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Posts from the ‘Gratitude’ Category

May 6

The Baptism of Presence

“A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.” – Liberty Hyde Bailey

“Help us to be ever faithful gardeners of the spirit, who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, and without light nothing flowers.” – May Sarton

A garden unattended fills with weeds. You are the gardener of your own life. Tend to it daily. Water, light, attention, focus, effort. Dig in the dirt, deep to the roots, pull weeds, bury bulbs, feed, prune, tend.

“The hard work of living can make us forget why we’re here until we’re reawakened. As our eyes constrict and dilate all day long, the tangle of living collapses our awareness of all that is precious, which after a time we remember. This constriction and dilation of awareness is an inner form of day following night.”— The Book of Soul: 52 Paths to Living What Matters by Mark Nepo

Abide in this place and space, in the depth of now. See all of it, not just a sliver or snapshot, but all of it. Celebrate progress, growth, joy. We are blessed and need to be reminded of it daily. Steep in gratitude so that life multiples, expands and abundance shows itself in what already is present.

Actively participate in each day in your thoughts, actions, words, in seeds planted. Do not allow the noise of scarcity, comparison, “someday thinking,” expectations, opinions and assumptions to take root in your garden. Tend to your own garden, baptized by presence. Peace, light, beauty is all around. Wake up.

“Our purpose is not to choose between what’s up close and what’s far away, but to let the light of the world shine through our humanness. In spite of our habits and fears, our next ounce of aliveness takes form from immersing ourselves completely in the moment at hand, the way a cup dipped in a lake is filled with fresh water. This baptism of presence—of being bent by experience to dip the cup of our life into the water of life—fills and awakens us.”— The Book of Soul: 52 Paths to Living What Matters by Mark Nepo

 

 

May 2

Ear-Flipping, Grass Stain Kind of Day

 

“Forever is composed of nows.” – Emily Dickinson

“Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.” – Henri Nouwen

Lay your thinking down

Give your opinions and assumptions a day off

Enter today with fresh eyes

Free from resistance and rules

Renew, refresh, rewire

Heart over head

Being over doing

Open, listening and aligned in now

No yesterday, no tomorrow, today alone

Go off trail and explore

Anchored in gratitude and awareness in the fullness of each moment

Extraordinary in the ordinary

May you have an ear-flipping, grass stain on the forehead kind of day

“We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves. And we’ll also have a lot more joy in living.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Apr 29

2 Comments

Dust It Off

“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” – Dr. Seuss

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

My scooter has been in the corner of my garage collecting dust for years. For the past five years, I’ve tried to start it without success, so it sits taking up space and collecting dust.

Lately, rather than move onto something new, I’ve been tackling and seeing what’s already right in front of me. Keep it, use it or get rid of it. I decided that the scooter will ride again. I guess that’s what gratitude is – seeing and appreciating what’s already present with no need for more.

A few weeks ago, I had Scooterville pick it up to fix it. Since we had a break in days of rain, I picked it up yesterday. The mechanic told me it needed a lot of work but it’s running well and to get some miles on it – drive it! I was a little nervous driving it through busy side streets from Minneapolis to St. Paul through the University of Minnesota campus where I graduated from decades ago. Driving a scooter requires attention, anticipation and awareness since most car drivers operate on automatic pilot and miss what’s in front of them – like scooters and motorcycles.

I am excited to have it back early in the season and will be putting miles on it rather than letting it collect dust in the corner. So often what we enjoy doing is already present and we forget to have fun because we’re too busy working or list checking. The golf clubs are next up this year too! But I won’t be combining activities. Although carrying golf clubs on the back while driving a scooter might get some attention. Look around at what’s already present with fresh eyes. Fun and adventure just may be a dust cloth away.

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.” – Eckhart Tolle

Apr 20

From and To. Here and Now

“Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.” – Mao Zedong

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” – Epicurus

Anchored in their own roots, flourishing with light and water, flowers breaks ground in due time and on time. Through old leaves, surrounded by weeds, aiming for the sky, completing their own journey.

