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Nov 30

Foothold

“Take time to see the quiet miracles that
seek no attention.”― John O’Donohue

“This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.

Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.”
― John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

In the slowing
The pause
Of thoughts
Of motion
Of season
Of time
To rest
Empty out
Fill up
Create space
Heal and bind up
Wintering
Hibernation
Cocoon
Clearing the clutter
A respite from the noise
A freshness
A restoration
Not to stay but to prepare
Seed time
Before the threshold of bloom
Readiness to cross thresholds
To feel the earth anew
To find your feet again
To get up and move
In a different yet familiar place of becoming
Blushed with beginning
Fresh with possibility
Ready to dance with rigor
Sing a new song
Woven, bound and anchored in wonderment
Moving with ease and flow

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”― John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong

Nov 29

Selection, Elimination, Emphasis

“If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for a moment.”― Georgia O’Keefe

“I think it’s so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary–you’re happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous.”― Georgia O’Keefe

Bold color.
Shapes, hues, texture.
Curiosity and interest.
Focus and forefront.
The power of what we remove to see what is present.
Clarity, discernment, appreciation.
To find brilliance in each and every ordinary day, in small ways.
A good pursuit.
Selection, elimination, emphasis.

“Nothing is less real than realism. Details are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis, that we get at the real meaning of things.”― Georgia O’Keeffe

Nov 28

Do the Dishes

“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.” – Emily Dickinson

“A sign hangs on the wall in a New Monastic Christian community house: “Everyone wants a revolution. No one wants to do the dishes.” I was, and remain, a Christian who longs for revolution, for things to be made new and whole in beautiful and big ways. But what I am slowly seeing is that you can’t get to the revolution without learning to do the dishes. The kind of spiritual life and disciplines needed to sustain the Christian life are quiet, repetitive, and ordinary. I often want to skip the boring, daily stuff to get to the thrill of an edgy faith. But it’s in the dailiness of the Christian faith—the making the bed, the doing the dishes, the praying for our enemies, the reading the Bible, the quiet, the small—that God’s transformation takes root and grows.”― Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

Do the dishes.
The seemingly ordinary.
A phone call, text, visit.
Holding a door.
Letting someone in your lane.
A smile.
Listening.
Laughter.
A warm embrace.
Attention to what already is not what is missing.
Slowing to take in the shapes, colors, beauty around.
Do the dishes of daily love, joy and kindness.
The makings of a real revolution.
Change we long for achieved one small act after another.
Transformation from rigor, repetition, waiting woven with wonder, delight and awe.

“Love is light—only fully realized when it is reflected. It was never meant to be kept.”― Stephanie Catudal, Everything All at Once: A Memoir

Nov 27

The Unfolding

“Peace is joy at rest. Joy is peace on its feet.”― Anne Lamott

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.”― Gilda Radner

Not knowing and being ok with it.
Making the best of what is.
Finding joy, peace and beauty in roads not chosen.
Trusting the unfolding.
Delicious ambiguity indeed.

“Pay attention to the beauty surrounding you.” – Anne Lamott

Nov 26

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Braced for Joy

“Come on now! Come on now
Hold your breath while you say
It’s a long way back and I’m begging you please
To come home now. Come home now
I heard you’ve been out looking for something to love
Close your eyes, little world, and brace yourself.” – Nick Cave

“Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.”― Mary Oliver, Evidence: Poems

How many times on holy ground and unaware?
How often going so fast the scenery a mere blur?
How often so close and still not seeing what is right there?
Too often I presume, I know.
May I be rooted in the sacred ground beneath my feet.
Blooming and bursting good fruit.
Braced for joy.
To live, to love, to right action, to gratitude and grace.

“Have I lived enough?
Have I loved enough?
Have I considered Right Action enough, have I
come to any conclusion?
Have I experienced happiness with sufficient gratitude?
Have I endured loneliness with grace? – Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings

Nov 25

Hundredth Winds

“Love falls to earth, rises from the ground, pools around the afflicted. Love pulls people back to their feet. Bodies and souls are fed. Bones and lives heal. New blades of grass grow from charred soil. The sun rises.”― Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

“This is the most profound spiritual truth I know: that even when we’re most sure that love can’t conquer all, it seems to anyway. It goes down into the rat hole with us, in the guise of our friends, and there it swells and comforts. It gives us second winds, third winds, hundredth winds.”― Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

The sun rises.
The sun sets.
The in between, our canvas.
To paint.
To color.
To create.
Paint. Color. Create.
Hope. Joy. Love.
Hundredth winds to lift you up, keep you going with delight, holding hands on our shared journey.
Love is bigger, deeper, wider than all and anything else.

