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Apr 16

Little Joys, Big Life Woven

“I would simply like to reclaim an old and, alas, quite unfashionable private formula: Moderate enjoyment is double enjoyment. And: Do not overlook the little joys!” – Hermann Hesse

“In a world pocked by cynicism and pummeled by devastating news, to find joy for oneself and spark it in others, to find hope for oneself and spark it in others, is nothing less than a countercultural act of courage and resistance. This is not a matter of denying reality — it is a matter of discovering a parallel reality where joy and hope are equally valid ways of being. To live there is to live enchanted with the underlying wonder of reality, beneath the frightful stories we tell ourselves and are told about it.” – Maria Popova

Whisper of a breeze
Warmth of sun
Delight of flowers
Play of children
River flow
Trees in praise
Blue sky brilliance
Movement of song, dance
Embrace of presence spilling into amazement
In the knitting of small joys, big life woven
For the sense and senses to partake.

“[There are] many other small joys, perhaps the especially delightful one of smelling a flower or a piece of fruit, of listening to one’s own or others’ voices, of hearkening to the prattle of children. And a tune being hummed or whistled in the distance, and a thousand other tiny things from which one can weave a bright necklace of little pleasures for one’s life.” – Hermann Hesse

Apr 15

Kissed by Light

“When one flower blooms spring awakens everywhere”― John O’Donohue

“As Spring rain softens the Earth with surprise
May your Winter places be kissed by light.

As the ocean dreams to the joy of dance
May the grace of change bring you elegance.

As day anchors a tree in light and wind
May your outer life grow from peace within.

As twilight fills night with bright horizons
May Beauty await you at home beyond.”― John O’Donohue

Early bloomers.
Daffodils, first flowers to arrive
To announce, welcoming newness of spring
Poetry dressed in yellow
Winter bids adieu
Fresh start, new day
Outside and within.

“Within the grip of winter, it is almost impossible to imagine the spring…Then, imperceptibly, somewhere one bud opens and the symphony of renewal is no longer reversible.” – John O’Donohue

Apr 14

Witness and Participate

“If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.” – Anatole France

“At the center of our lives, in the midst of the busyness and the forgetting, is a story that makes sense when everything extraneous has been taken away.” – David Whyte

To going nowhere slowly
To pause and praise
To light and easy
To appreciation and enough-ness
Full measure
Participation and witness
May you see the beauty on your path today
And remain in the journey, with rapt attention
Peace, wonder, generosity of presence.

“Thankfulness finds its full measure in generosity of presence, both through participation and witness.” – David Whyte

Apr 13

Joy Seeking and Finding

“Today, seek out one small moment of joy. Just one. Maybe it’s a raindrop on your window, a flower blooming against all odds, an unexpected smile, a hot mug warming your hands.” – Diane Shiffer

“Play is the complete absorption in something that doesn’t matter to the external world, but which matters completely to you. It’s an immersion in your own interests that becomes a feeling in itself, a potent emotion. Play is a disappearance into a space of our choosing, invisible to those outside the game. It is the pursuit of pure flow, a sandbox mind in which we can test new thoughts, new selves. It’s a form of symbolic living, a way to transpose one reality onto another and mine it for meaning. Play is a form of enchantment.”― Katherine May, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

One small moment of joy
Perhaps two too
Play, laughter, exploration
Full presence in this day
In the details
A tea bag steeping, full flavor
Mining for meaning
In slivers and slices
Windows open
Fresh air, soft breeze
Enchantment, grace, light
Paint the blank canvas of this day
One slow stroke at a time.

“I don’t want to sit like a brooding hen on the nest of my past achievements. I want to keep on going deep into the uncertain act of making, to see the unknown world stretch out before me and to devote myself to exploring it.”― Katherine May, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

Apr 12

Small Joys Stacking

“It is a great thing to know how to make use of the present moment.”― Maria Faustina Kowalska, Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul

“Act in such a way that all those who come in contact with you will go away joyful. Sow happiness about you because you have received much from God; give, then, generously to others. They should take leave of you with their hearts filled with joy, even if they have no more than touched the hem of your garment.”― Maria Faustina Kowalska

We forego small joys in search of big demands and conditions.
Anchoring on others changing, the world changing, us remaining the same.
“Someday when” thinking.
Yield to this day alone.
All that is present and available.
Filled and flowing.
Seek moments of joy, delight through rapt attention.
Capture and give them away.
Compound interest of love in action.
Scatter seeds, sow happiness, cast light.