Move me from striving to thriving;
From seeking to finding;
From want to gratitude;
From noise to quiet;
From distraction to attention;
From critic to cheerleader;
From pessimism to optimism
From hurry to saunter;
From spotlight to mirror;
From calculation to celebration;
From more to what already is;
From clinging to letting go;
From worry to ease;
From the past to the present;
From floundering to hope;
From counting to love, unconditionally;
From shadow to light;
From bud to bloom;
From no where to go but here and now in this moment, senses reawakened, a shift;
Move me, nothing else.

“It’s not only moving that creates new starting points. Sometimes all it takes is a subtle shift in perspective, an opening of the mind, an intentional pause and reset, or a new route to start to see new options and new possibilities.” – Kristin Armstrong

Apr 16

The Acorn

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” – Marianne Williamson

Doable – 20 minutes a day. Morning and evening, bookend your day with a gratitude practice to create meaning and depth of the space in between. It takes repetition, practice, intention, attention and mindfulness to bear fruit of joy, peace, delight and awe. Do the work.

Take inventory of blessings and gifts, be grateful in this very moment. If we can’t see what already is, it will be impossible to ever be satisfied. Pursue light and expansion, leaving fear and scarcity in the dust.

Each of us is the gardener of our own life. Stop waiting for others or circumstances to change to produce steady-state contentment for yourself. Plant your own seeds of gratitude, whole-heartedness, optimism, kindness, generosity, enthusiasm, imagination and light.

Growth, gratitude and expansion come from an active cycle of planting, cultivating, waiting and harvesting the bounty found in mere seeds. What we actively plant, we actively reap. If we plant nothing and expect a harvest, we come up disappointed, empty again and again. Plant the seeds, seek the light.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”

The strong oak begins with one acorn. Plant, cultivate, harvest.

“The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.” James Allen

Apr 11

Blank Slate Day

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Elizabeth Appell

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Make today a blank slate.
Draw new lines.
Get out of the box of old thinking.
Lay down all burdens to walk lightly through just this one day to taste how you can live.
Move out into nature and absorb the energy and newness of spring.
Let winter go, come out of hibernation and start anew.
Hunt for flowers breaking the softened ground amidst leaves that lingered from last fall.
Invite your imagination to come out and play.
Breathe in the fresh air deeply and expand your lungs.
Feel the blood rushing through your veins and your heart pumping.
You are alive!
Get to it.
Live!

“To live in the light of a new day and an unimaginable and unpredictable future, you must become fully present to a deeper truth – not a truth from your head, but a truth from your heart; not a truth from your ego, but a truth from the highest source.” – Debbie Ford

Apr 6

Mirth

“Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light. Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.” – Joseph Addison

In all seasons, in nature, in each day, in this very moment, light remains to hold, lead and guide. Sometimes behind the clouds. Sometimes in blue skies on a warm day in April. Sometimes introduced by deep rolling thunder and suddenly breaking through the clouds in brilliant lightning followed by soaking rain.

Seize it and find mirth in all of it. Suspend reasoning, judging and rules. Embrace gratitude, count your blessings and allow joy to enter this day. Guard it and give it away, more will come. We become what we pursue and allow in.

“I am a being of Heaven and Earth, of thunder and lightning, of rain and wind, of the galaxies.” – Eden Ahbez

Mar 9

Check Your Sources

“To find a new word that is accurate and different, you have to be alert for it.” – Mary Oliver

Check your sources is a fundamental tenet of journalism. The Society of Professional Journalists has defined four principles as the foundation of ethical journalism:

  1. Seek truth and report it;
  2. Minimize harm;
  3. Act independently;
  4. Be accountable and transparent.

No worries – this will not be a dissertation on politics, the “free” press or the first amendment – although those certainly all weigh on my mind as a citizen.

However, the media does have an impact on your outlook so before you believe Facebook or your way left or way right friends or family members, check your sources to verify the facts and understand the complexity of issues on your own.

These are also good principles to follow as you write the narrative of your own life.

