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Posts from the ‘joy’ Category

Feb 10

Joy Production

“Do anything, but let it produce joy.”― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

“…You should stay alive
As often as possible and keep yourself open
to anything out of place and everything
with nowhere else to go, to carry what’s left
of your voice out and beyond, into, over,
and under, past, within, outside, between,
among, across, along, and up and around
and to be beside yourself when the spirit moves you…”
― David Wagoner, After the Point of No Return

Wide open field.
Unbound and ablaze.
Space to wander and explore.
Dancing the dance.
Singing the song.
Present in the present.
May you be efficient, effective in your production of joy, pursuit of awe.
Pay close attention, instilled and alive with curiosity, a capacity for delight.

“Do stuff. be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. stay eager.”― Susan Sontag

Jan 30

Angel Wings

“Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.”― Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart

“In the stillness of quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair.”― Howard Thurman

From stillness, an arising and awakening.
From reflection, an anchoring and tethering.
From quiet, a whisper of strength, courage, hope.

From the heart, a deepening and connection to a wellspring of love.
Brushed and brushing, the wisp an angel’s wing.
Joy and peace remembered, renewed.
Trailing beauty catches up.

“It is curious how one’s cup may be filled up by another and no words are passed to indicate the process that is taking place. . . It was as if, for a moment, I had been brushed by the angel’s wing.”― Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart

Jan 23

Like Never Before or Ever Again

“Animals praise a good day, a good hunt. They praise rain if they’re thirsty. That’s prayer. They don’t live an unconscious life, they simply have no language to talk about these things. But they are grateful for the good things that come along.” – Mary Oliver

“Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.” – Dale Carnegie

I take the girls to the dog park almost every day.
A few blocks out, Abby starts groaning with anticipation.
If no one is around, I let them off leash at the top of the hill and they barrel down the wooded path as if arriving somewhere new for the first time ever.
Every single time, enthusiasm overflowing, fresh and new joy.
We can make the ordinary daily activities extraordinary by entering them through doors of wonder and windows of awe.
Seeing the same from a different angle.
Like we’ve never been here before and that we won’t ever be in this day again.
One is in our control and the other is not.
Time is moving swiftly.
We slow it down when we savor and celebrate it while we are in it.
No where to be but here and now.
Like never before or ever again.
Praise this good day.
Hunt well.
Plenty to be found.

Jan 20

Blazes of Gladness

“Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.”― Aeschylus

“Remember that happiness is as contagious as gloom. It should be the first duty of those who are happy to let others know of their gladness.” – Maurice Maeterlinck

May the door to delight and awe be unlocked and open.
Letting play and fun do their work in you.
Lightening the load.
Creating space.
Putting down the unnecessary.
Making room for the breath of life.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Smile, laugh, let your guard down.
Rejoice and be glad in this day.
Cultivate, create, and share gladness to spark and kindle joy for others.
Be contagious with zest, enthusiasm and encouragement.
Unexpected sparks, brightest blazes.
Make it a “I got three balls in my mouth” kind of day.

“Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”― Samuel Johnson, The Idler

Dec 28

A Gentle Breeze, Cooling Mist

“Yet her encouraging words were a gentle breeze on my poor mind, and this is the work of the Holy Spirit and our operating instructions, to be cooling breezes to sad or worried people, including ourselves, in this sometimes hot stuffy joint.” — Anne Lamott, Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage

“Expectations are resentments under construction.” — Anne Lamott, Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage

May you be freed by forgiveness.
Lightened with hope.
Colored with enthusiasm.
Unbound by unmet expectations, allowing a different story to unfold.
A gentle breeze.
A cool mist.
Fresh air.
Inhale, exhale.
Give, receive.
Comfort, beauty, light abound.
Be held and embraced in new beginnings, joy unleashed.
Pass it on.

“Each act of forgiveness gives us more awareness of the beauty that surrounds us and of the friendly light inside, the tiny and usually ignored part that hasn’t been faked, cheapened, or exploited.”— Anne Lamott, Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage

Nov 25

A Big Scoop of Joy with a Side of Wonder

“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.”― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

May we only go backwards to rediscover the innate joy of childhood.
We need not look far to find the PhD’s of delight and wonder.
Sparkle in eyes, anchored in the moment, inviting us to partake.

“Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.” – Khalil Gibran

“A flower blossoms for its own joy.”― Oscar Wilde

Oct 30

Catching Joy

“Every day is a good day. There is something to learn, care and celebrate.”― Amit Ray, Walking the Path of Compassion

“Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that dance.”― Amit Ray, Mindfulness Living in the Moment – Living in the Breath

Joy is a verb, an action, a decision.
May you dance with it daily.
Inhaling and exhaling, deeply.
Celebrate and keep opening this wonderous gift of life. 

“Breath is the finest gift of nature. Be grateful for this wonderful gift.”― Amit Ray, Beautify your Breath – Beautify your Life

Sep 25

Triple Threat

“Love is perhaps what’s left of us when we are no longer all the things we’d primped and planned.”― Heather Lanier, Raising a Rare Girl: A Memoir

“Hope is not about proving anything. It’s about choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim, bleak shit anyone can throw at us.”― Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

Love, hope, joy are actions, verbs, daily decisions.
A triple threat of power and strength.
Scatter kindness, faith and laughter, unstoppable.
The hem of heaven touching earth through you.
Rejoice and be glad in this day and your place in it.

“So be joyful. Use your sense of humor. And laugh with the God who smiles when seeing you, rejoices over your very existence, and takes delight in you, all the days of your life.”― James Martin, Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life

Sep 20

Might Be Joy

“It’s possible to understand the world from studying a leaf. You can comprehend the laws of aerodynamics, mathematics, poetry and biology through the complex beauty of such a perfect structure.
It’s also possible to travel the whole globe and learn nothing.”― Joy Harjo, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky: Poems

“Because in trying to articulate what, perhaps, joy is, it has occurred to me that among other things—the trees and the mushrooms have shown me this—joy is the mostly invisible, the underground union between us, you and me, which is, among other things, the great fact of our life and the lives of everyone and thing we love going away. If we sink a spoon into that fact, into the duff between us, we will find it teeming. It will look like all the books ever written. It will look like all the nerves in a body. We might call it sorrow, but we might call it a union, one that, once we notice it, once we bring it into the light, might become flower and food. Might be joy.”― Ross Gay, The Book of Delights

Do nothing.
Observe everything.
Receive alone.
Be made new by awe, by wonder.
Invisible but present.
Pause to notice.
Emergence bubbling up.

“Helped are those who are content to be themselves; they will never lack mystery in their lives and the joys of self-discovery will be constant.”― Alice Walker, The Temple of My Familiar

Jul 16

3 Comments

Just to Be

“Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.”—Abraham Joshua Heschel

“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.” – Howard Thurman

May you wear a hole in the carpet of joy;
Create a path to the woods of wonder;
Cut through the layers of your being to let the light out;
A compass of joy, wonder and light.
Just to be.

“Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me.”― Abraham Joshua Heschel

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