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Posts from the ‘Beauty’ Category

Jul 17

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Layers, Cells, Constellations

“Luxury is not a necessity to me, but beautiful and good things are.”― Anais Nin

“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.”― Anais Nin

To unknowing.
To mystery.
To twists, turns, anticipation, surprises.
To dimension, hue, nuance, unevenness, color, shades, layers.
May we never “grow” to “wise” to miss the wonder, beauty and awe before us each day.
Hidden in the ordinary.
Growth is never being done, entering the unfolding with delight.
To joy and the capacity and agency to partake in it.

“The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.”― Anais Nin

Jul 4

Beauty of Freedom

“Freedom is what beauty feels like when it can most express itself.” – Jacqueline Novogratz

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” – Nelson Mandela

Long weekend.
4th of July celebrations.
Fireworks.
Play.
Rest.
And so much more.
Freedom.
Never free.
The pursuit, never done until all are free.
Keep up the good fight.
Hope and work.
Love mostly.

“Responsibility is the price of freedom.” – Elbert Hubbard

Jun 23

5:40 Arrival

“Art can be defined as beauty able to transcend the circumstances of its making.”― Jane Hirshfield, The Heart of Haiku

“Monday comes too soon… Don’t forget to squeeze several moments of joy into this weekend. Throw in some little pockets of peace and then be sure to sprinkle some good old belly-laughter to get the life-giving mix going. Let go of the safety bars for a moment or two, and throw those hands up in the air. This is life. This is it. Give yourself over, to whatever brings you that light, this world so desperately needs. Monday comes too soon.” – Donna Ashworth, Wild Hope

The sun always remains.
Whether hidden between clouds, rain.
Or in resting, letting the moon take its turn.
At peak, arriving slowing, full view, early morning.
Brilliant, bold, transcendent beauty.
A washing of light.
Give yourself over.
The gift of Sunday, that can spill over into Monday too.
Of our own choosing.

“The desire of monks and mystics is not unlike that of artists: to perceive the extraordinary within the ordinary by changing not the world but the eyes that look… To form the intention of new awareness is already to transform and be transformed.”― Jane Hirshfield, Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World

Apr 4

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Poetry of Beauty

“There is incredible symmetry in a tree, between its inner life and its outer life, between its rooted memory and its external active presence. A tree grows up and down at once and produces enough branches too incarnate its wild divinity. It doesn’t limit itself- it reaches for the sky and it reaches for the source, all in one kind of seamless movement. So I think landscape is an incredible, mystical teacher, and when you begin to tune into its sacred presence, something shifts inside you.”― John O’Donohue, Walking in Wonder: Eternal Wisdom for a Modern World

The Poet Dreams of the Mountain
by Mary Oliver

“Sometimes I grow weary of the days, with all their fits and starts.
I want to climb some old gray mountain, slowly, taking
the rest of my lifetime to do it, resting often, sleeping
under the pines or, above them, on the unclothed rocks.
I want to see how many stars are still in the sky
that we have smothered for years now, a century at least.
I want to look back at everything, forgiving it all,
and peaceful, knowing the last thing there is to know.
All that urgency! Not what the earth is about!
How silent the trees, their poetry being of themselves only.
I want to take slow steps, and think appropriate thoughts.
In ten thousand years, maybe, a piece of the mountain will fall.”

Do not bypass beauty today.
Nor awe and wonder.
The power of pause, praise and joy.
Knee deep in a river, dying of thirst.
Drink in what’s all around.
Especially what’s within.
Reaching for the sky and the source.

“We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about.”― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

Mar 8

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Foreground

“If there is ever a magical beauty that can be watched hours with great admiration, and that is the beauty of a strong light falling from the everlasting skies into the heart of the dimness!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“The present is the closest that you will ever get to the future.”― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

What do you see in front of you?
Where is your focus?
Where do you put your energy?
To what do you give your attention and care?
Broad, narrow, sharp, scattered.
Transactions, relationships, judgement, acceptance.
What we see, let in, put in the foreground shapes and defines our days.
Makes choosing important.
Love is always the right choice.
May you reorient, shift your focus.
Foregrounding your day in beauty, light, joy, laughter, nature, music, connection, generosity, kindness.
In a word, love.