“Hope is not about proving anything. It’s about choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim, bleak shit anyone can throw at us.”― Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

Nov 24

To See Anew

“Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a better past.”― Anne Lamott

“I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path. We’re here to know God, to love and serve God, and to be blown away by the beauty and miracle of nature. You just have to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to dance, to sing, to play. You don’t have time to carry grudges; you don’t have time to cling to the need to be right.”― Anne Lamott

Unforgiveness. Resentment. Perfection. Judgment.
They get heavier the longer we carry them.
The stories we tell ourselves, about the past, about others, about self.
Loosen the binds, the rules, the roles, the excuses, the assumptions, the misunderstandings.
You get to write the story of this day, of the future.
Change the narrative.
The past is already written.
The good and the struggle.
The future need not be a repeat.
There will be more good, more struggle.
Unload the baggage.
Free up your hands for praise, gratitude, a warm embrace.
Become light enough to dance, sing, play.
Time is swift, finite, measured.
Do not waste it staring in the rearview mirror.
Keep your eyes on the road ahead and the scenery on new paths, off-trail.
Joy, sweetness, kindness, forgiveness, moving on, letting go, compassion, love.
These transcend, free and root us in the beauty of the present and possibility of the future.
New day, blank page.

“Each time we make a small choice toward justice, or buy fair trade, or seek to share instead of hoard, or extend mercy to those around us and kindness to those with whom we disagree, or say “I forgive you,” we pass peace where we are in the ways that we can. And God can take these ordinary things and, like fish and bread, bless them and multiply them. He can make revolution stories out of smallness.”— Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

Nov 23

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Gratitude and Peace Each Day

“Peace is the music of every soul. Our glory lies in understanding, listening and honoring that music.”― Amit Ray, Walking the Path of Compassion

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”― W.T. Purkiser

Acts of kindness.
A warm embrace.
Conversation to connection.
Beauty in abundance.
Joy overflowing.
Peace. Grace. Love.
May these all be yours.
Happy Thanksgiving and may gratitude spill over into each day.

“Ordinary love, anonymous and unnoticed as it is, is the substance of peace on earth, the currency of God’s grace in our daily life.”— Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

Nov 22

Opt In and Opt Out

“It’s not only moving that creates new starting points. Sometimes all it takes is a subtle shift in perspective, an opening of the mind, an intentional pause and reset, or a new route to start to see new options and new possibilities.” – Kristin Armstrong

“your grass is green enough.”― Donna Ashworth, I Wish I Knew: Poems to Soothe Your Soul & Strengthen Your Spirit

May I Opt In to:

Patience
Kindness
Empathy
Listening
Trust
Curiosity
Growth
Faith
Learning
Grace
Joy
Peace
Beauty
Equanimity
Generosity
Understanding
Delight
Laughter
Gratitude
Grit
Praise
Awe
Resilience
Optimism
Wonder
Love

In turn, to make room for all of these multipliers, creators and expanders, may I Opt Out of all that diminishes, distracts and substracts:

Judgment
Accusation
Cynicism
Unforgiveness
Resentment
Jealousy
Comparison
Greed
Counting
Assumption
Opinion
Gossip
Anger
Spite
Despair
Hate
Othering
Ego
Rightness
Arrogance
Self-centeredness
Apathy

What we opt in and opt out of is a daily decision. Choose carefully, with intent followed by action. Green the grass your standing on now by opting in and opting out to change your perspective. Choose well, cast light.

“An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it. – Jef Mallett

Nov 21

Still More to Learn and Apply

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”― Albert Einstein

“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.” I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”― Maya Angelou

May we never be done learning. Ever.
Learning new things, not the same lesson over and over.
Unlearning old things.
Seeing the same in a different way.
Changing, unfolding, opening.
Curious, attentive, enthusiastic.
Make a life.
It’s all happening right now in the midst of this day.
Not in the past.
Not “someday when” circumstances change.
Change is our work.
The outcome is growth.
Learn and love well today.
The dance of transformation.

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”― Alan Wilson Watts

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