calm

When we appropriate God's great enablers-His grace and His peace-we can achieve gentleness and calmness even during hard times.

A great snow is the calm death of struggle and the transformative birth of life.

During last night__ insomnia, as these thoughts came and went between my aching temples, I realised once again, what I had almost forgotten in this recent period of relative calm, that I tread a terribly tenuous, indeed almost non-existent soil spread over a pit full of shadows, whence the powers of darkness emerge at will to destroy my life_

The utter unbroken silence was more appalling than any ominous noise, than the loudest yells of anguish, than the most piercing screaming...Dead silence.Literally dead.

Rushing into action, you fail.Trying to grasp things, you lose them.Forcing a project to completion,you ruin what was almost ripe.Therefore the Master takes actionby letting things take their course.He remains as calm at the end as at the beginning.He has nothing,thus has nothing to lose.What he desires is non-desire;what he learns is to unlearn.He simply reminds peopleof who they have always been.He cares about nothing but the Tao.Thus he can care for all things.

Master Yourself and you master your environment! Such is the nature of wisdom.

Be still my soul.

Control your anger, be calm.

There's no clear water from a muddy well. All you can do is let the silt settle until the water clears otherwise it will taste sour. (paraphrased)

Do not be too quick to get angry.

When some give you advice, say 'thank you'. Then, you must seek the quietness of your spirit for a reflection and direction.

Do not be hot tempered.

Don__ react to any fuming argument.

Am I a storm-waster? For it is within the fury of the very storms within which I cower that I find resources for my growth that are entirely absent on calmer days.

I take showers to think.

Stay Humble. Often anger comes from our own ego and pride. We don't get our own way and so we get angry. But remember, it's not all about you. :) There are other people on the planet that have wants and needs to. :) If what you want conflicts with what others want, sometime you will have to let them have what they want. Everyone is not here to meet your needs alone. They need to take care of themselves sometimes too. Sometimes anger is an ego trip. It's when we think everyone should cater to our needs and do things our own way. Our pride makes us start to think that it's our way or the highway. But you are not God. No one but God is God. :) You cannot run the universe and you are not perfect. These are all good things to remind ourselves of all the time. Paul says in Romans 12, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment." Often times anger comes when we have a high opinion of ourselves and the way we think things SHOULD be done. But no one of is perfect. None of us has a perfect way of doing things. We need to allow for differences in other people and different opinions on things. It is never we are right and everyone else is wrong. We need to admit that sometimes we might be wrong too. Amen. So always remember to stay humble and not think of yourself as being perfect or better than you are. If you are able to see that you too make mistakes all the time, then you will have more grace for other people, and you will then become angry less. Amen.

Do everything with the greatest possible calm and serenity and out of the greatest, purest and holiest love of Jesus and Mary.

Patience, more than the ability to bear pains or endure waiting, is to be calm no matter what happens _ constantly take action to turn it to positive growth opportunities _ and have faith to believe that it will all work out in the end while you are waiting.