Jun 18
“Praise the bridge that carried you over.” – George Colman
“I praise loudly. I blame softly.” – Catherine the Great
At least give praise the same space as complaint.
Perhaps complaint could succumb to praise.
A much sweeter tune.
Delight. Dance. Proclaim.
“Nature is the one song of praise that never stops singing.” – Richard Rohr
“I imagine that yes is the only living thing.” – e. e. cummings
“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
How we frame our world, bucket people, box it up to explain shapes our world, often limiting, greying, and stunting.
We put blinders on, losing our peripheral vision, our gazing-ability and wandering-instinct.
When we allow unknowing, mystery and exploration, we broaden our view, deepen our connection, enrich our experience of daily life, discovering a 360-degree, technicolor landscape filled with beauty, joy and mystery right in front of us.
In a flower, in another’s eyes, in our own heart.
Explain less, relinquish “control,” trade sight for vision.
Invite the horizon, the sky, the ocean into view.
Gaze, grow, imagine.
Expanse, depth and light, right in front of you for the taking, and the giving.
Break the frame, empty the bucket.
New eyes, open arms, beating heart.
Get a glimpse of the wonder and awe, hidden in reach.
“Every creature is a word of God.” Meister Eckhart
“All of nature begins to whisper its secrets to us through its sounds. Sounds that were previously incomprehensible to our soul now become the meaningful language of nature.” – Rudolf Steiner
Dive deeper.
Granular, specific, hidden in plain sight.
21,710 is the number of photos on my phone from the past 10 years.
When I look back through the years, there’s richness, story, connection, fun.
They spark gratitude, invite joy.
Joy and gratitude require daily practice, rigor.
We ride too much on the surface, going fast and furious.
Checking off our “to do” list.
Tasks, efficiency, progress, the race to nowhere.
Pause, breathe, take notice.
Enter moments and let them enter your being.
Joy is woven in the ordinary, amidst sorrow and loss, a whisper, a gentle breeze.
If you don’t have a lot of photos, start taking them daily.
My favorite subjects show up here daily – the dogs, flowers, friends, family, water, nature, butterflies, trees, bees, the sky, sunrise, sunset.
All joy catalysts, sparklers that stop me in my busyness to discover awe and beauty in reach.
Awaken from dormancy, spring awaits.
“The capacities by which we can gain insights into higher worlds lie dormant within each one of us.” – Rudolf Steiner
“Look around for a place to sow a few seeds.” – Henry Van Dyke
“Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.” – Henri Nouwen
What gifts will you find today?
Right in front of you.
What gifts will you give away today?
Right within you.
What seeds will you plant today?
On fertile ground.
What harvest will you reap today?
Bounty of yesterday’s seeds sown.
Sow, wait, harvest.
Unleash your energy and capacity for joy and gratitude.
Not waiting or relying on circumstances, perfect timing or “someday when.”
Now is the gift to open and give away.
Today, a field of plenty, overflow and abundance await your arrival.
“I do not know You, God, because I am in the way. Please help me to push myself aside.” – Flannery O’Connor
“Beauty is a fragile gift.” – Ovid
“Wisdom, Happiness, and Courage are not waiting somewhere out beyond sight at the end of a straight line; they’re part of a continuous cycle that begins right here. They’re not only the ending, but the beginning as well.”― Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh
Flip the equation to see the same differently, to get dimension and depth, expanse and horizon.
Assumptions, judgment, bias, opinions frame our view on the world.
Worry and scarcity forebode joy.
Where are your blind spots?
What do you see?
Narrow or broad.
Surface or deep.
Tunnel or panoramic.
Gratitude, kindness, generosity, love are all crowbars that open possibility, invite connection and expand our view.
Rest and linger here a while in positive expectation.
Not in what was nor predicting what will come.
Present in this moment with fresh eyes, open arms, welcoming heart, seeking soul.
Beauty, light, mystery.
Step into it, taste it, savor.
Panoramic view.
“What’s wrong with knowing what you know now and not knowing what you don’t know until later?”— Winnie the Pooh
“Caress the detail, the divine detail.” – Vladimir Nabokov
“If you see with innocent eyes, everything is divine.” – Federico Fellini
The divinity of a flower, of purple, of color.
Of laughter.
Of a sunrise.
Of an embrace.
Of music
Of acceptance.
Of art.
Of belonging
Of no permission or approval needed.
Of poetry and prose.
Of possibility.
Of enthusiasm and encouragement.
Of optimism and hope.
Of threads and themes.
Of patterns and clarity.
Of tipping points and transformation.
Of dreams fulfilled, renewed and reignited.
Of it all.
Ordinary days, in the details, the divine awaits your arrival and companionship
Find the divine and revel in it.
“When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum.” – Desmond Tutu
“To dwell is to garden.” – Martin Heidegger
“I dwell in possibility.” – Emily Dickinson
In the rushing, where are you going?
What are you running from and to?
What are you missing now front and center?
Reside and dwell.
Someday, if, when.
False destinations that steal our today.
If blessings available now are unseen, when, how, where will you recognize them?
Enough and overflowing.
In the mess, in difficulty, in scarcity, goodness, abundance and depth reside as well.
Discernment, clarity, awakening in inquiry, observation and listening.
Reside and dwell.
The gift of winter.
Quite, harsh, softness, beauty, peace, wrestling, restoration, preparation, patience, dormancy to unbind, unravel, unfold, cocoon, hibernate, set root.
The precursor to new, to breaking soil, to bud, to bloom, to spring.
Reside and dwell.
Seasons, cycles and circles.
Lessons, letting go, taking hold, tipping points, transformation.
Beginnings, middles and ends. To begin again.
Reside and dwell.
“Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.” – Orison Swett Marden
“The ground we walk on, the plants and creatures, the clouds above constantly dissolving into new formations – each gift of nature possessing its own radiant energy, bound together by cosmic harmony.” – Ruth Bernhard
“Symphonies begin with one note; fires with one flame; gardens with one flower; and masterpieces with one stroke.”― Matshona Dhliwayo
As the notes of your life weave into a symphony like none other, enter the rhythm, flow and color.
Pause rapt in awe.
Gratitude is a beautiful instrument.
Abundance its gift.
Seeking joy and delight in what is already present in the present moment.
Around and within.
Compose beautiful music with the notes of today.
Use all of the colors.
Energy, vibrancy, harmony.
“The Lord did not people the earth with a vibrant orchestra of personalities only to value the piccolos of the world. Every instrument is precious and adds to the complex beauty of the symphony.” – Joseph B. Wirthlin
“The key to abundance is meeting limited circumstances with unlimited thoughts.” – Marianne Williamson
“Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.” – Samuel Butler
May we see what is present, not what is missing.
Sufficiency rather than deficiency.
Channeling what is and making something more of it.
Moving from a place of enough to abundance.
Optimism isn’t denial of what exists.
It’s fuel to keep going and not resigning to scarcity, to “stuckness.”
If we focus on the holes, energy is drained, wasted.
Focus on possibility.
Put energy and effort there.
Move to awareness, action and abundance.
Make something of the substance, beauty and depth of life.
Imagination. Curiosity. Listen.
Make something of this day.
“The struggle is always worthwhile, if the end be worthwhile and the means honorable; foreknowledge of defeat is not sufficient reason to withdraw from the contest.” – Steven Brust
“Acknowledging the good that is already in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle
Look around.
Closely at the familiar, the threads of the fabric.
What’s in reach.
The ordinary.
The same.
What’s close gets missed in our search for next.
Taken for granted in the dailiness, in proximity.
Look closer, longer.
Make the same new again with gratitude.
“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop
