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Posts from the ‘Love’ Category

Mar 7

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What Is Most Precious Today?

“In being with dying, we arrive at a natural crucible of what it means to love and be loved. And we can ask ourselves this: Knowing that death is inevitable, what is most precious today?”― Joan Halifax

“And when the work of grieving is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From that gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
In your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time.”
― John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

You never know what a day will bring.
It makes entering and fully engaging even more important and urgent.
One year ago today, the day started ordinary, the rush, obligations, to dos.
All coming to a grinding halt when Mom passed away at the end of the day.
This past year, completely unpredictable and unpreparable.
Grief is a bastard.
Different for each person.
And necessary work, the cost of love.
Never over but changing with time and proximity.
If we do the work well, we transform our grief into a rapt awareness of what’s worthy of our time and attention.
To find and steep in the beauty, laughter, joy and blessings at our feet this day.
As I scrolled through hundreds of photos this morning looking for a picture of Mom, I found this one.
Beer and pizza outside in the midst of pandemic summer 2020.
Big smile, happy, grateful, no matter the circumstances or all of the trials that 86 years brings.
I remember her sayings, mannerisms, toughness, kindness, trying to keep up with her as she bolted with her walker the past few years, generosity, laughter, grit, wanting to be included, interest in others, enthusiasm, light.
Love well today.
And call your Mom if she’s still here and tell her you love her.
If not, go within to your heart and tell her there.
Do not miss this day and those who are before you.

“Let the hard days be hard. When you mourn a person, it’s a form of love. You mourn their loss because they mattered, because the world without them is diminished. Sit still with your grief if you need to, then lift it and carry it with you. KEEP MOVING. Take stock of what you can see in your life now that parts of it are gone: What view has that space created?”― Maggie Smith, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change

Feb 24

The Supreme Gift

“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.”― Henry Drummond

“Patience. Kindness. Generosity. Humility. Courtesy. Unselfishness. Good temper. Guilelessness. Sincerity. All these things make up the Supreme Gift, and are there in the soul of whoever wishes to be in the world and close to God.”― Henry Drummond, The Supreme Gift

Love is hard.
The real kind is.
The unconditional one.
And it simplifies.
When our response, answer, offering is love, we don’t get tangled and bound in judgment, assumption, unforgiveness, resentment, regret, selfishness, gossip, ego, ingratitude, comparison, fairness, measuring, counting, comparing, diminishing, cynicism.
Love is hard.
And the only way to walk in this world and do so lightly, with joy, awe and wonder.
Animate, expand, color, deepen, enliven, generate, create, connect, be generous and kind.
Scatter seeds of love on the path you walk today.
Watch what grows.

“I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”― Henry Drummond, The Supreme Gift

Feb 20

Always Where We Are

“To walk quietly until the miracle in everything speaks is poetry, whether we write it down or not.”― Mark Nepo

“Whether through the patterns left in snow, or geese honking in the dark, or through the brilliant wet leaf that hits your face the moment you are questioning your worth, the quiet teachers are everywhere, pointing us to the unlived portion of our lives. When we think we are in charge, the lessons dissolve as accidents or coincidence. But when we’re humble enough to welcome the connections, the glass that breaks across the room is offering us direction, giving us a clue to the story we are in.”― Mark Nepo, The Exquisite Risk: Daring to Live an Authentic Life

God does not require silence to speak.
We require it to hear, see, experience and immerse into beauty, joy, grace, love that is overflowing and in abundance.
Signs, wonders, cues, clues, patterns, intuition, inclination, serendipity, coincidence, direction, clarity, discernment, guidance.
Written and painted all over each day, on our heart.
We are the obstacle.
We need quiet to overcome the noise of the world, others, self, ego to hear the still small voice that is narrating our life.
Inviting our participation and partaking.
Not the way we command and demand.
When we stop trying to change God to fit our way, we realize that we are the ones who need to change.
And if we don’t or do it slowly and imperfectly, we are still loved all the way through.
The miracle and gift of love that transcends all and descends to walk beside us in the details of each day.
Always where we are.

“life is always where we are.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

Feb 14

Messenger of Wonder

“Wonder is the heaviest element on the periodic table. Even a tiny fleck of it stops time.”― Diane Ackerman

“Of all the errands life seems to be running, of all the mysteries that enchant us, love is my favorite.”― Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of Love

Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday merge.
Love.
In all forms.
Earthly and transcendent.
Imperfect and perfect.
May you give and receive love each day.
And be transformed by it.
The only way the world will be.

