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Posts from the ‘Faith’ Category

Nov 24

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Tough and Soft

“Be soft, don’t let the world make you hard. Be gentle, don’t let the people make you difficult. Be kind, don’t let the realities of life steal your sweetness and make you heartless.”― Nurudeen Ushawu

Outlook is grounded in what’s inside. Be careful with your words and thoughts for they create the path on which you walk. Nurture and foster goodness and light, letting the noise and distractions fade away. Never give into circumstances, outside negativity and easy cynicism.

Own what is yours and let others own what is theirs to own. Show relentless empathy. Forgiveness is freedom. Break no one’s spirit, especially your own.

Optimism is a daily choice worthy of practice, discipline and rigor. Build your mental toughness so you remain soft, capable of delight in the smallest of things. Gratitude is the fuel.

Focus your thoughts, expand your life. See colors, there are many to see. Be foolishly positive and trust the unfolding of each day, anchored firmly in possibility and awe. Any other path is a dead end.

Soft. Gentle. Kind.

Nov 13

Patience as a Strategy

“Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.” – Joyce Meyer

As I waited in a four-block line just to check my luggage, people started complaining. It’s understandable to be frustrated when we are inconvenienced. I was a bit concerned about making my flight as others were as well.  However, complaining and worrying won’t ever change the outcome and it makes the journey a drag.

A woman ahead of me asked the airport staff “what’s the strategy on the line?” The staff person looked at her and calmly answered, “patience.” Patience as a strategy? Brilliant!

We overdo, over-complicate and want to control everything. And in the process, we make our lives miserable and spread it to others too. When we focus our energy on what we can control and let the rest unfold as it will, we have suddenly have more “magical” days.

Listen carefully to your thoughts and words. Choose patience, optimism and light. Have a magical day, indeed!

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” John Quincy Adams

Oct 30

Marvelous Richness

“I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.” – Helen Keller

It’s safe in the harbor of the past, assumptions and sameness. But we are built for adventure, discovery and high seas living. For beautiful sunsets, for gliding across open waters and yes, for waves and high winds.

Resilient, strong and ready for overcoming and victory, living each moment fully. Stay the course, keep the faith, trust your journey.

No more wasted days. Only vibrant awareness of possibility and abundance. Enter the marvelous richness of uncharted waters. Pull the anchor up, furl the sails and venture out into the open, deep water.

Day 30 of 30. I’ve written a post for 30 days focusing on optimism and the power of positive thinking which results in positive living. I’ve not been perfect in my thinking and doing, but I have been more aware of how I start my day and where I allow my mind to wander. A habit is formed in 30 days and optimism is good medicine.

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” – Proverbs 17:22

Oct 27

Break Ground

“Everywhere we look, life is burgeoning. Plants, trees, and flowers are always pushing up, breaking ground, and yearning to be. Like the seeds of the natural world, there is some innate impulse in each of us to break ground and sprout.” – Mark Nepo, Drinking from the Light

Nurture and feed the seeds of your joy so they can come to fruition. Our thoughts, our outlook, our silence and our words have power to create and bloom. Prune the dead branches, the unnecessary, so you can come to autumn brilliance, celebrating the harvest of seeds achieving their purpose.

“Repeatedly, we’re called to engage experience as a way to manifest what we carry within us, bringing what is dormant into the world. As the tree that a seed carries breaks ground in time, reflection, dialogue, and writing are seed-like forms by which we release our inwardness into the world. This is why we listen and express. This is why we write, why we create. Because expression is like sunlight that emanates from within. It causes the soul to blossom in time.” – Mark Nepo, Drinking from the Light

Oct 23

Art of Memory

“We do not know the true value of our moments until they have undergone the test of memory.” – Georges Duhamel

“The true art of memory is the art of attention.” Samuel Johnson

We are doing the final clear out of my Aunt’s house to get it ready for sale. She passed away September 3rd. I stopped by a few days ago by myself, looking at the few things that remain and found this little guy in the corner of a shelf.

Instantly, it brought me back to her house on Earl Street where we spent many family holidays. It’s funny what triggers memories and where we are instantly transported by small momentos.

