follow your heart

got this from "the mustard seed" a book by fr. joseph galdon, s.j. i thought this was a beautiful thing to read and ponder upon.



i know the sun will rise every morning, even when there are clouds. i know the birds sing melodious songs because i have heard them from the empty enclosure of my room. i know the sky is blue through the clouds. that the grass is green even when i stand in the desert. ik now the branches of trees dance to the movements of the wind even though the wind is still. i know the flowers have beautiful smells, the ocean never sleeps, and that all human beings are beautiful if they are born free to follow their hearts.

it has been said, long before these words were written, that you build an archway for your heart, with neither lock nor door, life will pass freely through that archway in harmony with your senses.


TOUCH your friends, your husband or wife, and they are strangers no more. hold them as you would touch the delicate petals of an orchid, or put your hand in a gentle stream, or feel the sand beneath your feel, or climb upon the rocks and crags on the shoreline.

LISTEN to their words, their breathing, their heartbeat, their footsteps on the stairway or at the door as they come to you. as you would listen to the rain, or the cock crowing in the early morning, or the bark if the dog, or the cascading of a wterfall or a tiny breeze.

SEE the expressions on their aces of their different mooods. see in their eyes the longing for love, com[anionship and a meaning in their lives. see theirr body move, uniting themselves with life. see their hands create their being, as you would see a quiet pool, the splash of a wave, a new portrait made by falling rain, the landscape of a valley, the changing of a sunset.

SPEAK to them of love, of the harmony of nature, of quiet understanding among men, of the simple things in life in which one can find peace, of the truth you have found, as you would speak to God.

ride the creast of wave to the shore.

follow the river till merges with the ocean.

look at the clouds till they disappear.

watch the sunrise trace its path across the sky. then vanish.

when you have experienced these things, you will know your heart. follow it. when you have freed yourself from the dogma and conditioning of society. where will you go? to those things you love.

let your mind and your actions explode with awareness as you light your forgotten lanterns of happiness, as you find a peaceful clearing you love.

love is everywhere. it is in nighty sky where stars smile. it is in the sound of music, in man's creation of art. it is a seed nourished by two human beings. love will find you and you will find love - if love becomes your attitude.


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reach out and touch people every beautiful day. look at them, really look. listen to them. talk to them. love is everywhere. you will surely find it if love becomes your habitual outlook on life. ---fr. joseph galdon, s.j.