“The past does not belong to me; the future is not mine; with all my soul I try to make use of the present moment.”― Maria Faustina Kowalska, Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul

Apr 11

Fluidity of Being

“So let the world go, but hold fast to joy.”― May Sarton, Selected Poems

“There has been a yearning in me that I’m only just beginning to understand, a craving for transcendent experience, for depth, for meaning-making. It’s not just that the world needs to change – I need to change, too. I need to soften, to let go of the tight empirical boundaries, to find a greater fluidity in my being.”― Katherine May, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

Loosening of grip.
Fluidity of being.
Entering the flow.
Softening to unfolding.
Ordinary days
Extraordinary becoming.
Hold fast to joy.
Grace and peace.
Make way.

“Now I become myself. It’s taken time, many years and places.”― May Sarton

Apr 10

Small Distillations of Beauty

“Our sense of enchantment is not triggered only by grand things; the sublime is not hiding in distant landscapes. The awe-inspiring, the numinous, is all around us, all the time. It is transformed by our deliberate attention.” ― Katherine May, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

“But seeking is a kind of work. I don’t mean heading off on wild road trips just to see the stars that are shining above your own roof. I mean committing to a lifetime of engagement: to noticing the world around you, to actively looking for small distillations of beauty, to making time to contemplate and reflect. To learning the names of the plants and places that surround you, or training your mind in the rich pathways of the metaphorical. To finding a way to express your interconnectedness with the rest of humanity. To putting your feet on the ground, every now and then, and feeling the tingle of life that the earth offers in return. It’s all there, waiting for our attention. Take off your shoes, because you are always on holy ground.”― Katherine May, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

Play break, get out, hone in.
Seeking without expectations, outcomes, productivity, measurement.
Out of the external noise, grind, churn.
Into enchantment, borne of attention, exploration, noticing.
In this very place.
Holy ground.

“That’s what you find over and over again when you go looking: something else. An insight that surprises you. A connection that you would never have made. A new perspective.

More often than not, I find that I already hold all the ideas from which my enchantment is made. The deliberate pursuit of attention, ritual, or reflection does not mystically draw in anything external to me. Instead, it creates experiences that rearrange what I know to find the insights I need today. This is how symbolic thought works. It offers you a repository of understanding that can be triggered by the everyday, and which comes in a format that goes straight to the bloodstream.”― Katherine May, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

Apr 9

Roots to Shoots

“We can’t expect roots to ground us, magnificent birds to surround us…or flowers to bloom from our deeds- without first planting the seeds.”― Selin Senol-Akin, Earth Up Your Roots

“Nothing is more fertile than a beautiful mind—a garden where kindness grows, wisdom blooms, and hope takes root.”― Bhuwan Thapaliya

Seeds, roots, bloom.
Plant, tend, gaze.
Kindness, hope, joy.
Right where you are planted today.
Grounded and growing.
Gratitude and grace.
Keep casting seeds. love, light.

“Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.”― Victor Hugo, Intellectual Autobiography

Apr 8

Breathing Resurrection Air

“Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.” ― Wendell Berry

“True restfulness, though, is a form of awareness, a way of being in life. It is living ordinary life with a sense of ease, gratitude, appreciation, peace and prayer. We are restful when ordinary life is enough.”― Ronald Rolheiser, The Shattered Lantern

We’re good at “lent”-ing, lamenting, foreboding.
Not short on reasons.
And yet.
Easter, spring, bloom arrive.
Never skipping their turn.
Renewal, refreshment, restoration.
Showing up.
Right in the middle of the mess.
Where it will always be.
Calling us to breath resurrection air.
To succumb to joy.
In our ordinary, imperfect, abundant, overflowing, limited days.
Fresh eyes, light heart, trusting soul required.
Make tracks, practice resurrection.

“The resurrection tells us it is never too late. Every so often we will be surprised. We must believe that the stone will be rolled back, and we must be ready to poke out our timid heads, take off the linen bindings of death, and walk free for a time, breathing resurrection air.”― Ronald Rolheiser, Prayer: Our Deepest Longing

Apr 7

Nose to the Joy Trail

“Keep your nose to the joy trail.” – Buffy Sainte-Marie

“Joy bursts in our lives when we go about doing the good at hand and not trying to manipulate things and times to achieve joy.” —C.S. Lewis

Ordinary moments.
Good toy.
Play and delight.
Connection.
Grace and gratitude.
Small things stacking.
Encouragement.
Soft breeze.
Quiet moments.
Laughter.
Color and fragrance.
Music.
Glimmers, beams, slivers.
Attention and awe.
Nose to the joy trail.
Gather and scatter.
Seed, bloom, burst.

“It is a kind of transcendence; joy is a glimmer of love and forgiveness and wholeness that lifts us out of reality for a moment and gives us back to ourselves, anew.” Kate Bowler, Joyful Anyway

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