A Piece of a letter by Susanne Marshal to a friend of ours.

This text was taken from a letter from my fiend Susanne to another friend of ours. I feel she writes beautifully. I share the same thoughts!

I definitely believe that illness/disease is caused by sorrow, a preoccupation with tomorrow, and living a life that is not our passion or even working at a job that is just not us. Of course, you may have to work to pay the bills and are in a vocation that is just not you and you don't really fit in. It is a challenge to your body, mind, soul and does take a toil on the person. It may not be evident but in my case, I developed arthritis. It was my body and soul way of telling me, it was a shock but a wake up call that this is not the vocation for me. I was trying to fit myself into what society wanted for me or what I thought I wanted - money and status. It is easy to get caught up in the day to day grind of just trying to survive. I have learned that you just got to take a step out, learn new things, and the universe will guide us. Just breath and take a few minutes for yourself each day and slow down and just look at the beauty in simple things. I just finished reading a book called eating the sun by Oliver Morton and it has had a profound effect on me. We take life for granted such as breathing oxygen, changing seasons, a star in the sky is just extraordinarily beautiful and rare. Just take photosynthesis, it transforms ceaseless sunlight into the essence of earths life supporting system. I have taken a total paradigm shift in the way that I think about my life on this earth, its impacts, what I take for granted, and what is important. I have definitely moved away from the consumer driven, instant gratification society. I want simplicity. It sounds that you are searching and yearning to find the simple life. It is definitely a challenge to recapture that when you are doing the daily grind and not on that special mountain.

I am studying taoism and have been meditating on the following:
Seeing the smallest mystery reveals the grandest mystery. What I believe is being said here is to be attentive to the smallest parts of your life, and you will cultivate the desire for clarity.
The other verse that I am meditating on is - all under heaven have a common beginning. This beginning is the Mother of the world. this has created a state of awe and discovery about my existence and place on this earth.