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Aug 31

Float and Glide

“It requires gentle hands but also strong intentions.”― Tembi Locke, From Scratch

“When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.” – Saint Francis de Sales

In the softening
Smoothing
Stilling
Rounding
Opening
Listening
Observing
Wandering
Pausing
Inviting
Welcoming
Receiving
Thanking
Anchoring
Centering
Settling
Sensing
Noise wanes
World quiets
Awe, wonder, ease enter
Go here
Float then glide

“Every force within us either grows in vigor and expands, or it grows more languid and diminishes. This is true above all of love. This is the only way that we don’t take back our love: by allowing it to grow every day.”― Mary Francis, A Time of Renewal

Aug 30

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Everyday Epiphanies

“May every sunrise hold more promise and every sunset hold more peace.” – Umair Siddiqui

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.” – John Milton

Reverence
Awe
Wonder
Wow
Beauty
Brilliance
Sacred
Tender graces poured out
Oasis in the desert
Armor of light
Promise of a new day
Peace at the end of a day filled with gratitude
Life is happening only in this day
Live it well

“The tender grace of a day that is gone will never come back to me. The graces of this day will never come again. The opportunities for being loving and humble and generous and self-forgetful in this day will never come again. That is a large thought, and we should fill our minds with large thoughts in this season.”― Mary Francis, Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting

Aug 29

Wade and Leap

“I will wade out till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air” – e.e. cummings

“Settle in the here and now.
Reach down into the center
where the world is not spinning
and drink this holy peace.

Feel relief flood into every
cell. Nothing to do. Nothing
to be but what you are already.
Nothing to receive but what
flows effortlessly from the
mystery into form.

Nothing to run from or run
toward. Just this breath,
Awareness knowing itself as
embodiment. Just this breath,
awareness waking up to truth.”
― Danna Faulds

Breathe in the last days of summer.
Drink in the beauty of burning flowers, sun ablaze.
Fall harvest soon, but not yet.
Cusp of transition.
Summer still leading the dance.
Remain in this moment, aware and awake.
Steeped in gratitude.
Overflowing with ease.
Soft whisper of “Yes!”

“All you ever longed for is Before you in this moment If you dare draw in a Breath and whisper “Yes.”― Danna Faulds

Aug 28

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Harmonious Hum

“Some people care too much. I think it’s called love.”― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

“Love is a quiet, reassuring, relaxing, pottering, pedantic, harmonious hum of a thing; something you can easily forget is there, even though its palms are outstretched beneath you in case you fall.”― Dolly Alderton, Everything I Know About Love

In the busy of the day.
Amidst your to do list.
Rushing from one thing to the next.
In overthinking and overdoing.
Pause.
Feel the weight of love.
Gravity and immensity.
Bold and bright.
In ordinary exchanges.
In each day.
Simple moments.
Let it in.
Pass it on.
A smile.
Listening.
Patience.
Encouragement.
A hello.
In simple words and ways.
Guardian of hope.
Harmonious hum.
Love runs through it all.
Do not miss it.
Give, receive, give without counting.

“Maybe friendship is being the guardian of another person’s hope. Leave it with me and I’ll look after it for a while , if it feels too heavy for now.”― Dolly Alderton, Ghosts

Aug 27

Unfamiliar Gladness

“This is the power of art: The power to transcend our own self-interest, our solipsistic zoom-lens on life, and relate to the world and each other with more integrity, more curiosity, more wholeheartedness.”― Maria Popova

“At watershed moments of upheaval and transformation, we anticipate with terror the absence of the familiar parts of life and of ourselves that are being washed away by the current of change. But we fail to envision the unfamiliar gladness and gratifications the new tide would bring, the unfathomed presences, for our imaginations are bounded by our experience. The unknown awakens in us a reptilian dread that plays out with the same ferocity on scales personal, societal, and civilizational, whether triggered by a new life-chapter or a new political regime or a new world order.”― Maria Popova, Figuring

New tides to dive into
Fresh territory to explore
Paths off trail to cut
Fresh blooms to burst
Curiosity and discovery
Releasing the old to make space for the unfamiliar
Allowing wonder, awe and beauty to transform
May gladness and gratifications expand your view and deepen your trust in the journey.

