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Posts from the ‘Encouragement’ Category

Nov 7

Row Your Boat

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.
…live in the question.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

“We must row in whatever boat we find ourselves in.”― Christie Watson, Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away

Less angst, paralysis and analysis about the boat you are in.
Or comparing to other boats.
More rowing.
In action rather than inaction.
Listening, faith, movement.
The path unfolds in the traveling, the daily rowing.
Unknowing, unlearning to see what lies beneath the surface.
Emergence at the right time, slower than our demands.
Ready and steady.
Answers and more questions leading to more clarity, discernment.
Live in, with and through the questions.
Row the boat. Your boat.

“We make our way through Everything like thread passing through fabric, giving shape to images that we ourselves do not know.”― Rainer Maria Rilke

Jul 31

Coded Within

“At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.” – Jean Houston

“We all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released”― Jean Houston

Be good to yourself.
Be good to others.
Allow laughter to spill into joy.
Ordinary to bloom into extraordinary.
Tend to the garden of your becoming.
A kaleidoscope and rainbow filled with color and light.
Without reserve or permission.
Shine.

“just as you would not neglect seeds that you planted with hope that they will bear vegetables and fruits and flowers so you must attend to nourish the garden of your becoming.”― Jean Houston

Jul 24

The Useful Thing

“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.”― T.S. Eliot, The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism

“Footfalls echo in the memory, down the passage we did not take, towards the door we never opened, into the rose garden.”― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

There are still passages to take, doors to open, flowers to gaze upon.
Learn from regrets but don’t keep carrying them, missing the present.
Beginnings, endings, seasons, cycles, circles.
Time is passing.
Do not waste it.
Be present in today alone and do the work.
Play, delight, find joy in the ordinary moments before you.
Do the useful thing.

“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”― T.S. Eliot

Jun 10

It was then…

“Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.” – Samuel Smiles

The Footprints Prayer

“One night I had a dream…

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord, and

Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; One belonged to me, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before us, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of my life, There was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in my life
This really bothered me, and I questioned the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
You would walk with me all the way;
But I have noticed that during the
most troublesome times in my life,
There is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why in times when I
needed you the most, you should leave me.

The Lord replied, “My precious, precious
child. I love you, and I would never,
never leave you during your times of
trial and suffering.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”

I haven’t heard this prayer in a long time.
It was read on the radio yesterday.
I have it on a small plaque too from many years ago somewhere in my house.
Like the serenity prayer, it’s a wonderful reminder of what we actually control and carry.
And who carries us through it all.
Be held.
It was then God carried you and still does each day on this journey.

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

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