“Love is a matter of proximity.”― M.F. Moonzajer

Mar 4

Wings and Wind

“When there is silence,
Give your voice.
When there is darkness,
Shine your light.
When there is desperation,
Offer hope.”
― Tim Fargo

“Who told you adulthood couldn’t feel like childhood? Long days of forgetting what day it is. Wanting to be wherever your wings or the wind dropped you. Filled with secrets and chances and whimsy.”― Darnell Lamont Walker

To be light.
To see new colors.
To breath deeply.
To delight in the hunt.
To dance on the path.
To grow wings and fly.
To whimsy.
From the ordinary to delight.
A child’s view and stance on the world, available to all.
Wind beneath your wings.
Fly a bit today.
Fresh view, new heights.
All that you carry will be there when you return.
Perhaps a bit less heavy.

“Learn to appreciate the caterpillar and the whole process of metamorphosis! The beauty and lightness of the butterfly only exist after going through these phases.”― Karina Fonseca Azevedo

Jan 30

Dappled

“Like most hearts, it was complicated, shaded with dark and dappled with light.”― Kate DiCamillo

“Hope is like love…a ridiculous, wonderful, powerful thing.”― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

Dappled with color, light, beauty, hope.
May these overcome you today.
To twist, flip, flop you into awe and wonder.
Dappled with delight.

“It is our duty and our joy to communicate our hearts to each other. Words assist us in this task.”― Kate DiCamillo

Jan 29

Ten Times

“Listen, whatever you see and love—
that’s where you are.”― Mary Oliver, Dog Songs: Poems

“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

Ten, maybe even twenty.
But start with ten and see where it goes.
Ten still points, pauses, stop signs.
Look around longer with fresh eyes, open heart.
Amazement. Wonder. Delight.
Praise. Gratitude. Reverence.
Ten, maybe even twenty. Or more.
Attention. Awareness. Awaken.

“Sometimes I dream
that everything in the world is here, in my room,
in a great closet, named and orderly,

and I am here too, in front of it,
hardly able to see for the flash and the brightness—
and sometimes I am that madcap person clapping my hands and singing;
and sometimes I am that quiet person down on my knees.”
― Mary Oliver

Jan 20

The Harvest of Presence

“Beauty is the harvest of presence.”― David Whyte

“So may we, in this life
trust

to those elements
we have yet to see

or imagine,
and look for the true

shape of our own self,
by forming it well

to the great
intangibles about us.”

― David Whyte, The House of Belonging

Pause often.
Elevate to see anew.
A fresh perspective on the familiar.

Inquire often.
Listen to hear anew.
A symphony forming from disparate notes.

Open often.
Pumping heart to breathe anew.
Alive with love, light, joy.

“You know that the antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest? … The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness.”― David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity

Dec 11

A Wider Gaze

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime.”― Laura Ingalls Wilder

“Beauty can hold our gaze for a moment of perfect stillness. Then, when it is done dismantling us, beauty can bring us back to ourselves with a wider gaze and a surer sense of connection to every living thing, ready to engage the divine work of creating more beauty in the world, more justice and true love.”— Barbara Brown Taylor, Always A Guest: Speaking of Faith Far From Home

This time of the year is both beautiful and difficult.
Missing those not here.
Unmet expectations.
Disappointments.
Allow both beauty and struggle, the human condition.
They coexist.
Lean on beauty, connection, love.
Invite color and light in.
To open you up to see what remains, to anticipation of what will come.
A wider gaze, the one of children.
The masters of Christmas.
Hope, peace, joy – a state of mind, a way to live.

“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ”― Mary Ellen Chase

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