace.
Many describe God in terms of Love but French writer, Andre Gidé, describes God as Happiness. As God is available 24 hours a day, then it should be possible to get in touch with Happiness at any time of the day. But how to get in touch with Happiness.
If we breath in mindfully and be aware of our in-breath, you bring the mind home to your body and when your mind is with the body, you are truly there, living fully in the here and now. In ordinary life, very often, our body is there, but our mind is elsewhere. We are caught in sorrow or regret of the past or we are caught in the fear and uncertainty concerning the future. We are caught in our projects. Our mind is not there with our body.We are not truly there.
The practice of mindful breathing, recommended by the Buddha, helps us to bring our mind home to our body. When our mind is with our body, we are back in the here and now, fully present and alive. We can get in touch with the wonders of life that are available in the here and now. Remembering that the past is already gone and the future is not yet here. There is only one moment when you can be fully alive and that is the present moment. The present moment has all the wonders of life in it.
The practice of mindful breathing and walking are not too difficult. They allow us to go back to the here and now in order to live deeply for every moment given to us to live. When you breath in or breath out mindfully, or when you walk mindfully, with every step, you generate the energy of mindfulness.
William Hayes, Caminoheads Canada Bureau Chief
Dear Phil and William,
It is Friday 10 PM in Buenos Aires, nice summer night, it has cool down a bit from the day that was pretty warm. Earlier today, when the post came to my email, I thought -in a kind way- how timely it was to have William’s post today. Not that I have anything to say about The Boss’s posts, and not that I wouldn’t know William’s turn was today (because next Friday is my turn, and we made the order from left to right as we sat on the BC’s 1st Meeting table, and he was sitting at my left! :))
And I say “timely” because William always reminds me to slow down and come back to my self, but to be honest, he doesn’t really need to say anything or write anything, it just happens, for me, he has that ability. And now, reading this post of him, with this text from Thich Nhat Hanh, I think that happens because he lives those words closer than most of us, and we all know how difficult that is.
This text brought me back to the Veranda. Actually, the last couple weeks have been the closest I have been to the Veranda for many reasons, and now I know why: in the Veranda it was so easy to slip into this different rhythm… most of the Caminoheads and Phil’s Camino pilgrims have at Phil’s Camino -as we had in the Camino de Santiago-, an opportunity to connect. The text says God or happiness, to me is our soul-mind that dresses sometimes like “happiness”, others “gratitude”, or “peace” or “beauty” or “goodness” or “friendship”, or “togethernessing”, to name a few. All wonderful for sure.
Love, hugs and kisses, in this era of fear of others because of Coronavirus,
Cris
Cris ~ thank you for that. I think you are right. William is a blessing for us all near and far. Dreaming about your warm evening loves, Felipé.x