Innocence

In the mailbox this penultimate day in 2023 March dedicated to Thor . . .

It's the 203rd anniversary of the birth of Anna Sewell. The author of Black Beauty was born on this date in 1820 Yarmouth, England.

Today is the 170th anniversary of the birth of Vincent van Gogh in 1853 Groot-Zundert, Holland.

The innocent mistake that keeps us caught in our own particular style of ignorance, unkindness, and shut-downness is that we are never encouraged to see clearly what is, with gentleness. Instead, there’s a kind of basic misunderstanding that we should try to be better than we already are, that we should try to improve ourselves, that we should try to get away from painful things, and that if we could just learn how to get away from the painful things, then we would be happy. That is the innocent, naïve misunderstanding that we all share, which keeps us unhappy. – Pema Chödrön

To see clearly what is, follow the morning path of mindful loving kindness for all beings and self-compassion.

What am I in the eyes of most people - a nonentity, an eccentric or an unpleasant person - somebody who has no position in society and never will have, in short, the lowest of the low.

All right, then - even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart. – Vincent van Gogh, in one of many letters to his brother Theo.