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Feb 8

Planting Peace

“If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace.”― Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace

“There is peace even in the storm.”— Vincent van Gogh

Drops to waves
Seeds to bloom
Calm to peace
Kindness, generosity, encouragement, a smile
Transform the world
One small act at a time
Compound interest
Cast light.

“Calming, Smiling. Present moment, Wonderful moment”― Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace

Feb 7

The Hard and Only Way

“Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all.”― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“Anger … it’s a paralyzing emotion … you can’t get anything done. People sort of think it’s an interesting, passionate, and igniting feeling — I don’t think it’s any of that — it’s helpless … it’s absence of control — and I need all of my skills, all of the control, all of my powers … and anger doesn’t provide any of that — I have no use for it whatsoever.”― Toni Morrison

To thick, dense, gritty, tough, resilient, scrappy, unflinching, deep love
To overcome
To rise again and again
To keep moving
To not get distracted, delayed, distraught
Jumping, leaping, building, creating, compounding, strengthening, bold and bright
Hope, light, love
The real kind that doesn’t waiver or wane, keeps swinging
Cast light.

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”― Maya Angelou

Feb 6

Soft Days

“Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity”― Lao Tzu

“Soft days are not wasted days. They are how you remember your breath. Your worth was never tied to your pace.”― Ajmal, The Border of a Mind

Space, margin, blank canvas
Slow pace, no pace
Stillness to clarity, discovery
Rest spilling into restoration
Soft days, creative womb.

“Space and silence are two aspects of the same thing. The same no-thing. They are externalization of inner space and inner silence, which is stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence.”― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Feb 5

Walking Out Love

“For it is from love that we are born. And to love that we must return. This is the journey of the soul we call Life.”― Michael J. Tamura, You Are the Answer

a blessing for everyday empathy (because, hey, SENSITIVITY ISN’T A BAD THING) by Kate Bowler

“Blessed are you, the sensitive one,
attuned to the feelings of others.
You couldn’t turn it off if you tried.

Blessed are you with the
emotional bandwidth to hear hard things,
without fixing or minimizing or deflecting,
You know the gift of presence.

Blessed are you who
chooses to show up without judgment
with little gifts or small acts of practical help.
You know the gift of compassion.

Blessed are you, too,
when you are utterly exhausted by
other people’s problems.
(And actually now that we’re talking about it
it’s getting even more annoying.)
Your empathy is a precious gift
that deserves to be protected too.

Today, help me stand ready to hear
those divine whispers nudging me
to give compassion away.
Naturally. Freely.

And help me find those who,
to my surprise, want to pour back into me.
(Which, fine, you know I hate receiving.)

Love given and received,
without shame or embarrassment.
Because what else can a big-hearted person”
do but learn to give and get?”

Be kind
Love well
Cast light.

“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”― Anne Frank

Feb 4

Opened to Air, Carrying Love

“Likewise, every disturbance, whether resolved or not, is making space for an inner engagement. As a shovel digs up and displaces earth, in a way that must seem violent to the earth, an interior space is revealed for the digging. In just this way, when experience opens us, it often feels violent and the urge, quite naturally, is to refill that opening, to make it the way it was. But every experience excavates a depth, which reveals its wisdom once opened to air.”― Mark Nepo, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred

“Hope is the hardest love we carry.”― Jane Hirshfield, The Lives of the Heart

Beneath the surface
Above the noise
Beyond the chaos
Quiet and calm
Soft whisper
Invitation
Pause, abide, engage
Breaking ground
Open to air
Carrying hope, light, love.

“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”― Thomas Paine

Feb 3

In Such a Moment

“When your world moves too fast
and you lose yourself in the chaos
introduce yourself to each color of the sunset,
reacquaint yourself with the earth beneath your feet,
thank the air that surrounds you
with every breath you take
find yourself in the appreciation of life.”– Christy Ann Martine

“One breath taken completely; one poem, fully written, fully read – in such a moment, anything can happen.”― Jane Hirshfield, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry

Abiding in gratitude
Perfection not required
Steeping in grace
Unearned and generous
Dancing with joy
In the middle of winter
Waiting with anticipation
Spring in the making

“One breath taken completely; one poem, fully written, fully read – in such a moment, anything can happen.”― Jane Hirshfield, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry

Feb 2

Ask, Listen, Pay Attention

“Zen pretty much comes down to three things — everything changes; everything is connected; pay attention.”― Jane Hirshfield

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” – Zora Neale Hurston

Living the answers with grace and gratitude
Allowing more questions without knowing the answers
In thin spaces, quiet places, gentle throughways
Releasing the grip of control and knowing
Inviting and allowing
Sacred, holy ground of
Curiosity, inquiry, nuance, noticing, imagination, connection, laughter, gratitude, joy
Rooted in trust, fidelity, love
Different seasons
Each with its own gifts to bear
Opening the gifts
Of presence, awe, wonder, planting, abiding, slowing, savoring
No rushing to get to the other side, in a hurry or to be first
Alignment, attunement, rooting, rising
The work of eternal blooming.

“The most sublime act is to set another before you.”― William Blake, Proverbs of Hell

Feb 1

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Fresh Coat, New Day

“He who kisses joy as it flies by will live in eternity’s sunrise.”― William Blake

APACHE Blessing

“May the sun bring you new energy by day,
May the moon softly restore you by night,
May the rain wash away your worries,
May the breeze blow new strength into your being,
May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life.

Scratch the surface of her joy,
And you will find a well of sorrow.
Dive into the well,
And discover her spring of hope.
Follow that spring to the river of her strength,
Compassion, and faith . . .
And you will have touched her soul.” – Terri St Cloud

Fresh coat of snow this morning
Brightening and refreshing the landscape
New day, new month, new start
Brilliant white, bold colors
Wakeup call
Invitation to seeing the same in different ways
Beneath the surface
Into a wellspring
Make space for joy today.

“And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love.”― William Blake

Jan 31

Opening Doors, Crossing Thresholds

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”― William Blake

“There is a kindness that dwells deep down in things; it presides everywhere, often in the places we least expect. The world can be harsh and negative, but if we remain generous and patient, kindness inevitably reveals itself. Something deep in the human soul seems to depend on the presence of kindness; something instinctive in us expects it, and once we sense it we are able to trust and open ourselves.” – John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us

Releasing. Putting down. Untangling.
The weight of opinion.
The ties of judgment.
The gravity of assumption.
The certainty of knowing.
Into unknowing.
Lightness of being.
Generosity of spirit.
Asking. Listening. Witnessing.
Curiosity. Proximity. Complexity.
Kindness. Beauty. Grace.
Opening doors, crossing thresholds.

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”― William Blake

Jan 30

Add Joy with a Side of Hope

“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,
If a blade of grass springing up in the fields has the power to move you,
If the simple things of nature have a message that you understand,
Rejoice, for your soul is alive.” – Eleonora Duse

“I Am
I Know not whence I came,
I know not whither I go;
But the fact stands clear that I am here
In this world of pleasure and woe.
And out of the mist and murk
Another truth shines plain –
It is my power each day and hour
To add to its joy or its pain.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Time out, away
Pause, pullover
Look up, around
Restore, refill
From grinding to grounding
Myopia to horizon
Chaos to calm
Hope, joy, laughter
Woven through each day
Teaspoons, cups, buckets
If we choose to pay attention
Enter the dance
Carrying and casting light.

“if you see for yourself, hear for yourself, and enter deeply enough this seeing and hearing, all things will speak with and through you.”― Jane Hirshfield, The Heart of Haiku

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