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Posts from the ‘Dogs’ Category

Apr 24

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Downtime

“We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves. And we’ll also have a lot more joy in living.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“A light heart lives long.” – William Shakespeare

“A light heart lives long.” – William Shakespeare

Lighten up and take it easy. Rush into a conversation without looking at your watch, laugh with friends, go for a long leisurely walk. The world falls back into its proper place when we learn to pursue and seize the joy-filled moments woven through each day. Downtime quiets us long enough to rediscover gratitude and delight.

Mar 18

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Witness

“Observe, record, tabulate, communicate. Use your five senses. Learn to see, learn to hear, learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you can become expert.” – William Osler

Last night, I strolled through photos – birthdays, water skiing, vacations, graduations, every day moments. It seems like yesterday and we look so young. Photos allow us to witness our lives, our journey. Slices of life – moments captured, memories made. As we get swept away with daily “busyness,” we let moments pass unnoticed.

This photo is absolutely one of my favorites of my parents, Molly and Elly. Today marks the day four years ago that I had to say good-bye to Elly after 12 years of friendship and sweet memories. While I still miss her every day, I am grateful for being a witness to and participant in her life and hers in mine. Take notice. See, hear, feel and express your gratitude each day to those who walk the journey with you. It’s a good life, a very good one. Embrace it.

“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.” – George Bernard Shaw

“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.” – George Bernard Shaw

Mar 8

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Party Hat

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” – Anais Nin

We celebrated Lily’s fourth birthday this morning with a run with friends. The party hats didn’t make it too long on the dogs, but the rest of us wore our hats for the entire run. We got a few strange looks but when we explained we were celebrating a dog’s birthday, it made all the sense in the world.

“Enthusiasm moves the world.” – Arthur Balfour

“Enthusiasm moves the world.” – Arthur Balfour

Friends wear silly hats, sing “Happy Birthday” in the parking lot and know how to make fun of a run together. In a hectic and often unkind world, we can create our own celebrations and moments every day. We have so much more than we often recognize. Today, I am grateful for Lily and Molly and good friends that make life fun, silly and deeply meaningful all at once.

Today’s a new day. Get your party hat on!

Feb 12

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Be Glad

“This happiness consisted of nothing else but the harmony of the few things around me with my own existence, a feeling of contentment and well-being that needed no changes and no intensification.” – Herman Hesse

When we let go of the idea that we’ll be happy when circumstances or people change, we discover true contentment doesn’t shift with the wind and resides within and right next to us in the simplicity of daily moments. We need to trust that deep well within, get into alignment with our core values and let the rest go. So much easier said than done, and often a lesson that needs to be relearned daily.

Being grateful for blessings of family and friends, reflection, rest, laughter, singing the “poochy mama” song to the girls, running with friends all get me back in the groove of living well and in the present. We’ve arrived, we just forget sometimes.

“Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.” – Henry Van Dyke

“Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.” – Henry Van Dyke

Feb 2

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Wander into Wonder

“What ever our wandering our happiness will always be found within a narrow compass, and in the middle of the objects more immediately within our reach.” – Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

“From wonder into wonder existence opens.” – Lao Tzu

“From wonder into wonder existence opens.” – Lao Tzu

It’s as simple as a walk in the woods, a good book, taking a nap. Trade mulit-tasking for single-tasking and linger in the depth and breadth of the moment, the now.  Nothing before, nothing after, just now. Remove your watch and forget time. No measuring, counting, comparing, analyzing. Wander for the sake of wandering and you’ll find wonder just outside your door.

Jan 30

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Leap and Dive

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” – Meister Eckhart

As we bounce all around, moving rapidly from one thing to the next, we forget to pause and be grateful. Yesterday, I was waiting for tests on two lumps on Molly. A few hours later, I got the call and they are benign. Spike the football!

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop

We are quick to be frazzled and distraught, bouncing and skimming. We need to be even quicker to let gratitude breakthrough and interrupt our busy life. And invite it to stay. The good news reminded me that I need to do more leaping for joy and diving deep into thankfulness every day, letting the busyness fade to the background to take its proper place.

Leap for joy and dive deep into gratitude today. A good prayer indeed. Amen.

Jan 19

4 Comments

Get Out

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir

There’s no better medicine than a run with the girls on a beautiful Sunday morning. The crisp clean air, snow crunching beneath each step and the warmth of the sun. A prayer in motion. Get out and see the world just outside your door. When we get out of our heads, we find our heart, our purpose and peace.

“We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“When you look at the sun during your walking meditation, the mindfulness of the body helps you to see that the sun is in you; without the sun there is no life at all and suddenly you get in touch with the sun in a different way.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“When you look at the sun during your walking meditation, the mindfulness of the body helps you to see that the sun is in you; without the sun there is no life at all and suddenly you get in touch with the sun in a different way.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Jan 6

2 Comments

Hibernate

“A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves.” – Marcel Proust

We are having plenty of time to recreate ourselves as we hibernate from the weather, like many in the U.S. In Minnesota today, 23 below zero, with wind chill, 36 below zero.

We had an hour reprieve on Saturday and the girls and I got out for a 3 mile run before the cold front settled in. You really appreciate what you have when you can’t have it. Looking forward to the thaw and outdoor running’s return on Thursday when we take a 50+ degree swing to the 30s. Until then, we hunker down, read a little more, snuggle up and follow Lily’s lead…

“When the going gets tough, the tough take a nap.” – Tom Hodgkinson

“When the going gets tough, the tough take a nap.” – Tom Hodgkinson

Dec 11

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Passing

“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” – Marcus Aurelius

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

Amidst the cold days that have arrived early in the season, I am vividly reminded that all things pass quickly. Seasons come and go. People move in and out of our sight. We wake up feeling like we’re 24 and we’re 49.

So as we dread the “15 degrees below days” that come all year round, there is beauty to be found even in these days. If we base our happiness on the weather, a compliment or a list of “rules” that we put on ourselves and others, we are passing by instead of passing through our lives. Each day has its gifts often disguised as inconveniences and interruptions. Get interrupted, wake up and let not this day pass without notice and deep appreciation of the fullness of each moment. Find summer in each day.

Nov 9

4 Comments

Everyday Stuff

Everyday stuff – that’s what Cast Light is all about. I’ve discovered when I notice the ordinary of each day and put myself in its midst I find meaning and joy. And I am grateful for the grace and faith to see the bigness in the small.

I bought four new books with my Amazon birthday gift cards – thanks Anna, Chris, Lynn – and just finished Anne Lamott’s new book Stitches, A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair. My kind of book and I love her writing style and insights, here’s one that sticks:

“The search for meaning will fill you with a sense of meaning. Otherwise life passes by in about seven weeks, and if you are not paying attention and savoring it as it unfurls, you will wake up one day in deep regret. It’s much better to wake up now in deep regret, desperate not to waste more of your life obsessing and striving for meaningless crap. Because you will have finally awakened.” Pretty good advice.

The three Fs – Faith, Family, Friends. Here’s to some of my everyday stuff – Lily and Molly. Mom and Dad. Running group on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Sole Sisters hanging out. The extraordinary in the ordinary.

everydaystuff

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