Living a life of balance....
 

Cold Mountain is a famous Chinese poet who was a hermit. Let me share with you one of his poems....

Aah! poverty and sickness,
And me with no friends or relations.
There's never any rice left in the pot,
dust often collects in the kettle.
A thatched roof that won't keep out the rain,
a broken-down bed I can hardly squeeze into,
no wonder I've gotten so thin -
this many worries would wear out any man!

(tr. by Burton Watson.)

We don't know Cold Mountain's real name. He took his name from the mountain he lived on - Han Shan, which means "cold mountain" in Chinese.

By choice, he lived the life of a hermit on Han Shan. We only know about his poems because he wrote them on trees and rocks and the walls of the houses and offices of the nearby village.

His poems were collected from those places after he died.

I started talking about Cold Mountain, because most of us are NOT hermits.

We live in society.

We get from society, and to be balanced, we give to society too.

That's one thing I've seen of our little community here at Sowpub. It's become a balanced place. Not only about getting, but about giving too.

Thanks to everyone for making this such a wonderful and balanced place to be. :) It is about WE - because none of us are hermits, we are here for each other.

Warmly,

Dien Rice

Balancing as a WE.....
 

is indeed an artform as you have shown with that eloquent and beautiful poem, Dien.

I am working on recrafting a few words on this article, but thought it is a story that is begging to be told here.

Please enjoy it, as it speaks to much of what we are growing towards here.Become Engaged
(c) 2000
Julie Jordan Scott

"The hunger of love is much more difficult to remove than the
hunger for bread"are the words of Mother Theresa, begging
humanity to become engaged with each other. Not relating solely
on the surface, but in a way that is meaningful and lasting.
Nurturing the soul of its need for connection.

The word "engaged" naturally births connectivity. Being engaged
to be married is the final stage before a lifetime together. It is the
time in preparation for the next step: commitment of the most
serious kind. Engagement describes a state of readiness or
intense preparation. Promise. It is a pledge or guarantee, an
awareness that the realization of something grand is immediately
on the horizon.

Micah, my acting teacher, speaks of being "in the moment" in
acting. Being so completely engaged in the performance that
nothing can interfere with the magic being woven on stage. It is
when the emotions are so thick and full they are tangible. Remember
an especially moving moment in a movie or a play you have seen
recently. The character being portrayed and the actor portraying
him have become inextricably intertwined. Nothing could
distract the laser like focus from delivering an award winning
performance.

At age eight my daughter Katherine has had the privilege of acting
on numerous occasions in professional live theatre. Twice she
shared the stage with a gifted and talented actor named Kenne
Dean. Katherine played Gretl von Trapp in the Sound of Music
when she was 5. Kenne played the Captain, her father. This past
December, Katherine cut her hair and portrayed Tiny Tim in the
Christmas Carol. Kenne played opposite her as Ebenezer Scrooge.

I observed Kenne as he would slowly become the character he
portrayed. As I braided and plaited Katherine's hair as she became
Gretl, I would hear the glorious tones of Kenne's voice as he
became Captain von Trapp. As I gathered Katherine's crutch and
decidedly boyish wardrobe to depict Tiny Tim, I would occassionally
see Kenne preparing to become Scrooge, he walked differently, and
used an English accent. It started subtly, yet by the time he
shuffled on stage muttering "Humbug!" he had transformed into
Scrooge.

Kenne was fully embracing the characters he was portraying. He
paid utmost attention to detail. He listened in the depth of his
being and responded by weaving himself into the character.
He was alive, alert, aware and engaged at every subtle level of
his very being. He was still Kenne, but he was also in relationship
not only with Scrooge or the Captain, but also in relationship
with the audience.

How are you weaving yourself into relationships? Engaging with
other people to support each other as you compliment each other,
each reaching higher levels than you thought possible? Are you
nurturing and nourishing humanity by participating in or creating
community in your workplace, neighborhood or family? If you
were not in the picture, your thread was not there, what would
unravel? What gaps would be left? Where would there be a
vacuum or void with no one to fill it?

People crave connection. People long for a place to fit in. People
want to have a "Cheers" environment where everyone not only
knows their name, but both accepts their misgivings and encourages
them into greatness. At a time when Clinical Depression is at an
all time high and loneliness is an epidemic, become a human bridge
for another person. Be alert to opportunities to serve. Allow yourself
to be the bread that feeds another person. Engage without fear.
Give without limit. Let go of preconceived notions. Simply
express who you are at the depth of your being. Reach out.

Looking at relationships from the vantage point of best selling
author and entrepreneur Lance Secretan, one can see relationships
as sacred. As individuals "we are not freestanding entities, because
on our own, we do not mean or amount to anything" says Secretan
"We only mean something when we are in relationship with each
other."

Prepare for the next stage of your life by looking into the eyes of
another person as they talk to you. Really look. Allow them to
see you. They will no longer see the shell you show the world,
they will see you. Just as an actor embraces a character, embrace
your own character. Nurture yourself, nurture the world.

Become engaged.




Change Your Life, Change the World: 5Passions