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Posts from the ‘Gratitude’ Category

Aug 21

Altars and Cathedrals of Presence

“Being content is perhaps no less easy than playing the violin well: and requires no less practice.”― Alain de Botton

“Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path.
Let the flame of anger free you of all falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame.
May anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.” – John O’Donohue

Presence and attention.
Gratitude and grace.
Reverence and awe.
On the sacred ground, holy places, cathedrals and altars of this day.

“When there is nothing left to lose, we find the true self—the self that is whole, the self that is enough, the self that no longer looks to others for definition, or completion, or anything but companionship on the journey.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Aug 3

Daily Tax of Presence and Appreciation

“To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds,”― William James

“I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success, and I am for those tiny, invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, yet which if you give them time, will rend the hardest monuments of man’s pride.”― William James

Effort, daily
Kindness, consideration, care
Small acts
Planting seeds
Sooner than later
Drops to waves
Wings spread
Pay attention
Put in effort
Give before receiving
Fearless and bold
Postpone no more
Joy, delight, gratitude, narrow path, extra mile
Baptized by, with, for love.

“We forget that every good that is worth possessing must be paid for in strokes of daily effort. We postpone and postpone until those smiling possibilities are dead… By neglecting the necessary concrete labor, by sparing ourselves the little daily tax, we are positively digging the graves of our higher possibilities.”― William James

Jul 28

Best Portion, Daily Tending

“the best portion of a good person’s life is ‘the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.”― Allen Levi, Theo of Golden

“To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”― Robert Louis Stevenson, Familiar Studies of Men and Books

Participate in this day
Tending, steeping, rooting
See the brilliance, abundance, delight
Woven in moments
Through simple acts
Attention
Kindness
Laughter
Noticing and embracing
What is already here
Tender and gentle
In the unfolding and becoming
Bloom under construction
Seed, bud, burst
One petal at a time.

“simply help people sit still long enough to see what is already there.”― Allen Levi, Theo of Golden

Jul 26

Pause. Praise. Partake.

“If we allow ourselves to stay amazed and astounded at the vibrant instants of every day… we can uncover unsuspected sparkling gems hidden in the nooks and crannies of our mind.” — Erik Pevernagie

“Life is a sea of vibrant color. Jump in.”― A.D. Posey

Rejoice in the glory of this day.
Look up and around.
Open arms.
Tender heart.
In the pause, noticing.
In the praise, expansion.
In the partaking, restoration.
Sea of color.
Dive in.
Stay amazed.

“Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways. ”― Oscar Wilde

Jul 23

Quiet Mystery Calling

“An awe so quiet I don’t know when it began.
A gratitude had begun to sing in me.
Was there some moment dividing song from no song?
When does dewfall begin?
When does night fold its arms over our hearts to cherish them?
When is daybreak?”― Denise Levertov

“Days pass when I forget the mystery.
Problems insoluble and problems offering
their own ignored solutions
jostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber
along with a host of diversions, my courtiers, wearing
their colored clothes; caps and bells.
And then
once more the quiet mystery
is present to me, the throng’s clamor
recedes: the mystery
that there is anything, anything at all,
let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything,
rather than void: and that, 0 Lord,
Creator, Hallowed one, You still,
hour by hour sustain it.”
― Denise Levertov, Sands of the Well

Gratitude
Not built on platitude
Sewn on pillows
Signs hung on walls
Deeper, wider, dense
Resilient, transcendent, grace
Woven in ordinary, trust, delight
In the letting go, letting it be, letting it become
In the mess, detours, delays
Remember the mystery
Partake in wonder, awe, laughter
Daily practice, habit, commitment
Capture and cast light.

“Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation.”― John Ortberg, When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box

Jul 12

Begin, Repeat, Delight

“One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began” – Mary Oliver

“Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.”― Mary Oliver

Good morning sunshine
Begin
And keep beginning
Again and again
New paths
Travel lightly
Grounded on grace
Sunrise to sunset
Abundance and awe.

“Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.”― Mary Oliver, Evidence: Poems

Jun 30

Gaze and Stance

“May today bring us simple things in simple packages. Easy-to-use things. Things we can tuck into our hearts and don’t require instructions or batteries. Simple things like love and peace, like comfort and joy.”― Mary Davis, Every Day Spirit: A Daybook of Wisdom, Joy and Peace

“Resistance comes in many guises, the most common symptoms being worry, fear and the need to maintain control.”― Mary Davis, Every Day Spirit: A Daybook of Wisdom, Joy and Peace

Yield
Gaze longer
Stance of peace
Catch and release
Fluidity, ease of water
Through, over, around rocks
Simple ways, daily practices
Delight and bliss
Emergence, slow and steady
Peace, light, joy
Rising within, spilling into the world.

