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Aug 21

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Be the Lighthouse.

“Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear and superstition.” – Bernard Beckett

“Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A ‘you can do it’ when things are tough.” – Richard M. DeVos

Thoughts, words, perspective.
View, angle, framework.
Listen to yourself.
Gripping, pining, complaining.
Or.
Curiosity, joy, delight.
It matters.
Choose well.
Daily.
Let light in.
Cast light out.
Be the lighthouse.

“The most fearless hearts, the audacious dreamers, have always maintained a sense of optimism that often flies in the face of the available evidence.” – Martin O’Malley

Aug 20

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Light and Beauty

“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” – Lou Holtz

“Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” – Steven Pressfield

Little by little.
Step by step.
Drop by drop.
Unfolding to unfurling.
Daily.
Time, effort, ease, flow.
The heart of the journey found in ordinary days.
In putting down to pick up what is ours to carry.
In pause, wonder, awe, and thin spaces.
Joy in the simple.
Kindness given freely.
A shift in perspective.
Light and beauty awaits our notice.
Partake.

“Tiny steps will get you to your goal months and months sooner. A little is better than a lot.” – Martha Beck

Aug 19

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Like Water Does

“Water is the most perfect traveler because when it travels it becomes the path itself!” ― Mehmet Murat Ildan

“Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing, in the end, can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.” ― Margaret Atwood

River to rapids.
Steady to still.
Movement to pause.
Activity and busy mastered.
Pause and float.
The lesson to learn, to master.
Release control of the uncontrollable.
Tune out the noise, from yourself the most.
Hold what is yours to hold.
Do but also be, more.
Become the path.
Enjoy the daily journey.
Nowhere else to be but where you are now.
Do not miss the depth, breadth, expanse of the present.
Soon to be called, “remember when.”

“Surrender to the flow.” – Mike Gordon

Aug 18

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Deep Roots

“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

“Water your roots so your soul can blossom” – Unknown

To what are you rooted?
Timeless.
True.
Deep within.
Release the rest to grow.
Keep planting.
Watering.
Blossoming.

“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.” – Dalai Lama

Aug 17

Grace Overflowing

“Grace is finding a waterfall when you were only looking for a stream.” ― Vanessa Hunt

“As long as I live, I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and avalanche. I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can.” – John Muir

Peace, awe and joy.
A flow and ease.
Beauty and grace.
Flow and fall.
Open to receive.
Ready to pursue.
Generous to give.
Enter the river.

“Once we have tasted far streams, touched the gold, found some limit beyond the waterfall, a season changes, and we come back changed but safe, quiet, grateful.” ― William Stafford

Aug 16

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Elevate

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.” – Henry David Thoreau

“You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind. The rational mind doesn’t nourish you. You assume that it gives you the truth, because the rational mind is the golden calf that this culture worships, but this is not true. Rationality squeezes out much that is rich and juicy and fascinating.”― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Quiet to hear.
Pause to redirect.
Anchor to transcend.
Elevate with curiosity, exploration, iteration, emergence, unfamiliar, unfolding, mystery, awe and wonder.

“Meditation is to dive all the way within, beyond thought, to the source of thought and pure consciousness. It enlarges the container, every time you transcend. When you come out, you come out refreshed, filled with energy and enthusiasm for life.” – David Lynch

Aug 15

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Stubbornness of Gladness

“Nature, like man, sometimes weeps from gladness.” – Benjamin Disraeli

“We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.” – Jack Gibert

Gladness, hope, joy, delight, awe, gratitude, optimism, wonder, beauty.
Not a side dish.
Not for someday when.
Not something we wait for, but pursue rigorously.
Not achieved in perfect circumstances.
Daily practices.
A decision to make again and again.
In our control.
Rigorous and gritty.
Intentional and powerful.
Serving to remind us that no matter where we are or what is going on, there is music in us.
That life resides in each day.
In connection, in small things, in the ordinary.
And in our stubbornness to find the good and true.
Choosing love over fear.

“Why do so many …settle for so little? I don’t understand why they’re not greedy for what’s inside them”― Jack Gilbert

Aug 14

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Watch Your Words

“Good words are worth much, and cost little.” – George Herbert

“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.” – Buddha

To build up or break down.
To encourage or criticize.
To converse or chide.
To multiply or divide.
To understand or spout.
Choose your words well.
Contribute and enhance.
Gratitude and enthusiasm.
Bear good fruit.
Salt and light.
Be kind.
Costs nothing.
Priceless returns.

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” – Lao Tzu

Aug 13

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In the Choosing

“The way we can allow ourselves to do what we need to, no matter what others may say or do, is to choose love and defy fear.” – Martha Beck

Love over fear.
Laughter and light.
Generosity and kindness.
Imperfect circumstances and people.
And still choosing to love daily.
Despite, or perhaps because of the “facts.”
Care, engage, show up.
To see and be seen.
New day, fresh canvas.
Paint.

“Every day brings new choices.” – Martha Beck

Aug 12

To Go Easy

“You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.” – Paulo Coelho

When I am Among the Trees
by Mary Oliver

“When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

Get outside.
Get outside yourself.
Then re-enter.
Refreshed.
Filled.
Renewed perspective.
Open heart and mind.
Light spirit.
Be good to yourself, to others.
Go easy, find ease.
Bow often.

“The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness.” – Sakyong Mipham

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