Apr 13
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop.” – Rumi
“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” – Rumi
Deep, expansive, wide.
Within awaiting your return.
Walk through the door.
Ecstatic motion.
“Why do you stay in prison, when the door is so wide open?” – Rumi
“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” – William Blake
“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” ― Brene Brown
Enter the space of today, of where you are right now.
Let it be.
Observe, listen, grieve, shout, leap, laugh, dance, cry, embrace it all.
Shortcuts, going around, avoidance all lead to shallow existence, stasis.
Going through is the only viable path.
Tend to your life.
Prune, nurture, wait, bud, bloom.
There’s beauty in winter and in the giving way to spring.
Joy, gratitude, belonging, grace, delight remain in all seasons, in endings, in transitions, and in new beginnings.
Life is finite and the infinite is woven through ordinary moments where awe, beauty and light enter, take hold, awaken and stir us to newness.
The infinite power of our own light, seek and discover.
“How should a man be capable of grooming his own horse, or of furbishing his own spear and helmet, if he allows himself to become unaccustomed to tending even his own person, which is his most treasured belonging?” – Alexander the Great
“To love beauty is to see light.” – Victor Hugo
“Did I live? The human world is like a vast musical instrument on which we play our individual part while simultaneously listening to the compositions of others in an effort to contribute to the whole. We don’t choose whether to engage, only how to; we either harmonize or create dissonance. Our words, our deeds, our very presence create and leave impressions in the minds of others just as a writer makes impressions with their words. Who you are is an unfolding narrative. – Stephen Batchelor
Seasons
Cycles
Transitions
New beginnings, unseen, unfolding, in play
Winter to spring
Unfolding color
Allow it all
Enter the beauty and light of your unfolding
Delight and joy
Fruition
“The sooner we let go of holding on, the sooner we can hold on to the beauty of what’s unfolding before us. Nothing was ever meant to stay the same forever.”― Julieanne O’Connor
“Keep your feet on the ground and your thoughts at lofty heights.” – Peace Pilgrim
“Life is once. Forever.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
This quote is on the top of my “to-do” list to remind me daily that beyond doing and completion of tasks, life is moving with or without me. We notice it or we don’t. We partake or we pass it by in pursuit of anything but the present moment.
Pay attention to who and what is important, to where you invest your time and energy.
Be aware of your thoughts and activities.
Bound or free.
Stagnant or growth.
Ego or spirit.
Reorient. Reignite. Renew.
Seek and hold the sacred in the ordinary.
Forever, once.
Find beauty and light in each day.
A peace that passes understanding.
“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” – Peace Pilgrim
“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out.” – Dee Hock
Invite, allow, open to space, margins, unwritten, unknown;
Where old thoughts don’t limit and rule;
Where beauty and mystery deepen;
Where opinions, assumptions, judgments are put down;
Where imagination, play, holy, poetry, sacred, expanse and delight dance together in the quiet, wide-open field, a top a mountain, in the deep sea;
Wide margins and whitespace to create, dream, become.
“Make an empty space in any corner of your mind, and creativity will instantly fill it.” – Dee Hock
Mar 14
“Beauty is always knocking, we just forget to let it in.” – Sarah Blondin
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up bones.” – Proverbs 17:22
The weather forecast this week is temperatures into the 40s and 50s.
Soon the snowpack will become puddles.
The dormant grass exposed.
The light will linger longer.
The sun stronger.
The earth warms, beginning the thaw.
Spring is on the cusp of leading the dance of shifting seasons.
Winter certainly is not done but closer to the finish than the start.
Blessed are those with a cheerful heart in all seasons.
Who find the gift of winter solace and of spring renewal.
May you see and immerse in beauty in all seasons.
In transitions when one foot is in winter and one in spring.
Dry bones come to life.
A cheerful heart good medicine to heal, restore and transform.
“Beauty is the illumination of your soul.” – John O’Donohue
“Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.” – Lauren Bacall
“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.” – Henry David Thoreau
A fresh coat of snow to carve and draw on.
A blank canvas to fill with color and movement.
A new start with the sun rising and light glistening off the snow.
Reawaken or perhaps awaken for the first time to the beauty abound and around.
The possibilities in this very day and what we choose to notice.
Nothing before.
Nothing after.
Now alone.
Now enough.
Trigger your curiosity.
Jumpstart your imagination.
Entertain joy.
Dance with laughter.
The pen, the brush of your thoughts anew.
Fill your canvas today with inquiry, exploration and awe.
A masterpiece in the making.
“An empty canvas is full.” – Robert Rauschenberg
“Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.”― Mary Oliver
“You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.”― Mary Oliver, Wild Geese
Greet this day with fresh thoughts and new eyes.
When astray, return to whimsy, frolic, light.
Let them do their work in you.
“I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.”― Mary Oliver, Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays
“Look past your thoughts, so you may drink the pure nectar of this moment.” – Rumi
“A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don’t know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox’s or bear’s, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.” – Meister Eckhart
Sunday, the day deemed for rest
For reflection
For filling
For being, not doing
For preparation
For knowing and unknowing
For unwinding and savoring
May you put on rest
A cloak of slowness
A blanket of ease
Open space past the field of thoughts, limitations and expectations
Holy, sacred ground to return to not only on one day but each day
A homecoming, familiar and new at the same time
Finding God residing there, waiting to be seen within, around, above and below, everywhere
Reverence, awe, mystery, beauty
Be captured and held
Pure nectar.
“God is at home, it’s we who have gone out for a walk.” – Meister Eckhart
“An interesting question to ask yourself at night is, What did I really see this day?”— John O’Donohue
“In our mediocrity and distraction, we forget that we are privileged to live in a wondrous universe.”— John O’Donohue
In the clouds
In a smile
In a gaze
In an embrace
In laughter
In music
In nature
In winter
In art
In words
In silence
In your heart and soul
Beneath the surface
Beyond the fray
Above the chaos
Within reach
Wonder, awe, privilege, blessing, joy, grace reside
A sacred gift, blessings in the seemingly ordinary
Open, receive, absorb, give away to propagate.
“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”— John O’Donohue
