Meditations on Tranquility
Do It Anyway
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
- Mother Teresa
Learn this from water: loud splashes the brook but the oceans depth are calm.
- Attributed to the Buddha
There is solace in the path untraveled
when it leads to the sea's tranquility
I hear the sound of the water's roar,
see waves crashing out on the beach,
feel the wind brush across my face
as I taste the ocean's salty kiss.
Then a perfect sunset paints a scene
of purples and reds and tangerine.
Watch the stars slowly dot the sky
sprinkling lights across a velvet night;
listen as the night birds call to me,
fly away with us, set your heart free.
And when fireflies are flitting around
like starlets plucked from high above,
I return to where this started from
refreshed enough to visit my dreams....
- Jeg325
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
- Matthew 6:25-33
Trustworthiness is the greatest portal leading unto the tranquility and security of the people. In truth the stability of every affair hath depended and doth depend upon it. All the domains of power, of grandeur and of wealth are illumined by its light.
- Bahá'u'lláh
If you are driven by fear, anger or pride nature will force you to compete. If you are guided by courage, awareness, tranquility and peace nature will serve you.
- Amit Ray
The convulsions of this transitional and most turbulent period in the annals of humanity are the essential prerequisites, and herald the inevitable approach, of that Age of Ages, “the time of the end,” in which the folly and tumult of strife that has, since the dawn of history, blackened the annals of mankind, will have been finally transmuted into the wisdom and the tranquility of an undisturbed, a universal, and lasting peace, in which the discord and separation of the children of men will have given way to the worldwide reconciliation, and the complete unification of the divers elements that constitute human society.
- Shoghi Effendi
Some people have a mistaken idea that all thoughts disappear through meditation and we enter a state of blankness. There certainly are times of great tranquility when concentration is strong and we have few, if any, thoughts. But other times, we can be flooded with memories, plans or random thinking. It's important not to blame yourself.
- Sharon Salzberg
Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquility and happiness we all seek.
- Dalai Lama XIV
O my friend! In all circumstances one should seize upon every means which will promote security and tranquility among the peoples of the world. The Great Being saith: In this glorious Day whatever will purge you from corruption and will lead you towards peace and composure, is indeed the Straight Path.
- Bahá'u'lláh
Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires...
Seek refuge in the attitude of detachment and you will amass the wealth of spiritual awareness. The one who is motivated only by the desire for the fruits of their action, and anxious about the results, is miserable indeed.
- Bhagavad Gita
Making Peace out of Nothing at all
Bathe away your aches in the morning dew.
Breathe the fresh sunrise air and start anew.
Mark down the idly passed moments and stir.
Blink your eyes, reduce the pain to a blur.
Those moments foreign, damp within your mind.
The grace of the wicked night may remind.
But always, always the rose sprouts anew.
Always, always, your heart knows what to do.
- Shin
Shut your eyes to estrangement, then fix your gaze upon unity. Cleave tenaciously unto that which will lead to the well-being and tranquility of all mankind. This span of earth is but one homeland and one habitation. It behooveth you to abandon vainglory which causeth alienation and to set your hearts on whatever will ensure harmony.
- Bahá'u'lláh