A warrior returns home with a deer that will provide food and hide for his family. There will be no head stuffed to put on a wall, but likely there will be thanks for the resources the deer provided. Heartfelt accolades for a victory come when there is an acknowledgment of the effort and sacrifice made for more than just self-aggrandizement. The ethic and proverb for Edi read:
Ifa: It is a grave tragedy to die young so we pray, “May we be sufficiently ripe before we are eaten up by death; we seek to attain a long life.”
Proverb: Always being in a hurry does not prevent death, neither does going slowly prevent living.
These sayings are a reminder of the precious life we have, whether we are celebrating or grieving. Mary Oliver questions us: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" And the Dalai Lama answers: "Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it, I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others.."
If only. I try to remind myself most days of how fortunate I am indeed. Some days I fall short on the gratitude scale.
ReplyDeleteGratitude is definitely a practice for me, something that comes naturally on good days but needs effort on difficult ones.
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