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Posts from the ‘Beauty’ Category

Aug 25

Skybounding

“The garden of the world has no limits, except in your mind.”― Rumi

“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”― Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Pull over.
Put down.
Look up.
Delight in this place and space.
Nowhere to be but here.

“Don’t keep searching for the truth; Just let go of your opinions.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Aug 14

Abiding Attention

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself”― Henry Miller

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”― Henry Miller

Today, wide and deep
New things to see
New thoughts to think
New paths to cut
In the wandering, wonder appears.

“Why are we so full of restraint? Why do we not give in all directions? Is it fear of losing ourselves? Until we do lose ourselves there is no hope of finding ourselves.”― Henry Miller

Jul 3

Bound by Beauty

“Let us live like flowers—wild and beautiful and drenched in sun.” — Ellen Everett

“Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.”― Mary Oliver

Drenched in sun.
Bursting with colors.
Overflowing with amazement.
One with the world.
Bound by beauty.
Woven in simple.
Hidden in ordinary.
Attentiveness the path.
Grounded in gratitude.
Transformation, one bud at a time.
Cast light.

“The spirit of a time is an incredibly subtle, yet hugely powerful force. And it is comprised of the mentality and spirit of all individuals together. Therefore, the way you look at things is not simply a private matter. Your outlook actually and concretely affects what goes on. When you give in to helplessness, you collude with despair and add to it. When you take back your power and choose to see the possibilities for healing and transformation, your creativity awakens and flows to become an active force of renewal and encouragement in the world. In this way, even in your own hidden life, you can become a powerful agent of transformation in a broken, darkened world. There is a huge force field that opens when intention focuses and directs itself toward transformation.” John O’Donohue, Benedictus, To Bless the Space Between Us

May 21

Poetry of the Earth

“The poetry of the earth is never dead.” – John Keats

“Home has less to do with a piece of soil then a piece of soul.” – Pico Iyer

To hold dear, with delight
Extraordinary beauty
Bloom and life woven throughout
Abiding and embracing
Richness and density
Lightness and buoyancy
Poetry of the earth
Alive and well
Join the prose.

“To experience sublime natural beauty is to confront the total inadequacy of language to describe what you see. Words cannot convey the scale of a view that is so stunning it is felt.” – Eleanor Catton

May 10

Happy Mother’s Day

“By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers, as by doing good we cultivate those that belong to humanity.”― Vernon Howard

Happy Mother’s Day
To all women present and gone, yet remain within our hearts
Strength, tough, beauty, resilience, tenderness, grit, home
Holding up the world
Love

 

Apr 19

Grand Show

“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”― John Muir, John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir

“Everybody needs beauty…places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike.”― John Muir

Drink in blue sky
Hold brilliant sun
Pull over
Wander off road
The work of not working
Of abiding, tending, praising, pause
To notice, to be awestruck, to delight
Ocean of exultation
Grand show
Beauty
Deep breath, releasing sigh
Suddenly, you are alive
May you meet beauty today
And sit with her.

“Close your eyes and turn your face into the wind.
Feel it sweep along your skin in an invisible ocean of exultation.
Suddenly, you know you are alive.”― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Mar 22

Wide Awake Presence

“At other times I wake up from the half sleep I’d fallen into, and hazy images with poetical and unpredictable colours play out their silent show to my inattention.”― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

“May today’s moments move you
to where love can reach you.
May a deep truth remind you
with each step.
May you grow where you are,
sending down roots into trusted truths,
to where love lives,
and beauty is wide awake.
Let your heart seek the one good step.
And then the next.
Movement.
That is the way.” – Kate Bowler

Pay attention.
Be tender.
Offer kindness.
Walk lightly.
Love well.
Small noticing, slivers of light, bold color.
Love well.

“We are light, sound, color, and form living a physical reality. Add the element of love and you have everything.”― Deborah Bravandt

Jan 30

Add Joy with a Side of Hope

“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,
If a blade of grass springing up in the fields has the power to move you,
If the simple things of nature have a message that you understand,
Rejoice, for your soul is alive.” – Eleonora Duse

“I Am
I Know not whence I came,
I know not whither I go;
But the fact stands clear that I am here
In this world of pleasure and woe.
And out of the mist and murk
Another truth shines plain –
It is my power each day and hour
To add to its joy or its pain.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Time out, away
Pause, pullover
Look up, around
Restore, refill
From grinding to grounding
Myopia to horizon
Chaos to calm
Hope, joy, laughter
Woven through each day
Teaspoons, cups, buckets
If we choose to pay attention
Enter the dance
Carrying and casting light.

“if you see for yourself, hear for yourself, and enter deeply enough this seeing and hearing, all things will speak with and through you.”― Jane Hirshfield, The Heart of Haiku

Jan 27

Poetry in Flowers

“I must have flowers, always, and always.”― Claude Monet

“Nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”― Georgia O’Keeffe, Georgia O’Keeffe

Make time
A sliver, a slice
For beauty
Noticing
Attention
Awe
Wonder
Light
Color
Joy
Poetry in flowers
In the pause, peace rises
Spilling into the day.

“In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends.”― Okakura Kakuzo, The Book of Tea

Jan 8

Rituals of Approach

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

“What you encounter, recognize or discover depends to a large degree on the quality of your approach. Many of the ancient cultures practiced careful rituals of approach. An encounter of depth and spirit was preceded by careful preparation.

When we approach with reverence, great things decide to approach us. Our real life comes to the surface and its light awakens the concealed beauty in things. When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. The rushed heart and arrogant mind lack the gentleness and patience to enter that embrace.”― John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace – A Spiritual Homecoming Through Celtic Traditions, Art, Music, and Divine Grace

Morning, stepping off point
Slow entry
Reflection, meditation, prayer
Call it what you will
Getting out of your own way
Soft whisper
Discernment and clarity
Setting the tone
Framing the door
Crossing the threshold
Anticipation, reverence, curiosity
Spilling into awe, wonder, delight
Spring smack dab in winter
Ordinary days, sacred gifts woven throughout
Concealed beauty surfaces
Blooming joy in noticing, partaking, generosity
Enter the embrace of a new day.

“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

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