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Posts from the ‘Encouragement’ Category

Jan 26

Clumsily

“Peace is not something you can force on anything or anyone… much less upon one’s own mind. It is like trying to quiet the ocean by pressing upon the waves. Sanity lies in somehow opening to the chaos, allowing anxiety, moving deeply into the tumult, diving into the waves, where underneath, within, peace simply is.”― Gerald May, Simply Sane: The Spirituality of Mental Health

“And yet I decide, every day, to set aside what I can do best and attempt what I do very clumsily – open myself to the frustrations and failures of loving, daring to believe that failing in love is better than succeeding in pride.”― Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society

We curate and assemble.
The highlights.
Sure, that there’s a shortcut and bypass.
10 easy steps.
The formula to our best lives now.
#blessed
But it’s only part of the story.
Struggle, muddling, frustration.
Beauty, joy, laughter.
A potpourri of it all.
Welcome to the human race.
Allow it, wait (ugh, patience required in an instant world).
Gratitude loosens the grip of singularity.
A deeper and wider view, dimension and nuance.
Keep moving through.
Ready to begin and repeat.
Refreshed, renewed, readied.
In time (ugh again) and with patience (oof), grit and endurance to the finish line, to new starts.
The journey is the arriving, again and again.
Starting, stumbles and stops in between.
Underneath the messy, chaos and imperfect, peace simply is awaiting your arrival.
Available now, not someday when.
Get your footing, center, recalibrate, reach out.
Anchor in joy and wonder.
Carry on.

“Optimists focus on the place they are going. Pessimists focus on the obstacles along the route. To become an optimist simply look ahead.” — Simon Sinek

Jan 3

Endless Ways

“Let me, O let me bathe my soul in colours; let me swallow the sunset and drink the rainbow.”
― Khalil Gibran

“Your daily life is your temple and your religion.”― Kahill Gibran

Rush not into the new year with grand gestures but small repeated daily acts, shifts, rituals
Quiet time to reflect
Focused time to move
Sacred time to prompt gratitude, wonder and awe
Trying new things
Make new mistakes
Become a beginner again and again
Listen to different perspectives
Seek beauty hidden in the details of ordinary days
Swallow and drink in the mystery of you and the world
Endless ways to see the same thing and be made new.

“I learned that mystery doesn’t mean that something is unknowable; it merely points to the fact that there are endless ways of seeing that same thing. My job is to let go of enough order and control so I can experience life’s mysteries in full.”— J. Patrick Boland and Richard Rohr, Every Thing Is Sacred: 40 Practices and Reflections on the Universal Christ

Oct 2

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Make the Road

“The universe is transformation.”― Louise Erdrich

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Begin anew, each day.
Choice, possibilities, abundance.
The road revealed by movement, a step at a time.
Empty canvas to be kissed by your brush.
Fill it with swirls, shapes, brilliant bright colors.
Transformation abound, plentiful.
Enter the unfolding.
Dive into the deep end.
Make the road.

“Searcher, there is no road. We make the road by walking.”― Brian Christian, The Most Human Human

Aug 16

Get on with it…now

“Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.” – Leo Buscaglia

Take the next step.
Keep going.
Stay in the game.
Try new things.
Begin and begin again.
A fresh day, a blank canvas.
Create something beautiful.
Get on with it.

“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” – Brene Brown

Jun 11

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Precious, Rare, Awake

“Who’s to say the effort to be real isn’t the beginning of wings?” – Mark Nepo

“But today you are precious and rare and awake. It ushers us into grateful living. It makes hesitation useless.” – Mark Nepo

Anchor in awareness.
The weight of this moment.
Delight in beauty abound.
Within and around.
Go easy.
Walk in love.
Peace, joy and wings to you.
The light of day.
For revealing and reveling.

“Over time, staying real becomes the work of keeping our actions in the world connected to the truth of our inner being, allowing our True Self to see the light of day.― Mark Nepo

May 29

Unknown Realms

“Silence is God's first language.” – John of the Cross

“Silence is God’s first language.” – John of the Cross

“Some things cannot be spoken or discovered until we have been stuck, incapacitated, or blown off course for awhile. Plain sailing is pleasant, but you are not going to explore many unknown realms that way.” – David Whyte

Be still.
Observe.
Listen
Fully present.
Find joy in this day alone.
In the ordinary, beauty is woven.
Partake in it.
Participate, awake, aware.
Rapt attention.
Conscious of the complexity, frailty, depth.
Self, others, the world.
Inquire.
Discover.
Explore unknown realms.

“Courage is the measure of our heartfelt participation with life, with another, with a community, a work, a future. To be courageous, is not necessarily to go anywhere or do anything except to make conscious those things we already feel deeply and then to live through the unending vulnerabilities of those consequences.” – David Whyte

May 2

Kindness

“People are not problems to be solved. They are mysteries to be explored.” – Eugene H. Peterson

Go into the world (the next room, the coffee shop, traffic, work) and be kind first.
No preconceptions, no judgments, no assumptions.
Give criticism a time out.
Fresh eyes, rapt attention, a listening heart.
Beyond self into communion, connection, love.
Consider alternatives, opposites, upside downs.
Twists, turns, mystery, unknowing.
Unfolding, flowing, darkness, greys, brilliant colors, light.
Choose learning and expanding over certainty and being “right.”
Scatter joy and hope, leave peace to take root and bloom.
Be kind. Repeat.

“Remember, there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” — Scott Adams

Mar 12

Diversify

“Variety is the soul of pleasure.” – Aphra Behn

“The future is always coming up with surprises for us, and the best way to insulate yourself from these surprises is to diversify.” – Robert J. Shiller

Financial advisors tell us to diversify our portfolio.
To not invest our money in only one thing.
Where we invest our time and attention is even more important than where we invest our money.
Our identity gets bound up in what we do, in approval, in permission, in should and musts.
We become our work, our relationships, our family, our past, others expectations.
Doing rather than being.
Production and transaction.
Unfold, create, explore and expand.
Play, rest, inquire, allow, invite, imagine, enjoy, relax, delight.
Allow mystery and incompleteness.
Try new things.
Diversify activities, interests, thinking.
Be yourself, your true self.
Dream, imagine, act.
No permission slip required.
Cast your light!

“We owe nobody an explanation or an accounting, as long as our acts do not hurt or infringe on them. How many lives have been ruined by this need to “explain,” which usually implies that the explanation be “understood,” i.e. approved. Let your deeds be judged, and from your deeds, your real intentions, but know that a free person owes an explanation only to himself—to his reason and his conscience—and to the few who may have a justified claim for explanation.”― Erich Fromm, The Art of Being

Mar 5

Yellow Door

“Nobody needs a smile so much as the one who has none to give. So get used to smiling heart-warming smiles, and you will spread sunshine in a sometimes dreary world.” – Lawrence G. Lovasik

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia

Be the yellow in grey.
Smile.
Extend a greeting first.
Ask how another is doing.
Engage.
Simple acts given freely, without reserve.
An invitation.
A door.
A threshold.
A homecoming.
Laughter, levity, light.
Sunshine to make flowers bloom.
Be the yellow in grey.

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” – Joseph Addison

Jan 19

Eyes on the Road

“Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

“Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

Glance only but for a moment in the rearview mirror;
Keep your eyes on the road ahead;
Holding the wheel;
Taking in the scenery;
Open to possibility, the promise of things that have never been.
New trails, some detours, some culdesacs.
Mountains, valleys, curves and flat.
Make your way out, around, through.
Eyes on the road.
Keep going, present in the journey, in this day.

“Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

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