Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Everyday’ Category

Apr 27

To the Side

“Your destiny is to fulfill those things upon which you focus most intently. So choose to keep your focus on that which is truly magnificent, beautiful, uplifting and joyful. Your life is always moving toward something.” – Ralph Marston

Our narrow perspective limits our view of what’s possible, but not what’s actually possible when we go beyond a glance. Look to the right, to the left to take in the whole picture. Go wider and deeper. Slow down and peel back the layers of each day and of those searching souls next to you. When speeding down the track with our eyes only on the horizon, on tomorrow, we miss people who need us and who we need to complete our actual journey.

Look to the side, up, down and all around. Staying on the track to a full and meaningful life demands that we remain steeped in the details of now. Seeming detours and delays lead us to the horizon that calls us. The illusion is scarcity in the present, abundance in the future. We are in deep abundance right now, waiting on the side to be found.

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.” – Dale Carnegie

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.” – Dale Carnegie

Apr 18

Twigs, Buds and Blooms

“Life is lived on levels and arrived at in stages.” – Edwin Louis Cole

Life is a mix and often opposites – joy, sorrow; mountains, valleys; excitement, boredom; yin, yang. And each area at different stages and variations, cycles. Some areas are deep in quiet hibernation, some on the edge of budding and some in the brilliance of full bloom.

The full bloom moments pull us through the barren desert, giving hope and proof of our strength and resilience. And we are drawn out into full bloom by soaking up light and letting time do its job.

We never know what someone else is going through. We have the power to add to their burden or lighten the load. Pay attention, ask, listen. Kindness and light can transform twigs to beautiful fragrant flowers. Cast light.

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” – Helen Keller

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” – Helen Keller

Mar 24

6 Comments

The Marvelous

“Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” – Bill Moyers

Enter today eager to create, transform, inspire. In turn, be ready to be created, transformed and inspired. All that is present this very moment longs and waits to be found with simple curiosity and childlike wonder.

Push beyond the mechanical motions, comfortable habits and seemingly mundane. Demand more of yourself. We are called to dive deep into the marvelous center of now. Learn, teach, learn again, every day. Create and be created. Cast light and the marvelous is revealed.

Feb 8

8 Comments

Commit

“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” – W. H. Murray

Much of our activity is busy work, running faster to get our “to dos” complete without questioning what we are doing in the first place. We need to slow down to have our “lazy” days or enough moments each day where we can be quiet and still enough to think, to connect with what’s inside. Vacations scattered throughout the year and “someday soon” are not enough. Daily, a bite at a time.

And when clarity strikes, and it will, commit and move boldly into your purpose and who you are meant to be each and every day. We’ll still have busy work to do, but it will be in the background and we’ll be pursuing what’s right and investing our time in what’s most important. When we do our part with work and commitment, the rest will fall in place.

 

“The more the soul knows, the more she loves, and loving much, she tastes much.” – W. H. Murray

“The more the soul knows, the more she loves, and loving much, she tastes much.” – W. H. Murray

Feb 1

6 Comments

This Moment

“To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.” – Eckhart Tolle

“To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.” – Eckhart Tolle

“Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.” – Eckhart Tolle

Imagine ahead to the sun setting on this day. As you lay your head down to sleep, what will you have done with this day? How we enter each moment, aware or on auto-pilot, makes up our life. Be present this day, in your life and all that is right now.

“It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.” – Eckhart Tolle

Jan 26

8 Comments

The Path

“Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone … Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn’t, it is of no use.” – Carlos Castaneda

Our choices and paths are as wide and deep as the ocean. We often get stuck on the same path and think it’s the only one so we remain. We accept comfortable and familiar over completion and fulfillment.

Our compass, our heart knows better, so listen carefully. And then move, begin the work. There will be delays and detours on the way, but if we’re on the right path it is part of the whole journey. Enjoy each day, be kind and put your heart into each minute. Does your path have a heart?

“Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful, and free. The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.” – Miguel Angel Ruiz

“Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful, and free. The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.” – Miguel Angel Ruiz

Jan 9

6 Comments

Titles

“At the end of the day, the position is just a position, a title is just a title, and those things come and go. It’s really your essence and your values that are important.” – Queen Rania of Jordan

I received an email yesterday that my credit card was double billed for my WordPress “no ads” feature and that they will credit my account. The title of the person who sent it is “Happiness Engineer.” Now that’s something to aspire to!

Chief Happiness Engineers

Chief Happiness Engineers

We often focus on titles and comparisons rather than on who we are and how we treat others, regardless of “position.” We all can be leaders and happiness engineers by getting outside of our own head/feelings and engaging authentically with others. Kindness and caring can change the world.

Lighten up and take on the new title of “happiness engineer” and see what kind of happiness you can engineer today. Cast light on that person next to you and pull them out of their worries and burdens, if only for a moment.

Jan 6

5 Comments

Set the Day

“It is not surprising, then, that though we feel intermittently gifted, our gifts are ever-present. For if enlightenment stems from clarity of being, then talent is no more than a clarity of doing, an embodied moment where spirit and hand are one. The chief obstacle to talent, then, is a lapse of being. It is not that people have no talent, but that we lack the clarity to uncover what it is and how it works. Talent, it seems, is energy waiting to be released through an honest involvement in life.” – Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

Each morning when I ground myself in quiet and reading something good, the day is set no matter what will come. One of my current favorites is Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening. And the days when I rush through too “busy” to do this, my day is set as well, in chaos.

The day’s circumstances, people and challenges are always present but when I anchor my mind, I can see beyond the three ring circus and know that life and who I am is so much more than mere circumstances. An old Polish proverb is a good reminder to not be defined by the crazy makers or to join them – “Not my circus, not my monkeys.”

We can choose calm and light by leaving our ego (I deserve, I demand, I need) at the door and focusing on what we can contribute to make things better and to simply enjoy the day we are given. We can control of our thoughts, actions, reactions and attitude. And more than just trying to remove the negative, we need to replace that void in our thoughts with inspiration, ideas, dreams, plans and aspirations. We are all called to go deeper to find and be so much more. Set your day, set your life.

Dec 31

10 Comments

New New Year’s Resolutions

Each year on this day, we focus on our shortcomings and with short-lived enthusiasm we set our new year’s resolutions, often the same ones we had last year. Lose weight. Join a gym. Exercise more. Find a new job. Travel. Spend less. Get organized.

With a renewed and sustained hope, here’s a new top 10 resolution list to consider:

  1. Let go of the past and be present to the blessings of each day, there are many
  2. Forgive yourself and others
  3. Lighten up and laugh
  4. Spend 10 minutes each morning setting the course for the day in quiet prayer and meditation, listening deeply
  5. Go above and beyond, no strings attached or expectation of “return on investment”
  6. Move your body, mind and spirit each day to improve your whole self
  7. Slow down and take life in instead of pass it by, single-task
  8. Love unconditionally, it’s the only way to truly love
  9. Deepen faith and discover your spirit that longs to be set free, it’s in there quietly asking to go out and play
  10. Enjoy each day with the innocence and delight of a child

Cast your light, let the light in and fill this year with wonder, gratitude and joy, one day at a time.

Dec 11

14 Comments

Barriers or Steps?

“Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.” – A. C. Benson

As I rolled over last night at 3:00 am to move my to-do list out of my head and on to paper, I picked up one of the pads of paper next to my bed. I keep paper and pens around the house so I can write down ideas or lists as they come to mind.

On the front page of the pad I had written – “We are not meant to live a barrier free life. We are built to rise and see beyond those barriers, to thrive, to persevere, and do so with joy.” Talk about perfect timing. After the past few weeks, I needed to hear that and it came from me. We need to trust and listen to what we really know to be true, especially amidst chaos.

Barriers are steps that lead to growth and when we have the right perspective we also realize that not everything is a barrier. The richness and fabric of life includes ups, downs, change, chaos, quiet, laughter and so much more. The moment we are in is just that a moment and when we stay present we realize it’s all ok, more than ok. Find joy in each day and cast light.

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »