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Posts from the ‘Encouragement’ Category

Sep 5

Unencumbered and Bright

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson

To being yourself
Loud and soft
Authentic, brilliant, imperfect
To allow others the same grace
New day, clean slate
Useful, honorable, compassionate
Unencumbered and bright
Blooming in all seasons.

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Aug 18

Blooming Goodness

“How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

“It wasn’t ’til I saw my daddy’s name in stone, I knew
It ain’t a question of if they will
It’s how they remember you

Did you stand or did you fall?
Build a bridge or build a wall
Hide your love or give it all
What did you do?

Did you make ’em laugh or make ’em cry?
Did you quit or did you try?
Live your dreams or let ’em die
What did you choose?
When it all comes down
It ain’t if, it’s how they remember you

When you’re down to your last dollar
Will you give or will you take?
When the stiff wind blows the hardest
Will you bend or will you break?” – Rascal Flatts

Fall, get back up. Begin again, and again.
Bridges, not walls.
Laughter, lots of it.
Quit then start over, keep going.
Give generously.
Bending and breaking open.
Do good.
Love well.
Cast light.

“What will matter is the good we did, not the good we expected others to do.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Mar 27

Gathering Counterweights

“When we take ourselves too seriously, we are at the risk of taking other things, including God, too lightly,”― James J. Martin, Between Heaven and Mirth

“This is not a ‘silver lining’ situation, where pain and injustice are minimized for the sake of flimsy optimism or playing nice. It’s not even about hoarding our favorite things. We are not guaranteed to have those things within our reach. The practice of gathering counterweights is about creating moments of sustenance from the raw materials of what we’re given. It is about holding everything in honest tension. Both/and. Our counterweights help us move forward and breathe through the heaviness.” – Shannan Martin

Goodness
Kindness
Generosity
Delight
Laughter
Flowers
A smile
Asking
Listening
Art
Music
Movement
Joy
Frolic
Counterweights
To gather and hold
A sense of imperfect yet palpable balance, ease
Atune, awake, off autopilot
Run the race, marathon not sprint
To fight the good fight
Of love, gratitude, peace
Precisely and on purpose
In the middle of the mess, chaos, noise, uncertainty
Long game, resilience, grit, grace
Make the world a little softer today for yourself and others
Cast light.

“What on earth can we do to make this sad and beautiful world a little softer for everyone?”― Shannan Martin, The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God’s Goodness Around You

Jan 23

Poetry of Pause and Presence

“We look about the world, by the light we have made, and realise it’s all vulnerable, and all worth saving, and no one can do it but us.”― Kathleen Jamie, Findings

“The way we are living,
timorous or bold,
will have been our life.”
― Seamus Heaney

Hope and grace
Kindness and laughter
Light and joy
Love

All present in this day, within
Amidst chaos, noise, busy
May we have sense and boldness
To choose these again and again
Over worry, fear, apathy

To love the live we’re shown
For this day will not come again
Poetry of pause and presence
To be made new.

“How perilous is it to choose not to love the life we’re shown?”― Seamus Heaney, Opened Ground

Jan 21

Spinning Wildflowers

“God is not a technician. God is an Artist. This is the God who made you. The same God who lives inside of you. He comes into us, then comes out of us, in a million little ways. That’s why there’s freedom, even in the blah. Hope, even in the dark. Love, even in the fear. Trust, even as we face our critics. And believe in the midst of all that? It feels like strength and depth and wildflower spinning; it feels risky and brave and underdog winning. It feels like redemption. It feels like art.”― Emily P. Freeman, A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live

“If you ask a question, you
can’t stop there.
You must keep going.
You can’t stop there: World will
wave; will be
facetious, angry. You can’t stop there.
You have to keep on going.”
― Gwendolyn Brooks

Hope
Light
Joy
Laughter
Grit
Faith
Trust
Enthusiasm
Resilience
Stay strong
One step at a time
Keep going
Spinning wildflowers.

