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Posts from the ‘Gratitude’ Category

Sep 30

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Unhurrying

“Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus.”― Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

“Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I’ve ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing…. Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away.”― Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

In slowing
Fullness of moments, days
In attention
Beauty in the backdrop comes to the forefront
In unknowing
Space opens to learn, relearn, grow
In reflection
Gratitude expands
In awe
Wonder and joy show up
In presence
Abundance overflowing

“Life is so urgent it necessitates living slow.”― Ann Voskamp

Sep 23

No Seed, No Bloom, Plant

“Our mind is like a field in which many seeds germinate.”― Joan Borysenko, Pocketful of Miracles

“Seed Thought Meditation is a form of mental martial arts. If we resist thoughts they will overpower us. But if we just step lightly out of their way, letting them come and go like birds flying overhead, we can use their energy to further focus our minds. ― Joan Borysenko, Pocketful of Miracles

What seeds will I plant, nurture, water, feed?
Thoughts, words, actions
My own, not others
All in my command and control
May I put my effort, energy and attention here
To cast light, color, joy rooted within
Walking in love, kindness and generosity
In the world, not of the world
Imperfectly, intentionally, with gratitude
Choosing well, living well.

“When my ego starts in with its judgments about what is wrong, what is not good enough, let me notice this pessimistic thinking and instead, see my blessings.”― Joan Borysenko, Pocketful of Miracles

Aug 27

Surprised by Joy, Rooted In Gratitude

“Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life…all of our life.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Life of the Beloved

“Gratitude goes beyond the ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen

How we think about things either adds weight or lightens the load
Gardener of grace
Discipline of gratitude
Surprised by joy
Bloom of generosity
Fresh water washing over ordinary, beautiful days
Awaken to delight woven in this day
Plant seeds, tend the field, harvest the bounty.

“Be surprised by joy, be surprised by the little flower that shows its beauty in the midst of a barren desert, and be surprised by the immense healing power that keeps bursting forth like springs of fresh water from the depth of our pain.”― Henri Nouwen

Aug 21

Anchor and Kite

“Grace is the permanent climate of divine kindness; the perennial infusion of springtime into the winter of bleakness.”― John O’Donohue, Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

“The best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.”― William Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads

Look longer.
Listen intently.
Breathe deeper.
Move out in love.
Anchor and kite.
A smile, laughter, enthusiasm, delight, generosity, gratitude, presence.
Infuse this day with joy.
Cast peace and light.

“It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.”― Germany Kent

Aug 20

Summer’s Sunset

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”― Alan Wilson Watts

“Try to imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and never wake up… now try to imagine what it was like to wake up having never gone to sleep.”― Alan Watts

Last weeks of summer.
Soak them in with joy, not lament.
Each season has its gifts and purpose.
Participate and partake in each one with enthusiasm and delight.
Unlearn, plunge in, never going to sleep.
To awe, wonder and beauty woven into each day.
Don’t miss the show.

“A scholar tries to learn something everyday; a student of Buddhism tries to unlearn something daily.”― Alan Watts

Aug 3

Radiance of Transfiguration

“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness” – Dalai Lama XIV

“Dear God, Thank you for this new day, its beauty and its light. Thank You for my chance to begin again. Free me from the limitations of yesterday. Today may I be reborn. May I become more fully a reflection of Your radiance. Give me strength and compassion and courage and wisdom. Show me the light in myself and others. May I recognize the good that is available everywhere.”― Marianne Williamson, Illuminata: Thoughts, Prayers, Rites of Passage

Transaction to relationship
Efficiency to meaning
Speed to savoring
Transience to transfiguration
Awake to the good in this day, in others, in self
Beauty and light
In abundance, overflowing.

“Possibility is the secret heart of time. On its outer surface, time is vulnerable to transience. … In its deeper heart, time is transfiguration.” – John O’Donohue

Jul 2

Irreplaceable Aliveness

“we think that accomplishing things will complete us, when it is experiencing life that will.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

“there is a great choice that awaits us every day: whether we go around carving holes in others because we have been so painfully carved ourselves, or whether we let spirit play its song through our tender experience, enabling us to listen, as well, to the miraculous music coming through others.”― Mark Nepo, Finding Inner Courage

Alive and awake in this day.
Each step along the way.
The path unfolding.
Walk it out.
Lean in.
Take hold.
Be held.
In joy, awe, laughter, delight.
Woven in ordinary days.
Extraordinary grace.

“We work so hard to get somewhere, to realize a dream, to arrive at some destination, that we often forget that though some satisfaction may be waiting at the end of our endurance and effort, there is great and irreplaceable aliveness in the steps along the way.”― Mark Nepo

Jun 23

Today’s Sky

“This sky
Where we live
Is no place to lose your wings
So love, love
Love.”
― Hafez, The Gift

“Now that your worry has proved such an unlucrative business,
Why not find a better job?”
― Hafez, The Poetry Pharmacy Returns

Above the noise.
Amidst the busy.
Beyond the doing.
Thin spaces.
Of slowing, pause, margin.
Listen, look, gaze.
Stop. Sit. Savor.
Grace and gratitude are at play.
The Real Fun of this day.
Full presence, active participation, wings in motion.
Cast light and love.

“Zero
Is where the Real Fun starts.
There’s too much counting
Everywhere else!”
― Hafez, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy

Jun 7

Let the Beauty…

“For the grace of the presence, be grateful.” – Rumi

“You wander from room to room
Hunting for the diamond necklace
That is already around your neck!”
― Rumi

Grace of presence.
Beauty abounds.
Awash with gratitude.
To kneel and kiss the ground.
Let quiet, reflection, slowness in.
Work to be done in this place.
Joy to be had.
Delight to partake in.
Wearing diamonds and knowing it.

“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”― Rumi

Jun 6

Top Heavy Gratitude

“And when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love but to persist in love.”― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.”― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

To see with new eyes what is already present, available in abundance.
Undeterred by noise, the pursuit of more, speed, volume.
Enough and overflowing.
Woven into the tapestry of ordinary days.
Choosing what matters.
Bypassing the rest.
Persisting in love.
Top heavy with gratitude and grace.
The business of joy.
Daily.

“I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don’t even know it.”― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

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