At the still point, there the dance is

'At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards,
At the still point there the dance is.
Where past and future are gathered.
Neither movement from nor towards, neither ascent nor decline.
Except for the point, the still point 
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance'

T. S. Elliot, Four Quartets 


This is (and probably will always be) one of my favourite poems.

There is no better way to start the week than with these words to act as a reminder to live in the present moment. The moments tend to pass us by and before we know it, the days pass us and the weeks and the months. Then we have reached Christmas and somehow we don't remember how we got there. What happened? How did we go from long summer evenings beside the beach, exploring the hidden jewels of foreign cities, learning a new language and watching the sun rise and fall? What has happened is that life has almost taken on a life of its own and I have forgotten to stop and look. Time has taken on a new meaning and those moments of stillness are there every moment but I only see them if I stop to look.

It is Monday morning - actually it is almost lunchtime now and I am lucky that I have had the morning off. It is incredible what a morning off can do - re-finding beautiful words, and time. Time to make good coffee, time to prepare for the day, and time to remember why time is so precious. I can find myself chasing after time to find those moments of stillness where the dance is going on, when the irony is, that the dance is happening always. It is happening now - we just have to stop and look.

The irony also is that I am running late....