In the midst of loss, we suddenly get our buoyancy and pop to the surface of gratitude. As Dr. Seuss so poignantly said, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” We find our way back to joy, to delight, to the present in small things.

When we are immersed in the moment fully aware, we get double blessing in the present and later when it becomes a memory that we treasure. The true gift of loss is a keen awareness and deep gratitude for this day. In this very moment, you are creating memories. so pay attention and actively participate in your life. Make today a memory worth remembering.

Oct 21

Seedling, Tree

“The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.” – James Allen

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

What we sow, cultivate, prune and feed is what we reap. Plant hope, optimism, good thoughts, reap a good day, a good life.

Sow seeds today. An encouraging word. A smile. An eye to eye encounter. Notice others. We long to be seen. Give that gift and it returns to you. Leave light behind. Walk lightly. Let go of the unnecessary. Make room for joy.

Sow, reap. Plant, harvest. Seedling, tree.

“Talk unbelief, and you will have unbelief; but talk faith, and you will have faith. According to the seed sown will be the harvest.” – Ellen G. White

Oct 20

Nowness

“The principle of nowness is very important to any effort to establish an enlightened society.”― Pema Chödrön, How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind

“IN the morning when you wake up, reflect on the day ahead and aspire to use it to keep a wide-open heart and mind. At the end of the day, before going to sleep, think over what you’ve done. If you fulfilled your aspiration, even once, rejoice in that. If you went against your aspiration, rejoice that you are able to see what you did and are no longer living in ignorance. This way you will be inspired to go forward with increasing clarity, confidence, and compassion.”― Pema Chödrön, The Pocket Pema Chodron

Remain in nowness and moments overflow with enough. No yesterday, no tomorrow, just this moment. Clarity. Confidence. Compassion. Open your heart and have a grateful day.

“Nowness is the sense that we are attuned to what is happening. The past is fiction and the future is a dream, and we are just living on the edge of a razor blade.”― Chögyam Trungpa

Oct 15

The Sky

“Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work.” – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

“Aim for the sky, but move slowly, enjoying every step along the way. It is all those little steps that make the journey complete.” – Chanda Kochhar

Suddenly the sky swoops down and pulls us upright to our proper position. Released from the abyss of our circling scarcity thoughts into the abundant majesty of the whole universe inviting us in.

Conspiring, surprising and overcoming our eyes with brilliance, hue and light.

Breathtaking. Radiant. Bedazzling.

Extraordinary beauty in ordinary moments. Available to all, accepted by few. Be one of the few and look up.

“Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
T’was blind but now I see” – John Newton

 

Oct 10

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Kairos

“Grace is available for each of us every day – our spiritual daily bread – but we’ve got to remember to ask for it with a grateful heart and not worry about whether there will be enough for tomorrow.” – Sarah Ban Breathnach

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.” – Anne Lamott

Kairos is an Ancient Greek term translated to the right time, a spiritual opportunity, the hour of grace.

May you notice all of your “Kairos” moments in all of the hours between sunrise and sunset. Do not let one day go by without taking a blessings inventory to foster deep gratitude. Invite and allow awe and joy to enter your day.

Oct 8

Mustard Seed

“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” – Psalm 46:10

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” – Matthew 17:20

The Cathedral of Saint Paul was built between 1907-1915. Eight years with none of the equipment and tools that we have today. The workmanship is magnificent. Those who started in 1907 had the vision, the faith of a mustard seed followed by a heavy dose of fortitude and patience to finish this national treasury. Most days, we don’t have the patience to put eight minutes into something much less eight years.

The Cathedral is two blocks from the end of the Twin Cities Marathon and 10-mile run. During my three marathons especially, I would visualize seeing that beautiful sacred place many times along the long path. And when I saw the tip of the dome, I knew that I really was almost done.

A tiny seed planted takes hold, carries us along and mountains are moved. So often we try too hard to figure it out or do more. Rather than more activity, plotting and pining, we just need to be still long enough to hear that still small voice directing the next step.

Not knowing is o.k., believing in greater things than ourselves is required to live contently with deep joy rooted in optimism.

Go move mountains today, not by doing, but by faith. A mustard seed, that’s it.

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