I am an intense fan of the wild poetry of the 14th century Persian poet, known as “Hafiz.” I went searching and found someone’s notion of the “five greatest quotations of Hafiz.” And, guess what? They all speak to the power of being ready right now–the power of who you and I are in this moment. Have a look.
Now that all your worry has proved such an unlucrative business,
Why not find a better job.
If one has an ingrained habit of worrying, just noticing that pattern right here, right now, brings one to this moment. All that worry has probably made one hyper-vigilant. Perhaps the new vocation could be looking out for gentleness, or beauty, or kindness, or (something better than worry). The habit is ingrained and ready–it just needs new content!
Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living In better conditions.
Did you know that your house had another room besides fear? It’s easy to stay in the room that you know so well, but it costs you nothing but a little time and effort to walk out of it and into another one to see what’s there. Ready for that?
I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of you own being.
How can I perceive myself one way while others see me differently? Happens all the time, I think, when we perch in a corner of ourselves and fail to see that the corner is just one small part of the entire room that we are. Turn around. Look at the rest of your room.
God wants to manhandle us,
Lock us up in a tiny room with Himself
And practice His dropkick.
The Beloved sometimes wants to do us a great favor:
Hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.
Don’t even try to fuss about Hafiz’s use of the word “God.” He has too many angles on this one. You won’t win the argument. Go right to the end. Got any nonsense? Go ahead. Let go of the nonsense and life brightens up quite a bit. Without all that stuff in our doublefisted grips, we find that we are quite ready to do a lot in life.
And last:
This place where you are right now,
God circled on a map for you.
I’ve been in some miserable places before, and this would not have sounded like good news at the time. So far in my life, though, looking back, even those bad places were the step toward a much better place. How can I be too upset about each of those spots?
Where are you, right now? Own this spot. You are ready for it!
Bob Patrick
