Joy is mother earth –
the warmth of sunlight on your skin,
in the cool breath of morning air,
a day full of possibilities.

Joy is reunion –
in hands that find each other,
a voice on the phone that feels like home,
precious connections remembered.

Joy is our 4-legged furry companions-
bundles of unconditional love,
gleefully anticipating the next moment of play.

Joy is movement—
the steady rhythm of footsteps on a familiar path,
a body swaying to music with no thought, only feeling.

Joy is stillness—
a deep breath, a steady heartbeat,
the simple presence of being here, now.

Joy is in me –

in this moment and every moment,

always present and always available,

an open invitation to its infinite faces.

By David Brand

Joy is not a thing you can see.
It is what you feel when you watch waves breaking,
Or when you peer through a net of woven violet stems
In Spring grass.
It is not sunlight, not moonlight,
But a separate shining.
Joy lives behind people’s eyes.

by Hilda Conkling

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘Yes.’

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

The Great Way isn’t difficult
for those who are unattached to their preferences.
Let go of longing and aversion,
and everything will be perfectly clear.

When you cling to a hairbreadth of distinction,
heaven and earth are set apart.
If you want to realize the truth,
don’t be for or against.
The struggle between good and evil
is the primal disease of the mind.
Not grasping the deeper meaning,
you just trouble your mind’s serenity.

As vast as infinite space,
it is perfect and lacks nothing.
But because you select and reject,
you can’t perceive its true nature.

Don’t get entangled in the world;
don’t lose yourself in emptiness.
Be at peace in the oneness of things,
and all errors will disappear by themselves.

If you don’t live the Tao,
you fall into assertion or denial.
Asserting that the world is real,
you are blind to its deeper reality;
denying that the world is real,
you are blind to the selflessness of all things.

The more you think about these matters,
the farther you are from the truth.
Step aside from all thinking,
and there is nowhere you can’t go.

Returning to the root, you find the meaning;
chasing appearances, you lose their source.
At the moment of profound insight,
you transcend both appearance and emptiness.
Don’t keep searching for the truth;
just let go of your opinions.

For the mind in harmony with the Tao,
all selfishness disappears.
With not even a trace of self-doubt,
you can trust the universe completely.
All at once you are free,
with nothing left to hold on to.
All is empty, brilliant,
perfect in its own being.
In the world of things as they are,
there is no self, no non-self.

If you want to describe its essence,
the best you can say is “Not-two.”
In this “Not-two” nothing is separate,
and nothing in the world is excluded.
The enlightened of all times and places
have entered into this truth.
In it there is no gain or loss;
one instant is ten thousand years.
There is no here, no there;
infinity is right before your eyes.

The tiny is as large as the vast
when objective boundaries have vanished;
the vast is as small as the tiny
when you don’t have external limits.
Being is an aspect of non-being;
non-being is no different from being.
Until you understand this truth,
you won’t see anything clearly.

One is all; all are one.
When you realize this,
what reason for holiness or wisdom?
The mind of absolute trust
is beyond all thought, all striving,
is perfectly at peace, for in it
there is no yesterday, no today, no tomorrow.

by Seng-Ts’an

The Equinox – Different Seasons, One Humanity

Morning and evening meet as equals,

balanced between what was and what will be.

Light and shadow stretch evenly,

across fields, across communities, across oceans.

In the north, buds vibrate,

ready to burst into green.

In the south, leaves release their hold,

drifting in the wind.

Feet press into earth,

some warmed by the first touch of spring,

others cooled by the breath of autumn.

Different seasons, same planet

Joy rises in waves,

from hands lifted to the sun,

to eyes tracing the arc of stars.

Different seasons, same sky.

For this Equinox moment,

the world breathes in unison.

A quiet knowing between hemispheres –

a perfect pause – this balance, this turning, this joy!

Different seasons, one humanity.

The Music Of My Soul

Hear the music of my soul

A symphony without a goal

Playing purely for the pleasure

Of sharing intimate treasure

Every note in its perfect place

Resonating a vibration of Grace

Within the depths of my Being

I am seen and I am seeing

Trust in the simple melody

Unfolding as it’s meant to be

Within the essence of my Being

I am heard and I am hearing

Without desire or agenda

From a place that’s truly tender

With a joy that laughter’s bringing

I am sung and I am singing

Thank you for this precious Grace

This unbounded loving space

It is filling and surrounding

‘Tis uplifting and it’s grounding

Now here we are right in the middle

Having finally solved the riddle

With the simplicity of Love

That together, We Are One.

By Chandra Levy