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Posts from the ‘Emergence’ Category

Sep 29

Thread the Needle

“A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread.”― George Herbert

“Every day is the first day we’ve ever done today, so maybe there just needs to be a little more acknowledgment of the amateur who lives and actually thrives in each of us.”― Annie F. Downs, That Sounds Fun: The Joys of Being an Amateur, the Power of Falling in Love, and Why You Need a Hobby

Auto pilot disengaged
Downshifting to slow
Thread the needle attention, focus
Single-tasking
Look up and around
Take in the view
This is the journey
Tending to this day
Looking for the lovely
Loving well

“… to pause is to win & to rest can actually be part of the victory.”― Annie F. Downs, Looking for Lovely: Collecting the Moments that Matter

Sep 23

Bright Morning Invitation

“Here, root yourselves beside me.
I am the tree planted by the river,
Which will not be moved.
I, the rock, I the river, I the tree
I am yours—your passages have been paid.
Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.
History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage,
Need not be lived again.
Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.
Give birth againTo the dream.” – Maya Angelou, On the Pulse of the Morning

“Come, clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I
And the tree and stone were one.
Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow
And when you yet knew you still knew nothing.
The river sings and sings on.” – Maya Angelou, On the Pulse of the Morning

Pulse of a new day.
The rhythm and rhyme.
Poetry woven throughout, rising up, overflowing.
Birthing, renewing, restoring.
Flowing like a river.
Deep roots.
Rock solid.
Good morning, good day, good life.
Accept the invitation.
Grace, hope, joy.

“Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes,
Into your brother’s face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.” – Maya Angelou, On the Pulse of the Morning

Sep 13

Lightly Darling

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.”― Aldous Huxley

“Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly.
Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply.
Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.” – Aldous Huxley

Ease and delight
Rest and vitality
Presence and praise
Walking lightly
Wings wide.

“So throw away your baggage and go forward.
There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet,
trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair.
That’s why you must walk so lightly.
Lightly my darling,
on tiptoes and no luggage.” – Aldous Huxley

Aug 11

Harmony of Presence

“To the dark nights, the relief of the moon. The soft earth that forms to cradle the shape of my foot. To the crickets and the birds who sing our world into harmony. To the flowers that wish to sit on my windowsill, the trees that grow to reach the most sunlight. To the grass that sways and soothes. To the webs the spider tirelessly builds overnight only to be torn down in the daylight. To the life that pulses in exaltation below my feet every day that I am alive. To the portal it offers into a remembrance of our wholeness. To our source of unconditional love.”
― Sarah Blondin, Heart Minded: How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love

“In a world that lives like a fist
mercy is not more than waking
with your hands open.”― Mark Nepo

Open hands
Soft heart
Clear eyes
Attentive ears
Sacred, reverence, awe
Dance and delight
Harmony of presence
Altar of this day.

“Mysteriously, as elusive as it is, this moment–where the eye is what it sees, where the heart is what it feels–this moment shows us that what is real is sacred”― Mark Nepo

Aug 8

Gracious in Awareness, This Hour

“Peace is always beautiful.” ― Walt Whitman

“Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.”― Walt Whitman

Gaze long
Gratitude deep
Joy flowing
Peace beautiful
Calm rooted
Delight overflowing
For this hour, for this day.

“May I live this day
Compassionate of heart,
Clear in word,
Gracious in awareness
Courageous in thought,
Generous in love.” – John O’Donohue

Aug 2

Sweet Nectar of Tending

“My experience is what I agree to attend to.”― William James

“Everyone knows what attention is. It is taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness are of its essence. It implies a withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.”― William James

Attendance, full participation in this day.
Autopilot off.
To do list aside.
Rapt attention, reverence.
Expansion of presence
Exploration, wandering, sensing.
Sweet nectar of tending.

“Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.”― William James, The Writings of William James

Jul 8

Emergence in the Pause

“There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep. ”
― Elizabeth Bishop

“Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.”― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

In the pause, stillness
Gaze
Abide
Release
Reset
Slow
Mindfulness spilling into grace, gratitude
Anchoring
Patterns reshape
New stories emerge
Narrative wanders off path
Peace, delight, anticipation
In the paragraph on the blank page of this day.

“In our frantic search for something to quench our thirst, we overlook the water all around us and drive ourselves into exile from our own lives. ”― Sharon Salzberg

Jul 6

Carried by Surprise

“I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”― John O’Donohue

“That the soft overcomes the hard, and the yielding overcomes the resistant, is a fact known by all, but practiced by few.”― Lao Tse

Softening
Yielding
Pause
Grounding
Flowing
Slowing
Response rather than reaction
Unfolding
Unhindered
At attention
Witnessing and participating
No rearview mirror
No crystal ball
Anchored
In this day alone.

“May today bring us simple things in simple packages. Easy-to-use things. Things we can tuck into our hearts and don’t require instructions or batteries. Simple things like love and peace, like comfort and joy.”― Mary Davis, Every Day Spirit: A Daybook of Wisdom, Joy and Peace

Jun 28

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Creation Speaks, Listen

“Why struggle to open a door between us when the whole wall is an illusion?”― Rumi

“These small moments of gentleness offer mercy and grace that we can touch, taste, and feel. And they recall the great hope underneath each moment of our lives: the hope that beauty will indeed save the world, that God, by his grace, will finally reestablish us and all things. Creation speaks its comfortable words over us.”— Tish Harrison Warren, What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience

Slightly gentler.
Oneness spilling into peace.
Layers and nuance.
Of beauty, grace, hope.
Abase and abound.
Duty of delight.

“We have many responsibilities in this life, but among them we must recall that we also have the blessed responsibility to take up those things that make life ever so slightly gentler.”— Tish Harrison Warren, What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience

Jun 7

In Stillness, Revelation and Delight

“Stillness reveals what hurry hides.” – Pico Iyer

“Life is a spell so exquisite that everything conspires to break it.”― Emily Dickinson

In stillness, revelation
In hovering, awe
In abiding, emergence
Soft whisper
Deep stirring
Exquisite beauty
Peace that passes understanding
On the altars of this day
Kneel
Become new, again and again.

“We turn not older with years but newer every day.”― Emily Dickinson

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