“I am somewhat of a meliorist. That is to say, I act as an optimist because I find I cannot act at all, as a pessimist. One often feels helpless in the face of the confusion of these times, such a mass of apparently uncontrollable events and experiences to live through, attempt to understand, and if at all possible, give order to; but one must not withdraw from the task if he has some small things to offer – he does so at the risk of diminishing his humanity.”― Bernard Malamud, The Fixer

Nov 21

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Lean Forward into the Present Tense

“Lean forward into your life…catch the best bits and the finest wind. Just tip your feathers in flight a wee bit and see how dramatically that small lean can change your life.”― Mary Anne Radmacher, Lean Forward Into Your Life

“living eulogy.
she danced.
she sang. she took.
she gave.
she loved.
she created.
she dissented. she enlivened.
she saw. she grew. she sweated.
she changed.
she learned. she laughed.
she shed her skin.
she bled on the pages of her days,
she walked through walls,
she lived with intention.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

Change it all to present tense – thoughts, words, actions
Dance, sing, take, give, love, create, dissent, enliven, see, grow, sweat, change, learn, laugh, shed, bleed, walk through walls, live with intention
Present tense, this day alone
Leaning, leaping, lunging into life – today
With joy, anticipation, grit, gratitude, grief, kindness, generosity, hope, fear, courage, laughter, faith, trust, enthusiasm, colors, sequins, confetti, sprinkles, persistence, grace, love.

“No such thing, the queen said, as too many sequins.”― Mark Doty

Nov 20

Keep Going, Don’t Miss the Scenery

“I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.”― Abraham

“Live with intention.
Walk to the edge.
Listen Hard.
Practice wellness.
Play with abandon.
Laugh.
Choose with no regret.
Appreciate your friends.
Continue to learn.
Do what you love.
Live as if this is all there is.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher

Onward
Slow but sure
Imperfection
Error
Adjust
Persist
Stumbles to be sure
When in a hole, stop digging
Take a break
Look up and around
Reset
Get up
Keep going, growing
Don’t miss the scenery along the way
Laughter, light, joy
Amid all of it
Present and awake
Never too late
New day
Light and easy.

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”― Confucius

Oct 2

On the Bridge

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”― Jane Goodall

“Oh, the world needs those standing on the Bridge, For they know how Eternity reaches to earth In the wind that brings music to the leaves Of the forest: in the drops of rain that caress The sleeping life of the desert: in the sunbeams Of the first spring day in an alpine meadow. Only they can blow the dust from the seeing eyes Of those who are blind.”― Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey

Stand on the Bridge
Hem of Heaven
Holding beauty, awe, reverence, wonder
Daily decisions to engage, bother, contribute, care, participate, listen, be alive
Actions more than words but they both count, add up or diminish
Be kind, offer a smile, a warm embrace, enthusiasm, delight, empathy, connection
Gift of life
Open daily.

“We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place–or not to bother”― Jane Goodall

Sep 25

Dancing Light

“When the heart is open, good humor flows and the ego’s rigidity melts like snow in the sun.”― Joan Borysenko, Pocketful of Miracles

“May my words be truthful, encouraging and humble. May my words be kind and filled with care.”― Joan Borysenko, Pocketful of Miracles

Observer, glance to gaze
Third person to self, others too
Not to judge
Rather to offer kindness, a warm embrace
Assume there’s more to the story, beneath the surface
Choose goodness and light
Delight, encouragement, joy
Open heart and a lot more dancing.

“A person who is not afraid of looking like a fool gets to do a lot more dancing.”― Margaret Renkl

Sep 10

Just Bloom

“You do not just wake up and become the butterfly
Growth is a process.”― Rupi Kaur, The Sun and Her Flowers

“bloom beautifully
dangerously
loudly
bloom softly
however you need
just bloom”
― Rupi Kaur, Milk and honey

Unfold
Unfurl
Unravel
Break ground
Start again, repeat
Imperfectly
Brilliantly
Authentically
Blooming in all seasons
Joy in the little things, ordinary days
Catching and casting light
Just bloom, right where you are planted.

“May you always be the one
who notices the little things
that make the light pour
through, and may they always
remind you: There is more to
life and there is more to you.”
― Morgan Harper Nichols

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