serenity -
I am trying to stay, as much as is possible, with my own rhythm today, to cultivate calm, even as I am swished in the more rapid pace of others, in some of these mixed-together moments.
Here is the lovely anchor of Thomas Merton.
It is well known that in the Orient, in China, India, Japan, and Indonesia, the religious and contemplative life has been fostered for centuries and has known a development of unparalleled richness. Asia has for centuries been a continent of great monastic communities. At the same time the solitary life has flourished, either in the shadow of the monasteries or in the wilderness of jungle, mountain, or desert. Hindu yoga, in its various forms, has become almost legendary of Eastern contemplation. Yoga makes use of a variety of disciplines and ascetic techniques for the "liberation" of man's spirit from the limitations imposed upon him by material, bodily existence. Everywhere in the East, whether in Hinduism or Buddhism, we find that deep, unutterable thirst for the rivers of Paradise. Whatever may be the philosophies and theologies behind these forms of contemplative existence, the striving is always the same: the quest for unity, a return to the inmost self united with the Absolute, a quest for Him Who is above all, and in all, and Who Alone is Alone.
Thomas Merton. The Inner Experience. Edited by William H. Shannon (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003): 29-30