Horace on Happiness

heavenly sky

This was today's post on the Writer's Almanac, Words of wisdom from antiquity;
   

Happy the Man

by Horace

Happy the man, and happy he alone,
   He who can call today his own:
   He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair or foul or rain or shine
The joys I have possessed, in spite or fate, are mine.
Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

Yoga;A theory on the formation of mountains .....formation of the self

Lately I have been thinking about how ,why ,if,when ,whether my yoga practice influences me ,my life,my interactions,aspirations and if so,how and at what rate and with what rhythm.I ask this because of late,dare I say my practice feels okay ,good,settling,invigorating etc words that connote judgement,expectation ,inspiration.There have been powerful terrestial rumblings on and in our earth of late,volcanoes ,tsunamis,devestation,rebirth.In March of 1835 Charles Darwin witnessed a massive earthquake hit Concepcion ,Chile.Darwin wrote in his diary ,"Journey of the Beagle"  what he observed on March 5,1835 ,"For some days after the devastation the sea did not rise to its usual marks....some thought the land had elevated ,but the common and prevailing idea was the sea had retired.This alteration gradually diminished ,till in the middle of April,there was a difference of only two feet between the existing and former high water marks...from the visible evidence of dead shell fish,water marks and soundings and from verbal testimony of the inhabitants,the land had risen 8 feet."
Thus the theory arose and was confirmed by observation and measurements of geological shifts that over the course of thousands,millions of years mountains grew as a result of tetonic shifts during volcanic activity that gradually lifted land upwards from the sea and gradually,patiently mountains developed.
The formation of mountains comes gradually after eruptive geologic shifts over a large period of time.The transformations of one's self through yoga or any other transmuting process evolves over time ,in its time.We do not have control of the formation of a mountain .Do we have control over the formation ,evolution of ourselves?Do we really know when and how a change occurs within us that leads us to be greater than we are....

Life Lessons from William Blake

This poem was on Poem Flow ,a new app on iphone, Lessons on Living from William Blake
    William Blake, “The Proverbs of Hell”

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
Prudence is a rich, ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
The cut worm forgives the plow.
Dip him in the river who loves water.
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.
Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
The busy bee has no time for sorrow.
The hours of folly are measur’d by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.
All wholesome food is caught without a net or a trap.
Bring out number, weight and measure in a year of dearth.
No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.
A dead body revenges not injuries.
The most sublime act is to set another before you.
If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
Folly is the cloak of knavery.
Shame is Pride’s cloke.
Prisons are built with stones of law, brothels with bricks of religion.
The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.
The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.
The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.
The nakedness of woman is the work of God.
Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps.
The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity, too great for the eye of man.
The fox condemns the trap, not himself.
Joys impregnate. Sorrows bring forth.
Let man wear the fell of the lion, woman the fleece of the sheep.
The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.
The selfish, smiling fool, and the sullen, frowning fool shall be both thought wise, that they may be a rod.
What is now proved was once only imagin’d.
The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots; the lion, the tyger, the horse, the elephant watch the fruits.
The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.
One thought fills immensity.
Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.
Every thing possible to be believ’d is an image of truth.
The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow.
The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion.
Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.
He who has suffer’d you to impose on him, knows you.
As the plow follows words, so God rewards prayers.
The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.
Expect poison from the standing water.
You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
Listen to the fool’s reproach! it is a kingly title!
The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air, the mouth of water, the beard of earth.
The weak in courage is strong in cunning.
The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow; nor the lion, the horse, how he shall take his prey.
The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.
If others had not been foolish, we should be so.
The soul of sweet delight can never be defil’d.
When thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion of genius; lift up thy head!
As the caterpiller chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.
To create a little flower is the labour of ages.
Damn braces. Bless relaxes.
The best wine is the oldest, the best water the newest.
Prayers plow not! Praises reap not!
Joys laugh not! Sorrows weep not!

I like this line,

"he whose face gives no light shall never become a star" ,I think to become a "star'',it is not sufficient to have light in one's face,but one must"give light".Light would have no meaning,be of no real beauty if its radiance did not shine out

In Springtime we can do things differently

Avian Time

by Reginald Gibbons

The collection manager of the bird specimens at the natural history
museum told of often stopping, on his way to work during spring and fall,
at the immense convention building—tall, long and wide—on the shore of
Lake Michigan, where on the north side he would gather the bodies of the
migratory birds killed by their collisions against the expanse of glass before
first light.

     The north side, whether in fall or in spring—a puzzle.

     Are these particular birds blown off course by winds, and do they return
in starlight or dimness before dawn or under dark clouds toward shore,
making for the large bulk they might perceive as forest?

     They have been flying along this same route for tens of thousands of
years, and not yet has their thinking formulated this obstacle of the city
that has appeared in the swift stroke of a hundred and fifty cycles of their
migration.

      This morning as  I was practicing my usual ashtanga practice on my mat, I heard a few times the sound of geese trumpeting overhead outside. They were loud enough to take me out of my yoga mindset and I began pondering on the migration of theses great birds. I am aware that all birds have their unique ancient paths of migration and to them the path is clear and afore them to fly in the same predictable pattern for thousands or perhaps millioms of years. To them it  does not matter if a building or an airplane is placed in their way by human design and power. I think of the ways that we are preprogrammed in our human journeys and how we repeat the same behaviors,rituals, interactions, relationship styles as if the evolution of our species leaves us as blinded as the geese who crash into death in their million year odyssey across the vast expanse. Yoga reminds me daily that I do have choices , that I do not need to repeat things exactly in the same way if that paricular way does not lead to growth, creativity and the expansion of life.This spring my intention is to live a life that tries out new paths that serve the purpose of growth exploration and rejuvenation.I wish the same for all of you who read this post. We are now 18 days from the long awaited vernal equinox.