“May we be at peace in our hearts. May we be at peace in our homes. May we be at peace with each other. May we imagine peace in our world.”― Mary Davis, Every Day Spirit: A Daybook of Wisdom, Joy and Peace

Apr 28

Tender Grace and Gratitude

“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” – Henry Ward Beecher

“Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Longer hugs
Glance to deep gaze
Hearty laughter
Rapt attention
Overwhelming gratitude
Imperfectly beautiful and messy ordinary days
Phone call, text, check in for no reason
Connection and communion
Daily abiding, tending, holding
Slowing down to see the details
Kneeling in praise, awe, reverence
Sweet memories past and under under construction today, double blessing
Dark nights of the soul, the middle, the other side
Going through, getting through, striving to thriving
Faith, grace, trust, kindness, generosity, more laughter, yielding, listening
God woven through all of it, especially the small
Corners and crevices
Creator, companion, comedian, gardener, light bearer, weight carrier, friend
Notice your life today, each day anew
The stupid, frustrating, distractions, delays, delights, joys, gifts, pains in the ass, funny, poignant
It’s the road, not a detour
Love all of it while in it

10 years ago today, my Dad – best friend, leader of the pack, good man, really good, died unexpectedly
Yet, none of it should be unexpected
You never know how or when
Anticipatory grief steals time and joy
Do not miss this day and the people in it with you
Those gone ahead
Still ever present in different ways, shapes, forms
That’s what love does
Transcends time and space
Anchors and unbinds
Roots and flies
Transforms and travels
Twists and turns
Holds, carries and remains
Look behind and forward, but do not live there
Love well today – thoughts, words, deeds
Cast light.

“You see, love and grief are two sides of the same precious coin. One does not—and cannot—exist without the other. They are the yin and yang of our lives… Grief is predicated on our capacity to give and receive love. Some people choose not to love and so never grieve. If we allow ourselves the grace that comes with love, however, we must allow ourselves the grace that is required to mourn.” – Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph. D.

Mar 7

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Grace, Grief, Gratitude

“…
May I live this day
Compassionate of heart,
Clear in word,
Gracious in awareness,
Courageous in thought,
Generous in love.”― John O’Donohue, Benedictus: A Book of Blessings

“I am making a home inside myself. A shelter
of kindness where everything
is forgiven, everything allowed—a quiet patch
of sunlight to stretch out without hurry,
where all that has been banished
and buried is welcomed, spoken, listened to—released.
​
A fiercely friendly place I can claim as my very own.
​
I am throwing arms open
to the whole of myself—especially the fearful,
fault-finding, falling apart, unfinished parts, knowing
every seed and weed, every drop
of rain, has made the soil richer.
​
I will light a candle, pour a hot cup of tea, gather
around the warmth of my own blazing fire. I will howl
if I want to, knowing this flame can burn through
any perceived problem, any prescribed perfectionism,
any lying limitation, every heavy thing.
​
I am making a home inside myself
where grace blooms in grand and glorious
abundance, a shelter of kindness that grows
all the truest things.
​
I whisper hallelujah to the friendly
sky. Watch now as I burst into blossom.” – Julia Fehrenbacher

Grace, grief, gratitude.
All at once.
In memories, in this moment
To be present.
To yield to joy.
To be at home.
On the ground of this day.
Abby and Sasha sitting by Mom’s chair.
Three years gone, yet everpresent in each day.
Grace, grief, gratitude.

“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

Feb 13

Shaken Awake

Gratitude by Mary Oliver

“What did you notice?

The dew-snail;
the low-flying sparrow;
the bat, on the wind, in the dark;
big-chested geese, in the V of sleekest performance;
the soft toad, patient in the hot sand;
the sweet-hungry ants;
the uproar of mice in the empty house;
the tin music of the cricket’s body;
the blouse of the goldenrod.

What did you hear?

The thrush greeting the morning;
the little bluebirds in their hot box;
the salty talk of the wren,
then the deep cup of the hour of silence.

When did you admire?

The oaks, letting down their dark and hairy fruit;
the carrot, rising in its elongated waist;
the onion, sheet after sheet, curved inward to the pale green wand;
at the end of summer the brassy dust, the almost liquid beauty of the flowers;
then the ferns, scrawned black by the frost.

What astonished you?

The swallows making their dip and turn over the water.

What would you like to see again?

My dog: her energy and exuberance, her willingness,
her language beyond all nimbleness of tongue,
her recklessness, her loyalty, her sweetness,
her strong legs, her curled black lip, her snap.

What was most tender?

Queen Anne’s lace, with its parsnip root;
the everlasting in its bonnets of wool;
the kinks and turns of the tupelo’s body;
the tall, blank banks of sand;
the clam, clamped down.

What was most wonderful?

The sea, and its wide shoulders;
the sea and its triangles;
the sea lying back on its long athlete’s spine.

What did you think was happening?

The green beast of the hummingbird;
the eye of the pond;
the wet face of the lily;
the bright, puckered knee of the broken oak;
the red tulip of the fox’s mouth;
the up-swing, the down-pour, the frayed sleeve of the first snow—
so the gods shake us from our sleep.”

Notice
Hear
Admire
Astonishment
Tenderness
Most wonderful
To be present, shaken awake.

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