Respect the dead and pray for peace.

        Your grandparents went first. Then your father. Maybe one grandparent outlived your father just a little, and so felt that extra bit of suffering. And your mom. Your favorite uncle, the one you could talk to. Then before you knew it, that entire generation was gone. All of their friends. The older neighbors. Dead. Every last one of them. Death, spreading like black mold in an old mildewed house. And so you became the older generation. Who is that in the mirror? Is that really you? You move slower, you think slower. It doesn't matter anymore which way you walk, the mold is spreading there already. And then one day that son of a bitch comes for you, too. What? You were expecting a fairy tale? Friend, I am not always here with good news.   

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        That I might awaken to the blessing of knowing my own true nature, and that I might be able to use this knowledge to help others and to help the planet. 

        That I might every day find the compassion inside myself to bring some extra kindness into the world.

        That I might always keep my heart full of compassion, so full that there is no room for anything else. 

        Life happens only in the present moment.

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        Respect the dead, even when your body is full of crows, and coffins line the bitter streets like people waiting for a parade to pass by. Respect the dead, even when your body is full of snow and the sidewalk inside you is impassable. Tonight the crows are cawing and the snow is thick. Hold your hand out in the air, watch the snowflakes land and melt on your warm skin. Respect the dead and pray for peace. Just drop to your knees and speak your truth. When the sun returns again, you and the crows will be far away, but the snow and the dead will remain.   

James Lee Jobe 

NEIL FINN - Distant Sun

No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen. 

Alan Watts

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Fix all your attention on your own path, and do not imitate others. Your life is unique, and your karma is yours alone. 

Taisen Deshimaru

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James