First Signs of Spring

This morning I knew for sure that spring is on its way.Each spring about this time of year when the air still has a crisp chill yet with a slight tinge of moist dewiness, my "saaammmeee" bird returns. Saaaammmmeee is the song this bird sings about 4:30-5:00am every day.It  arrives alone and chirps out into the haze of dawn almost searching for a reply. Each morning the bird sings out with hope to receive some resonant return of its utterances and sure enough by early april when the dawn is ripening to a  delicate warmness I can hear another bird   whistling  an exuberant "saaaammmee" and thus the serenade continues regularly in mellifluous rhythm all thru to autumn. This is time of year the branches begin to swell as succulent sap flows through stems,through  xylem and phloem.There are signs of the  verdant rebirth of earth. We are now 19 days from the long waited for vernal equinox.
  

In cold spring air
by Reginald Gibbons
In cold spring air the white wisp- visible breath of a blackbird singing— we don’t know to un- wrap these blind- folds we keep thinking we are seeing through

Martisor-Folklore of March first

Mărţişor   There is a part of me that is of Romanian descent. I take interest in my ancient roots and  the rites of spring on this first day of March,

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sample generic Mărţişor

Mărţişor (Romanian pronunciation: [mərtsiʃor]) is a traditional celebration of the beginning of Spring, on the 1st of March. It is a tradition in Romania, Moldova, and all territories inhabited by Romanians, or Daco-Romanians, and also Aromanians. Similar customs are found in Bulgaria (see Martenitsa), Macedonia, Albania^[1], Italy^[2].

The name Mărţişor is the diminutive of the name for March (Martie, in Romanian), and thus literally means "little" or "dear March". It is also the folk name for this month.

Mărţişor, marţ and mărţiguş are all names for the red and white (or black and white, also blue and white) string, from which usually a small decoration is tied, and which is offered by people on the 1st day of March^[3]. Giving this Talisman to other people is an old custom, and it is believed that the one who wears the red and white string will be powerful and healthy for the year to come. It is also a symbol of the coming spring. Usually, women wear it pinned to their blouses for the first 12 days of this month, until other certain spring celebrations, or until the bloom of certain fruit-trees. In some regions, a gold or silver coin is hanged from the string, which they wear it around the neck. After wearing it for a certain period of time, they buy red wine and sweet cheese with the coin, according to the belief that their faces would remain beautiful and white as cheese, and rubicund as the red wine, for the entire year^[4].

In modern times, the Mărţişor lost most of its talisman properties and became more of a symbol of friendship and love, appreciation and respect. The black threads were replaced with red, but the delicate wool ropes are still a ‘cottage industry’ among the country people. They still comb out the wool, dye the floss, and twist it into thousands of tassels. In certain areas the amulets are still made with black and white ropes, for warding off evil.^[5]

Daco-Romanian Legends

There are many different legends which explain the tradition of Mărţişor. Here are just two of them.

On the first day of March, the wonderful Spring came out to the verge of the forest. She looked around and saw in the blackthorn a little dainty snowdrop appearing from the snow. The kind Spring wanted to help the snowdrop and started to take away the snow and thorny branches. The Winter saw this and became angry. She brought severe wind and snow to wipe out the little flower. However, the Spring covered the flower by her hands. She wounded her finger and hot blood dropped to the faint flower. Thanks to that, the snowdrop came to life. Thus the wonderful Spring won over the Winter. Since that time, people wear little Mărţişors, which symbolize the red blood on the white snow^[15].

And another legend:

There was a time when the Sun used to take the shape of a young man and descend on Earth to dance among the people. A dragon found out about this and followed the Sun on Earth, captured him and confined him in a dungeon in his castle. Suddenly, the birds stopped singing, and the children could not laugh anymore, but no one dared to confront the dragon. One day, a brave young man set out to find the dungeon and free the Sun. Many people joined in and gave him strength and courage to challenge the mighty dragon. The journey lasted three seasons: summer, autumn and winter. At the end of the third season the brave young man could finally reach the castle of the dragon, where the Sun was imprisoned. The fight lasted several days until the dragon was defeated. Weakened by his wounds, the brave young man however managed to set the Sun free, to the joy of those who believed in him. Nature was alive again, people got back their smile, but the brave young man could not make it through spring. His warm blood was draining from his wounds in the snow. With the snow melting, white flowers, called snowdrops, harbingers of spring, sprouted from the thawing soil. When the last drop of the brave young man's blood fell on the pure white snow he died with pride that his life served a noble purpose. Since then people braid two tassels: one white and one red. Every March 1 men offer this amulet called Mărţişor to the women they love. The red colour symbolizes love for all that is beautiful and also the blood of the brave young man, while white represents purity, good health and the snowdrop, the first flower of spring^[16].

Baba Marta

In honor of Baba Marta ,some ancient Bulgarial pastoral music

Today is the first day of March, and there are a number of holidays celebrated around the world today, many of which have to do with the coming of spring.
In Bulgaria, today is Baba Marta, or "Grandmother March Day." Baba Marta is a mythical figure, a temperamental old lady with big mood swings that correlate with the Bulgarian climate. When she's happy, she brings warm weather. When she's angry, the winter frost persists. So today, people in Bulgaria go around greeting each other "Chestita Baba Marta" — which means "Happy Grandmother March" — hoping that the old lady will be cheerful and bring warm weather and sunshine. And today in Bulgaria, people wear martenitsi. The martenitsa is a red and white brooch-like adornment made of yarn. It is supposed to make Baba Marta have mercy on the wearers and allow them be happy, so that they may all welcome the coming spring as soon as possible.