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Posts from the ‘Gratitude’ Category

Oct 31

Gifts of Moments, Presence

“one of those things about getting older was knowing that so many moments weren’t just moments, they were gifts.”― Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge

“Had they known at these moments to be quietly joyful? Most likely not. People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it.”― Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge

It’s easy to mistake “doing” with living
Busy and hurry
Dopamine hit of checking thing off the bottomless “to do“ list
Comparison, counting for worthiness
To those thin spaces, detours, delays
Simple moments
That redirect attention to the present moment
To quiet joy
Live and love well this day
The only place to tend to
Walk lightly
Skip in step
Hopscotch and swings

“When my vision is numbed by apathy and narrowed by mediocrity, I can stand in the presence of great things and fail to see even the smallest of things.”― Craig D. Lounsbrough

Oct 2

Sowing, Tending, Reaping

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” – Simone Weil

“I will complain, yet praise;
I will bewail, approve;
And all my sowre-sweet dayes
I will lament, and love.” – George Herbert

Praise
Approve
Sowing
Love
To do these first, second, third
In the wilderness or plenty
Manna for this day.

“This entire planet is about wilderness, but God is about manna. The journey of life is not a matter of finding our way out of the wilderness but finding the manna inside the wilderness.”― Annie F. Downs, Remember God

Sep 21

Don’t Skip to the End, Behold

“Don’t skip to the end,” he said, gently. “Don’t skip to the end.”― Kate Bowler, Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved

“I have to remind myself not simply to look, but to behold. So let’s bless the gift of cultivated attention. May it bring us endless oooohs and aahhhhhs” – Kate Bowler

No skipping by
Going around
Shortcutting
Counting and comparing
Busy overwhelm
Task overload
Notice, pause, pay attention
Awake and aware
In this day alone
Behold, bemuse, be kind
Yep, even on a Monday, especially perhaps
Scatter seeds frivously
Joy, peace, laughter
Cast light.

“but I believe in joy. We can’t mistake it for anything less than what it is: one of the most powerful ways we experience the deepest and most healing forms of gratitude, delight, and hope. It is a kind of transcendence; joy is a glimmer of love and forgiveness and wholeness that lifts us out of reality for a moment and gives us back to ourselves, anew.”― Kate Bowler, Joyful, Anyway

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

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