  1. Seeking truth takes inquiry and investigation. Let go of assumptions and ask one more question to get the complete picture, all sides. Seek understanding, offer compassion.
  2. Minimize harm to others and yourself by being mindful and in control of your attitude, words and actions. Go beyond not harming to offering radical joy, love and acceptance. Be a light.
  3. Be your own person and stop following the crowd. Independence is freedom. Write your own story and stop surrendering the pen to other people, circumstances, offense from the past or fear of the future. This is your life, own it.
  4. Accountable and transparent – you are accountable for yourself so stop trying to fix others. Self-awareness is a one-person job so work on yourself and let others come unto their own if and when they are ready, if ever. Transparency is honesty. Be open and let go of the drama, conspiracy theories and plot twists. Fear is an old story, choose fierce.

Life is short so savor, seek and find joy daily. Perhaps Mary Oliver asks the most important question that you can ask yourself daily, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Mar 1

Field Trip

“Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.” – Buddha

“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” – Buddha

On our daily trip to the dog park yesterday, the girls and I wandered outside of the fenced area to the open field to wander through the maze of frozen cattails. The girls took off as fast and when they realized that they were out of my sight, they would loop back to check on me and to make sure that they still had permission to take the “field” trip. Permission granted with a smile and wave.

With great abandon, weaving, exploring, dancing, flying, all senses in play and at play.

Today is the first day of the week, the first day of the month and marks the meteorological spring. On the cusp of a new season, change is becoming more apparent. Change is always happening but it takes attention and awareness to see it, to enter it with joy and abandon. Each day is a blank slate, a white canvas to fill with colors.

This morning upon waking, I began writing an email in my head as I planned the activities for the day. After five minutes, I stopped the swirl and returned to the field yesterday with gratitude for a beautiful weekend and plans for a glorious day ahead. When we observe our thoughts, what field trip that they are taking us on and decide if we want to take the trip, we can break old patterns, stale reactions and respond with intention and attention to transformation and metanoia, a change of heart resulting in a change in way of life.

You write your own permission slip daily. Stop asking others for permission. Stop making excuses. No past. No future. Just now. What will you do and where will you go on your field trip today?

“To share out your soul freely, that is what metanoia (a change of mind, or repentance) really refers to: a mental product of love. A change of mind, or love for the undemonstrable. And you throw off every conceptual cloak of self-defense, you give up the fleshly resistance of your ego. Repentance has nothing to do with self-regarding sorrow for legal transgressions. It is an ecstatic erotic self-emptying. A change of mind about the mode of thinking and being.”― Christos Yannaras, Variations on the Song of Songs

Feb 15

A Bit Longer

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

“Whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.” – C.S.Lewis.

When I went into the kitchen to get my water with lemon and coffee to start the day, one of the stems of my amaryllis plant with three blooming flowers had broken overnight, holding on by a thread and laying to the side of the pot. I cut the thread that remained away from the bulb, filled a crystal pitcher and promptly put the stem in the water to see if I could hold on a bit longer to the full bloom. When it withers and has its full time, I will discard it, but for now I’ll linger in gratitude of the beauty that is available to me now.

Flowers, music, art, quiet time, reflection are simple ways to foster a sense of gratitude, deepen awareness of the present moment. We have an accurate count of what is missing in our life, perhaps even an inflated one. Focusing on the depth of the valleys, we forego the height of the mountains that exist along side concurrently.

We discard and dismiss, racing off to what we think will want, only to be disappointed when we arrive to our destination and it is not what we thought it would be. It is impossible to find happiness outside of self.  It is the root, the start and the end. Embrace the present in deep gratitude and awareness while glancing to the future filled with hope and anticipation. The past, our circumstances, other people are out of the realm of our control. Our attitude and outlook is ours alone.

Lyrics from Kathy Mattea’s song Standing Knee Deep In A River sums it up well – “knee deep in a river, dying from thirst.”

“Why I ever let them go…
They roll by just like water, and I guess we never learn.
We go through life, parched and empty
Standin’ knee deep in a river, and dying of thirst…”

Root each day and every day in gratitude. Knee deep in a river, overflowing in abundance and satisfied with now. Capture and take full account of both blessings and burdens, valleys and the mountains. Stay a bit longer in gratitude, steeped in the present moment.

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