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Posts from the ‘Encouragement’ Category

Mar 4

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Power of Encouragement, Small Acts Stacking

“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

“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.” – Yehuda Berg

Till the dry soil
Plant seeds, daily
Of hope
Peace
Kindness
Smiles
Invitation
Belonging
Joy
Compassion
Enthusiasm
Welcoming
Empathy
Hospitality
Laughter
Encouragement
Healing
Small acts
That stack, build, grow
Bloom
Keep planting
Good, inconceivable until it is
Love wins again and again
Not without struggle and toil
Fight the good fight

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”― Robert F. Kennedy

Jun 3

At the Gate

“For now just remember how you felt the day you were born: desperate for magic, ready to love.”― Kate Baer, What Kind of Woman

“This is not a dress rehearsal before a better kind of life. Pick up your heavy burdens and leave them at the gate. I will hold the door for you.”― Kate Baer, What Kind of Woman

Do not bypass this day.
Put the rocks picked up on the way down.
Walk lightly, even for a bit.
No permission needed.
Magic awaits and love in action.
Cross the threshold.
Good on the other side.

“Let your life rest on what is already good.”― Kate Baer, And Yet: Poems

May 16

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Moors and Hills

“Roads? Who spoke of roads? We go by the moor and the hills, and tread granite and heather as the Druids did before us.”― Daphne du Maurier, Jamaica Inn

“I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable.”― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

On your journey, wherever you are right now, may you know love.
Love that walks beside, before, beneath and above you.
Not fixing, but accompanying, present.
Some seasons weigh heavy.
Be kind to yourself.
Open to hope, beauty, joy.
You do not walk alone.
Love, light, peace.

“I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Feb 12

Context and Framing

“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”― Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way

“We forget: In life, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or where you came from. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given.”― Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way

Right up the middle.
Of challenge, uncertainty, unknowing.
The detours, the delays, the obstacles.
Head on.
Facing fear with action.|
One step, then the next.
Repetition. Resolve. Momentum.
Learning, relearning, unlearning.
Keep going.
Keep growing.
Keep climbing mountains.
And choose to enjoy the journey daily.

“Perspective has two definitions. Context: a sense of the larger picture of the world, not just what is immediately in front of us Framing: an individual’s unique way of looking at the world, a way that interprets its events.”― Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way

Feb 8

Far More

“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.”― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine

“You are far more than your worst day, your worst experience, your worst season, dear one. You are more than the sorriest decision you ever made. You are more than the darkest sorrow you’ve endured. Your name is not Ruined. It is not Helpless. It is not Victim. It is not Irresponsible. History is replete with overcomers who stood up after impossible circumstances and walked in freedom. You are not an anemic victim destined to a life of regret. Not only are you capable, you have full permission to move forward in strength and health.”― Jen Hatmaker, Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life

In the overcoming, resilience.
The getting back up, resolve.
The carrying on, strength.
Threading joy, laughter, color through it all, transcendence.

“He said not ‘Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be dis-eased’; but he said, ‘Thou shalt not be overcome.”― Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

Jan 23

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Big Sky, Fish Biting

“You can never have too much sky . You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad. Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky. Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things that are beautiful. Still, we take what we can get and make the best of it.”― Sandra Cisneros

“Many of us would probably be better fishermen if we did not spend so much time watching and waiting for the world to become perfect.”― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

Move imperfectly.
Try, take action, a few steps.
Then a few more.
See where they lead.
No precise map but a sense of direction, consistency, momentum.
Wander and wonder.
Off autopilot.
Break stasis.
Invite awe.
Cast your line.
Catch some fish.
Big sky.
The fish are biting.

“Close the gap between yourself and your spirit–the person you know you can be. Let your choices reflect the person you want to become, not just the person you think you are.”― Maggie Smith, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change

Jan 19

A Single Sunbeam

“Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that have received–only what you have given.”― Francis of Assisi

“The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today.”― St. Francis Of Assisi

Preach through simple acts
A smile
Conversation
Questions
Listening
Kindness
Pep in your step
Generosity
Reflection
Gratitude
Connection
Laughter
Fun
Encouragement
Scatter peace, light and joy with a happy heart
The power of a single sunbeam.

“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.”― St. Francis of Assisi

Jan 10

Enthusiasm Habit

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” – William Arthur Ward

“SUCCESS TONIC

  • 1 tsp confidence
  • 1 tsp courage
  • 2 tsp patience
  • 4 tsp prayer
  • 4 tsp perseverance
  • 4 tsp joy
  • 6 tsp enthusiasm

Take one teaspoonful of this tonic three times daily.”― Sivananda Saraswati

Enthusiasm, encouragement, hope, joy, optimism are multipliers, catalysts, expanders.
Expend and extend, daily.
A practice, a habit, a commitment.
An energy that creates and outlasts rather than contracts and fizzles.
Filling the well of others and self too.
Found in loving without conditions.
Love in action.
Start with a smile.

“Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.”― Gordon Parks

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

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