“I will not dishonor
my soul with hatred,
but offer myself humbly
as a guardian of nature,
as a healer of misery,
as a messenger of wonder,
as an architect of peace.
I will honor all life
—wherever and in whatever form
it may dwell—on Earth my home,
and in the mansions of the stars.”
― Diane Ackerman, I Praise My Destroyer: Poems

Feb 6

Not Knowing

“Without habit, the beauty of the world would overwhelm us. We’d pass out every time we saw— actually saw— a flower. Imagine if we only got to see a cumulonimbus cloud or Cassiopeia or a snowfall once a century: there’d be pandemonium in the streets. People would lie by the thousands in the fields on their backs.”― Anthony Doerr, Four Seasons in Rome

“In the end, I learned that the practice of Not-Knowing is the very ground of altruism, because it opens us up to a much wider horizon than our preconceptions could ever afford us and can let in connection and tenderness.”― Joan Halifax, Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet

Friends.
Family.
Friends who are family.
Family who are friends.
Strangers and passerby’s.
What we don’t know is more than we do.
Take the time to ask and listen.
To assume nothing.
To be present, kind, a place of belonging.
Home.
Tender and soft as the flower of a petal.
Light as a cloud floating.
An open door.
Love well.

“The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don’t know.”― Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna

Jan 27

Seeds of Love

“To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To hope is to risk pain.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.”
― Leo F. Buscaglia

“The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around. It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt.”― Leo Buscaglia

May we realize our capacity, capability, calling to love well each day.
In simple acts of kindness.
In hope.
In listening.
In not judging.
In allowing.
In inviting.
In hospitality.
In acceptance.
In belonging.
Joy. Laughter. Light. Hope. Love.
Root in love and watch what blooms.

“It’s not enough to have lived.
We should be determined to live for something.
May I suggest that it be creating joy for others,
sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind,
bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.”― Leo Buscaglia

Jan 25

All Shall Be Well, Is Well

“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”― Julian of Norwich

“If there is anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.”― Julian of Norwich

For a moment, halt.
Quiet. Pause. Listen.
Rapt attention, attunement.
Soft whisper.
Gentle pull.
Gravity.

You are loved.
You are love.
Give and receive without reserve.
All is well.
Now carry on anchored, rooted, buoyed, and held in this sweet space.
Game changer.
Available, overflowing, and given to all.
Same precious love.

“Lord, let not our souls be busy inns that have no room for thee or thine,
But quiet homes of prayer and praise, where thou mayest find fit company,
Where the needful cares of life are wisely ordered and put away,
And wide, sweet spaces kept for thee; where holy thoughts pass up and down
And fervent longings watch and wait thy coming.”― Julian of Norwich

Dec 13

Kneed the Bread

“Only in silence the word,
Only in dark the light,
Only in dying life:
Bright the hawk’s flight
On the empty sky.
—The Creation of Éa”
― Ursula K. Le Guin

“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.”― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven

Enter this day anew.
Fresh eyes, open heart.
A sense of wonder.
A seeking of delight.
A practice of awe.
Kindness, generosity, enthusiasm.
Love in action.
Kneed the bread.

“There is only one question:
how to love this world.”― Mary Oliver, House of Light

Sep 23

The First, Middle and Final Word

“The final word is love.”― Dorothy Day

“The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?”― Dorothy Day

May you choose love this day.
In thoughts, words, actions.
Kindness.
Generosity.
Joy.
Hope.
Enthusiasm.
Laughter.
Wonder
Awe.
Delight.
In a smile.
In a conversation.
In your “to-do” list activities.
In play.
Love is both the path and the destination.
The bridge that brings us together.
One step and then the next to create a revolution of your heart.
This is the only way the world will change.
One heart at a time.
Starting with your own.

“People say, what is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, words and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.”― Dorothy Day

Jun 26

That Luminous Part

“That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality–your soul, if you will–is as bright and shining as any that has ever been….Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.”― George Saunders

“For your love given
ask no return, none. To love
you must love to love.”― Hayden Carruth

May love be your language, your religion, your practice.
All other things pass away, love remains.
Tune in, tune out, hone your senses to this alone.
The path in and out becomes clear with love as the compass and the destination.
That luminous part of you.
Share that with the world.
Cast light.

“The stuff
of ego with which we began, the mass
in the upper chamber, filters away
as love accumulates below. Now
I am almost entirely love.” – Hayden Carruth

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