“We spend our lives trying to discern where we end and the rest of the world begins. We snatch our freeze-frame of life from the simultaneity of existence holding on to the illusions of permanence, congruence, and linearity; of static selves and lives that unfold in sensical narratives. All the while, we mistake chance for choice, our labels and models of things for the things themselves, our records for history. History is not what happened, but what survives the shipwrecks of judgment and chance.”― Maria Popova, Figuring

Aug 26

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Color Your World

“Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful.”― L.R. Knost

“Don’t make yourself small.
Not for anyone.
If someone tells you
you’re too much…
too loud, too sensitive,
too fierce, too caring,
too intellectual, too optimistic,
too realistic, too logical, too emotional…
just smile and move on, my friend.
Clearly, they aren’t enough for you.”
― L.R. Knost

To be yourself.
To allow others the same grace.
Bright, bold, soft, gentle.
Growing, changing, ever-blooming.
Breathtakingly beautiful.

“If you keep on thinking the way you’ve always been thinking, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always been getting!”
Is that enough?”― Bob Schultz

Aug 25

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Of Ordinary Beautiful Things

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu

The Patience of Ordinary Things by Pat Schneider

“It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they’re supposed to be.
I’ve been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish,
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs.
And what is more generous than a window?”

May I always welcome different perspectives.
To broaden, deepen, expand.
To see the commonalities of humanity.
Belonging, acceptance, connection.
To invite intellectual humility to keep learning, understanding and growing.
To be kind, generous, considerate, assume the best.
Patient, allowing, inviting.
Opening windows and doors to let fresh air in.
To slow down, pause and savor.
To weave gratitude, wonder and awe into each ordinary day.
Transforming the journey into one of love.

Aug 24

Blushed with Beginning

“A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.” – William Cowper

“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

Good soil.
Scatter seeds.
Till.
Nurture.
Wait.
Lie low to be slow.
Tilling the soil too much does not allow the seeds to take root.
Let them be.
Time and timing.
Beginnings, middles, ends.
The blush of fresh beginnings just beneath the surface.
Rooting to bloom.

Aug 23

1 Comment

Sky Galleries

“When life feels too big to handle, go outside. Everything looks smaller when you’re standing under the sky.”― L.R. Knost

“I hope you gaze at cloud art galleries
against azure summer skies
and pause to gasp at rainbows
and watch butterflies fly by;
I hope wildflowers make you happy
and sad songs make you cry
and old books stacked in dusty nooks
are gems you can’t pass by;
I hope burnt toast mornings
are little things
you handle with a smile
and midnight talks and starlit walks
keep you up once in awhile;
I hope laundry warm from the dryer
brings a sigh of contentment
and front porch swings on cool evenings
offer rest when you are spent;
I hope your life is light in sorrow
and heavy with laughter
and you greet each season of your life
like a new favorite chapter;
I hope you honor every soul you meet
and always go that extra mile
and when you think of me, my love,
I hope it’s with a smile.”
― L.R. Knost

Hope.
Wonder.
Awe.
Joy.
Gratitude.
Big sky.
Heavy sigh.
Pause to see it.
Settle to let peace in.
Go out and share it with the world.
Naïve, childlike, simple, optimistic.
Yep.
And I’ll take it every time over despair, fear, scarcity, chaos.
Cast light.

“Patience is an inner pause, a brief stillness, a moment we give ourselves to breathe through our initial reaction so we can move to the place where a calm, thoughtful response is born. Patience is a gift of time we give ourselves so we can give the gift of peace to others.”― L.R. Knost

Aug 22

Bridges, Hands, Light

“Here’s to the bridge-builders, the hand-holders, the light-bringers, those extraordinary souls wrapped in ordinary lives who quietly weave threads of humanity into an inhumane world. They are the unsung heroes in a world at war with itself. They are the whisperers of hope that peace is possible. Look for them in this present darkness. Light your candle with their flame. And then go. Build bridges. Hold hands. Bring light to a dark and desperate world. Be the hero you are looking for. Peace is possible. It begins with us.”― L.R. Knost

“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”― L.R. Knost

Arm-chair quarterbacks.
Backseat drivers.
Critics and cynics.
The loudest voices.
The non-doers.
The easy path.
Do the hard work.
Contribute, create, add, multiply.
Bridge building.
Hand holding
Light bringing.
Peace is possible.
Always starts within.
The world awaits your generosity, kindness and light.
Heed the higher call.

“Leave a trail of light behind you
Everywhere you go.
Whose darkness you’ll illuminate
You may never know.”― L.R. Knost

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