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Posts from the ‘Beginnings’ Category

Jul 24

Slowly Born, Tending Peace

“To live is to be slowly born.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.”― Etty Hillesum

Slowly born.
Each new day.
Intentions. Action. Inaction.
Observation and participation.
Deep breath.
Resting in pause.
Tending peace.

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.”― Etty Hillesum

Jul 22

All-Surrounding Grace

“You have come to the shore. There are no instructions.”― Denise Levertov

“The Avowal

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them;
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.”― Denise Levertov

To the shoreline
Of grace
Peace
Awe and wonder
A few yards away
Awaiting your arrival
To sit and be held
Made new
Witnessing presence.

“Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
down to the shore or a few yards
up the road, on a clear day,
to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.”― Denise Levertov

Jul 9

Sonnet of this Day

“Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.” – Marcus Aurelius

“Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms, is like a sonnet: You’re given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. – Mrs. Whatsit”― Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

Made new each morning.
Minute, hour for the taking.
With a shift in thought.
A tilt of the head.
Listening, abiding, reverence.
Write your sonnet.
Of today.

“Part of doing something is listening. We are listening. To the sun. To the stars. To the wind.”― Madeleine L’Engle, Swiftly Tilting Planet

Jun 19

2 Comments

Soft Centered Arrival

“Presence doesn’t need a grand arrival — only a willingness to begin again.” – Amit Ray

“Equanimity is not a path around. It is the courage to remain in the center until the center opens.” – G. Scott Graham, The Tao of Equanimity

The noise will get louder
The chaos ensue
Demands multiply

The invitation
To this moment
To walk the path

Of presence

No shortcuts
Already here
In the quiet
The noticing

Attention and admiration
Reverence and wonder
Peace in the pause, in the receiving.

“The chase feels like movement — but it leaves you farther from the moment.”― G. Scott Graham, The Tao of Equanimity

Jun 16

Warrior Soul, Soft Heart

“In my family monarch butterflies are daughters of fire. They come from the sun carrying the souls of warriors who fought and died in battle, and return to feed on the nectar of flowers.”― Holly Ringland, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

“The most beautiful of butterflies is nothing but a well-dressed caterpillar.”― Corina Abdulahm Negura

Signs and symbols.
Time and timing.
Cycles and seasons.
Beginnings and endings.
The path between and through.
Transition to transformation.
Remain present in each and all.
Trusting the process of unfolding, becoming, flight.
There’s beauty right here, right now.
Sweet nectar.

“If you want to fly, give up everything that weighs you down.” – Buddha

Mar 14

Threshold of Threshold

“Often when something is ending we discover within it the spore of new beginning, and a whole new train of possibility is in motion before we even realize it. When the heart is ready for a fresh beginning, unforeseen things can emerge. And in a sense, this is exactly what a beginning does. It is an opening for surprises.” – John O’Donohue

“When we choose indifference, we betray our world. Yet the world is not decided by action alone. It is decided more by consciousness and spirit; they are the secret sources of all action and behavior. 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

Transitions to transformation
On display
Nature shows the dance and delay
Late winter sun
Ice moving to water
Crisp air
Ice lingers longer
In between time
Threshold of threshold
Winter is not done yet
Spring hokey pokey
One foot in, one foot out
Tide and breathing
Cusp of emergence.

“Part of the art of living wisely is to learn to recognize and attend to such profound openings in one’s life.” – John O’Donohue

Feb 12

Spell Against Stagnation

“May you be present in what you do.
May you never become lost in the bland absences.
May the day never burden you.
May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams.” – John O’Donohue

“To begin anything — a new practice, a new project, a new love — is to cast upon yourself a spell against stagnation. Beginnings are notation for the symphony of the possible in us. They ask us to break the pattern of our lives and reconfigure it afresh — something that can only be done with great courage and great tenderness, for no territory of life exposes both our power and our vulnerability more brightly than a beginning.” – Maria Popova

New beginnings.
Small and big.
In between.
A step at a time.
Momentum and fidelity.
To not succumb to bland absences and stagnation.
Leap, jump, dance.
Pour some color on this day.
Cast light.

“Sometimes the greatest challenge is to actually begin; there is something deep in us that conspires with what wants to remain within safe boundaries and stay the same… Sometimes a period of preparation is necessary, where the idea of the beginning can gestate and refine itself; yet quite often we unnecessarily postpone and equivocate when we should simply take the risk and leap into a new beginning.” – John O’Donohue

Feb 10

Voice Under Silence

“Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun, more last than star…”― e.e cummings

“may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old

may my mind stroll about hungry
and fearless and thirsty and supple
and even if it’s sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young

and may myself do nothing usefully
and love yourself so more than truly
there’s never been quite such a fool who could fail
pulling all the sky over him with one smile”
― e.e. Cummings, E.E. Cummings: Complete Poems 1904-1962

May you greet this day
With anticipation, delight, curiosity
A shift, a tilt, a deep breath
In an instant
The world is made new
By the renewing of your mind, heart, soul.
Fresh eyes, fresh day.

“We can never be born enough.”― E. E. Cummings

Feb 1

2 Comments

Fresh Coat, New Day

“He who kisses joy as it flies by will live in eternity’s sunrise.”― William Blake

APACHE Blessing

“May the sun bring you new energy by day,
May the moon softly restore you by night,
May the rain wash away your worries,
May the breeze blow new strength into your being,
May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life.

Scratch the surface of her joy,
And you will find a well of sorrow.
Dive into the well,
And discover her spring of hope.
Follow that spring to the river of her strength,
Compassion, and faith . . .
And you will have touched her soul.” – Terri St Cloud

Fresh coat of snow this morning
Brightening and refreshing the landscape
New day, new month, new start
Brilliant white, bold colors
Wakeup call
Invitation to seeing the same in different ways
Beneath the surface
Into a wellspring
Make space for joy today.

“And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love.”― William Blake

Jan 3

1 Comment

Gardening

“The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden.”― Sir Thomas More

“I have learned that
everything has its own language and that
if I listen carefully to the birds and the creatures,
and even the grasses,
I will hear the sound of God
in the music of the silence.” – Catherine Garland, Learning Life poem

The gift of pause, reflection
Music of silence
Of thresholds
Bridges
Blank canvases
Fresh beginnings
New day, new month, new year
Plant seeds
Tend your garden
Ever blooming, becoming, arriving
Cast light, color, gratitude, kindness, joy

“I did not know that I could only get the most out of life by giving myself up to it.”― Marion Milner, A Life of One’s Own

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