“A Fish in Water” –|– Anthony Satori
“We do not hear nature boasting about being nature, nor water holding a conference on the technique of flowing. So much rhetoric would be wasted on those who have no use for it. The man of Tao lives in the Tao, like a fish in water. If we tried to teach a fish that water is physically compounded of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, the fish would laugh its head off.”
– Al Chung-liang Huang
“Compassion and Strength” –|– Anthony Satori
Compassion and strength are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are not even at odds. True compassion is rooted in carefully cultivated principles, universal love, and clear-eyed reason. This highest version of compassion both informs and enhances strength by imbuing it with righteousness, clarity, and drive. True strength, in the same way, is rooted in wisdom, self-discipline, and courage. This highest version of strength empowers compassion by providing it with the peace and security it needs to perform at the highest levels of efficacy, humaneness, and virtue.
“Heart-Shaped Rock” –|– Anthony Satori
The thing about walking in sand is that you simply cannot rush. Each step takes time. Each step requires attention. You can choose a destination 10, 20, or even 100 feet away, but each step will only take you incrementally closer – slowly, deliberately – and you must make each stride mindfully and with care, so as to keep your balance and to keep yourself moving in the right direction. It is an exercise in patience. It is an exercise in presence. It is an exercise in Zen.
Sometimes you may think, “I will double my effort, triple it, maybe even multiply it five-fold.” But every such increase, even the most emphatic, tends to add at most maybe 5 or 10 percent to your speed – certainly not enough to be worth the additional expenditure of energy, not to mention the attendant elevation of stress, both physical and mental. Therefore, in the end, you eventually discover that your best strategy is merely to take it slow, to expend a reasonable amount of effort with each new step, and to move forward with calm, intention, and purpose – at the pace the sand will allow.
One of the delightful benefits, of course, of walking in sand in such a mindful manner is that sometimes you see things that you might have missed otherwise. Like a rock… shaped like a heart.
“Through the Leaves” –|– Anthony Satori
“I trust if your life is right, the right things will happen at the right time. If the chords are in harmony inside, I think other things will happen in the same way. That would have sounded pretentious to me once, but I believe it now.”
– Gene Wilder
“Magnolia in Bloom” –|– Anthony Satori
“One kind of happiness is to survive a storm at sea, and to reach the shore in safety. Another is to triumph over hardship. Another is moving up in wealth and strength and position. Or one can hope; there are so many hopes. Some human hopes succeed and others fail. But a truly happy life is happiness day by day.”
– Euripides
“Sunlight on Blue Water” –|– Anthony Satori
“The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present.”
— Eckhart Tolle
“Work in Progress” –|– Anthony Satori
“Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.”
— Winston Churchill
It is vitally important to make plans, to have goals, and to set things into place that will come to fruition at a future time. It is of real value to create a hopeful and abundant vision of the future, both distant and near, and then to strive to hold steadfastly to a course that will take you there. This is a vital skill, and it is a powerful tool for a successful life.
Even as this is being done, however, it is equally important to remember to keep returning to the present moment, and to ask yourself, “What can I do today? What is within my reach, right now, that will make my life, and the lives of those I love, better? What small step can I take, in this moment, that will take me further toward where I dream to be?”
It is crucial to keep the bigger picture in mind, every step of the way, just as it is essential to always hold your values and principles firmly in hand. One should also continually strive, however, to employ these elements to inform a fully engaged life in the present moment, and to live each day with mindfulness, gratitude and love.
“Open Wings” –|– Anthony Satori
“There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
“A Good Book on a Warm Summer Afternoon” –|– Anthony Satori
“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.”
— Rene Descartes
“Love” –|– Anthony Satori
“It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other, and to honor the other for who they are.”
— Hermann Hesse
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