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Posts from the ‘Gratitude’ Category

Aug 13

Dance with Wonder

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton

Watching my great nephews gaze with wonder at a waterfall is yet another master class in how to live well.
“Give faith a fighting chance and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.”
Do not waste moments in complaint, comparison or resentment.
This day is your life.
Live it with gratitude, joy and delight.
Find the wonder woven throughout this day and by all means, dance.

“I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed,
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.
I hope you dance… I hope you dance…
I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance,
Livin’ might mean takin’ chances, but they’re worth takin’,
Lovin’ might be a mistake, but it’s worth makin’,
Don’t let some Hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin’ out reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.
I hope you dance… I hope you dance.
I hope you dance… I hope you dance.
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years
And wonder where those years have gone.)
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.
Dance… I hope you dance.
I hope you dance… I hope you dance.
I hope you dance… I hope you dance.
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years
And wonder where those years have gone.)”
– Lyrics from I Hope You Dance, Lee Ann Womack

Turn it up and dance.

Aug 8

Holy Ordinary

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” — Henry Miller

“Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted–a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” — Rabbi Harold Kushner

It’s been a dry desert-like summer. Two mornings waking to soaking rain is sweet music. It is greening up the grass, softening the earth, clearing the smoky air from fires in Canada. We appreciate and value things more when they are absent. Gratitude invites us to live life in “real-time” when we are in the midst of it, not in memory.

“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend… when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present — love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure — the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.” –Sarah Ban Breathnach

Daily gratitude brings our blessings that we take for granted or pass by looking for the next thing to the forefront, center stage. Don’t just count your blessings, experience them fully in the moment. Commit to a daily gratitude practice and begin the adventure of abundance, ease and joy. Saying “thank you” throughout this day is a good start.

“You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

Aug 2

Fellow Travelers

“We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

“On your journey, don’t forget to smell the flowers. Take time out to notice that you’re alive. You can only live in one day.” – Ray Fearon

In the chaos of doing
In the buzz of activity
May you find joy in the steps of the journey
Breathe in the fragrance of flowers
Wander through the woods to feel the earth
Swift to love
Kindness as your compass
Notice you’re alive
Never alone
Fellow travelers along side
The destination comes, magic is the journey, the mystery.

“Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind.” – Henri Frederic Amiel

“Travelers, there is no path, paths are made by walking.” – Antonio Machado

Jul 31

2 Comments

86,400

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?” — William A. Ward

Bookend your day with gratitude
Set the course
In between, observe, explore and wander
Journey within
Find the extraordinary hidden in the ordinary
Seek wisdom in nature
Hear music in the wind
Be open to surprise, invite wonder in
Smile, laugh, enjoy
86,400 seconds
Two words
Thank you!

“Thou that has given so much to me,
Give one thing more–a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if thy blessings had spare days;
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.”– George Herbert

Jul 11

2 Comments

Wake and Walk Into It

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” – Henry David Thoreau

“The further I wake into this life, the more I realize that God is everywhere and the extraordinary is waiting quietly beneath the skin of all that is ordinary. Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond, and music is in both the flowing violin and the water dripping from the drainage pipe. Yes, God is under the porch as well as on top of the mountain, and joy is in both the front row and the bleachers, if we are willing to be where we are.” ― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have

May you find the extraordinary in the ordinary;
It is hiding in plain sight;
Look all around, in and out, up and down, right and left;
If thoughts are whirling, go for a walk, breathe deeply;
Allow new answers to enter;
Make room for different responses;
Seize, embrace this day, a moment at a time;
Gratitude, grace and praise hold the keys to locked doors;
Wake and walk into it, cross the threshold.

“Sometimes the simplest and best use of our will is to drop it all and just walk out from under everything that is covering us, even if only for an hour or so—just walk out from under the webs we’ve spun, the tasks we’ve assumed, the problems we have to solve. They’ll be there when we get back, and maybe some of them will fall apart without our worry to hold them up.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have

Jul 2

Seeds of Today

“All the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of today.” – Indian Proverb

“Gratitude, warm, sincere, intense, when it takes possession of the bosom, fills the soul to overflowing and scarce leaves room for any other sentiment or thought.” – John Quincy Adams

What you hold on to holds you in return.
Listen to what you are thinking and saying.
Do your words and actions create or crumble?
Foster or smother?
Encourage or criticize?
Forgive or bind?
Sing or squeal?
Open or opinion?
Compliment or complaint?
Love or apathy?
Desert or oasis?
Light or shadow?
Ego or soul?

Anchor in gratitude and awe, beauty and light. It is in reach and within. Awaken to movement and flow of your being, calling and purpose for being alive in this moment. Cast light.

“She decided after waking from what felt like years of sleep, that nature was responsible for loving her awake. She decided the earth breathed its grace up from the roots of her feet. The trees gathered together to give her grounded strength. She decided the wind carried loving whispers from the divine to her slumbering ears. She decided the sky showered her with wisdom and mirrored the boundless nature of every soul walking this earth.

When her eyes opened she saw before her a playground of light, each beam reaching toward her. She understood for the first time it seemed that the life resting in the spaces between her bones was meant to be lived with every fiber. Was meant to be fiercely loved and honored and savored.

She decided after waking from what felt like years of sleep, that she would live forevermore wide open to all that came to be in front of her. She decided that living awake was a choice, and in that moment she became free. And in that moment she chose to be the beam of light that reaches toward all other life, to be the beam that assists the earth in breathing and loving others awake.” – Sarah Blondin

“Life is full and overflowing with the new. But it is necessary to empty out the old to make room for the new to enter.” – Eileen Caddy

Jun 15

Sweet. Simple. Joy.

“Ultimately it’s the simple things that make a difference.” – Chris Smalling

“It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder

Anchor to hope, not circumstances. Assume the best in others and be proven wrong on occasion. Find the blessings in the burdens.

Joy is available in all seasons and cycles. It’s a constant. Our most important job is to find it daily in plain sight, lurking, longing to be found. Let joy sneak up on you.

Joy can be found in the silly, in mischief, in frolicking, in prayer, in laughter, in nature, in an embrace, in flowers, in a smile, in music, in art, in literature, in play, in gratitude, in dogs, even in some people (make sure you’re one of them), in simple encounters.

Double count blessings, multiply joy. Abundance and light with a shift in attention, focus and intention.

“Play is the highest form of research.” – Einstein

Get out of your head into your imagination. The journey is what you make it so settle only for sweet, simple joy.

“Live out of your imagination, not your history.” – Stephen Covey

Jun 7

The Grass Under Your Feet

“The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” – Henry Miller

“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.” – Eleonora Duse

We plot, we plan, we prepare, we think, we overthink.
Our journey twists, turns and takes us places that were not in our plans.
The Yiddish proverb Der mentsh trakht und Gott lakht (“Man plans and God laughs”) is the origin of Woody Allen’s quote, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”
God has His own plans for us and they are so much bigger than our own.

So, if you are in the midst of a plot twist right now, be patient, trust and wait with joy, held in a peace that passes understanding and grace that is overflowing.

In Amy Bost Henegar’s daily prayers, she often says don’t diagnose or tell God what to do, just hold up your thoughts to God.
Be where you are right now, feel the grass under your feet.
Allow God’s plans to unfold in your life.
They will whether you cooperate or not.
See the brilliance in a blade of grass, where you are standing right now.
Gratitude holds, carries and pulls us through.
See the wonder in this day.

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” G. K. Chesterton

May 26

Unconditional Gratitude

“Imagination must constantly run on a new track or it becomes lifeless. A living imagination is essential to prayer.”― Calvin Miller, The Table of Inwardness

“The Blessing – The end of desire awakens the blessing. We see life as perfect with all its joys and challenges. We become capable of penetrating its secrets. We find that what was hidden becomes revealed. What was unfathomable becomes simple and direct. This is the blessing that can only be known through unconditional gratitude.” – Ann Mortifee, In Love with the Mystery

May you see the blessing in this day

Awaken to the essence of being

Aware of the quiet transformation of becoming

Find the oasis in the desert of your thoughts

Let your imagination run wild

And be resurrected in every moment

“The Eternal Essence of Being – We are a becoming. There is no shore to which we must journey. There is no place to which we must arrive. We are an ever-evolving phenomenon, changing, spiraling, transforming. Consciousness is not a place to which we are going. It is the very substance, the essence of all we are. Our body, mind, emotion and soul are fluctuations of awareness within an endless vibration. We are sparks of intelligence at play. To be resurrected in every moment of every day is to grasp the perpetual nature of becoming and the eternal essence of being.” – Ann Mortifee, In Love with the Mystery

May 14

Expand the Guest List

“Mysterious Journey – When a path opens before us that leads we know not where, don’t be afraid to follow it. Our lives are meant to be mysterious journeys, unfolding one step at a time. Often we follow a path worn smooth by many and in doing so we lose our authenticity, our individuality, our own unique expression. Do not be afraid to lose your way. Out of chaos, clarity will eventually arise. Out of not knowing, something new and unknown will ultimately come. Do not order things too swiftly. Wait and the miracle will appear.” – Ann Mortifee, In Love with the Mystery

Invite others to the party in your head. Joy, wonder, unknowing, hope, anticipation, adventure, delight, curiosity, inquiry, possibility, mystery, color, depth, quiet, boldness, enthusiasm, contemplation, generosity, gratitude, grace, trust, faith and light.

When you expand the guest list, there’s less room for fear, unforgiveness, judgment, condemnation, the need to be right, fake security in certainty, narrowmindedness, offense, conspiracy theories, the past which already had its turn, blind spots that have become blindness.

Your new guests are fun, reckless, generous, push you to expand rather than contract and widen the path to reconnect your head to your heart, to intuition, to your center, to renewed energy and enthusiasm.

Keep the path clear, wide and smooth from your head to your heart. Travel it often. Welcome yourself home.

“The moment you separated from your heart, the moment you closed, quieted, pushed away, turned from, disowned, lost sight of goodness, the exact moment you began to splinter from love, a part of you began doing everything in its power to bring you back.

Just as a mother who has lost her child will never tire of standing at the ocean’s edge calling out her beloved’s name, sending prayers for survival, blessings in bottles out to the sea, your heart, began to do the same once you set adrift. You are never lost, dear one, for the moment you divided, your heart began doing everything in its power to bring you home. – A Letter from the Universe” – Sarah Blondin, Heart Minded, How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love

 

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