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Posts from the ‘Mindfulness’ Category

May 10

A Part of the Silence

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”― Robert Lynd

“…a new day was starting, the things of the garden were not concerned with our troubles. A blackbird ran across the rose-garden to the lawns in swift, short rushes, stopping now and again to stab at the earth with his yellow beak. A thrush, too, went about his business, and two stout, little wagtails, following one another, and a little cluster of twittering sparrows. A gull poised himself high in the air, silent and alone, and then spread his wings wide and swooped beyond the lawns to the woods and the Happy Valley. These things continued, our worries and anxieties had no power to alter them.”― Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca

May nothing come of this day
Nothing produced
Done
Completed
Checked off
Taken care of
Wide open fields
Slow walks with nowhere to go
Blank canvas to fill with presence and delight
Wandering
Exploring
Quietly observing
Doing can wait
Being more than enough
Become part of the silence
Where nothing transforms into everything

“All trees and birds
sky and stars
bosoms and bangles
were seeing everything.”― Suman Pokhrel

Mar 28

Making Bread

“You miss the living because you are waiting for perfect, and so you let goodness and blessings pass you right on by.”― Emily P. Freeman, Graceful (For Young Women): Letting Go of Your Try-Hard Life

“I don’t want to live my life in such a hurry that I’m always closing the fridge door with my foot and scribbling out birthday cards in my car at the last minute. I want to make bread, or at least find the time to toast it.”― Emily P. Freeman, Simply Tuesday: Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World

Fun
Play
Laughter
Connection
Joy
Delight
Gratitude
Generosity
Kindness
Praise
Reverence
Awe
Empathy
Compassion
Yielding
Inviting
Pausing
Slowing
Kneeling
Wonder
Smiling
Kneading
The ingredients for the bread of life
Make bread
Toast it too

“To name a place requires us to be in a place. It requires us to resist dreaming of where we should be and look around where we are.”― Pádraig Ó Tuama, In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World

Feb 20

New Delight Room

“In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.”― Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank

“This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.” – Rumi

 Make room for new delight.
This day, not some day.
This day, new delight.

“Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become the next moment. By the same token, every human being has the freedom to change at any instant.”― Viktor Emil Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

Jan 28

Commas, Semi-Colons, Periods

“Serendipity was my tour guide, assisted by caprice”― Pico Iyer

“In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.”― Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere

In the story you write each day
How you think about things, others, circumstances, past, present, future
Approaches, entrances, exits, starts, in-betweens, stalls, detours, distractions
Autopilot, rushed, reacting, myopic
Fixed or growth mindset
Scatter commas, semi-colons and periods throughout to gentle drift, margins, white space, sweet music, connection, grounding, joy, delight, beauty
To change and shift the narrative, broaden the view
Choose, guide, guard, open, expand, awe, invite, wonder
You have your pen, write
Slow. Attention. Stillness.
Listen. Reflect. Respond.

“A comma . . . catches the gentle drift of the mind in thought, turning in on itself and back on itself, reversing, redoubling, and returning along the course of its own sweet river music; while the semicolon brings clauses and thoughts together with all the silent discretion of a hostess arranging guests around her dinner table.”― Pico Iyer

Jan 20

Whisper of Presence

“With mindfulness, you can establish yourself in the present in order to touch the wonders of life that are available in that moment.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“Not reaching back for what was lost in my yesterdays. And not reaching for what I hope will be in my tomorrow. But living fully with what is right in front of me. And truly seeing the gift of this moment.”― Lysa TerKeurst

Walk into this new week slowly.
Choose with intention.
Pause in reflection.
Then move with discernment.
Decide with clarity.
Focus effort, energy, enthusiasm with razor sharp precision.
Beauty, wonder, soft whispers to guide and direct.
The gift of this moment.
The possibilities borne of awareness, attention, direction.

“I must exchange whispers with God before shouts with the world.”― Lysa TerKeurst

Dec 8

Wrists of Idleness

“So very many silences, and kinds of silence: chapels and churches and confessionals, glades and gorges, pregnant pauses and searing lovemaking; the stifling stifled brooding silence just before a thunderstorm unleashes itself wild on the world; the silence of space, the vast of vista; the crucial silences between notes, without which there could be no music;”― Brian Doyle, The Plover

“Today is a day like any other: twenty-four hours, a little sunshine, a little rain. Listen, says ambition, nervously shifting her weight from one boot to another—why don’t you get going? For there I am, in the mossy shadows, under the trees. And to tell the truth I don’t want to let go of the wrists of idleness, I don’t want to sell my life for money, I don’t even want to come in out of the rain.”― Mary Oliver, Devotions: A Read with Jenna Pick: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

Slow to pause.
Hard stops woven throughout.
To put it all down for a spell.
To not do, multitask, grind.
Space to reflect.
Whitespace to create.
Recalibrate, reconsider, refresh.
Crucial silences to compose.
To be made new.

“As long as you live, you will be subject to change, whether you will it or not – now glad, now sorrowful; now pleased, now displeased; now devout, now undevout; now vigorous, now slothful; now gloomy, now merry. But a wise man who is well taught in spiritual labor stands unshaken in all such things, and heeds little what he feels, or from what side the wind of instability blows.”― Thomas à Kempis

Nov 19

The Work of Blooming

“Flowers don’t open and close according to who is walking by. They open and show their beauty regardless.”― Rebecca Campbell, Light is the New Black

“Balance is not a passive resting place—it takes work, balancing the giving and the taking, the raking out and the putting in.”― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

Our yes or no.
Action or inaction.
Response or reaction.
Daily choosing.
To listen.
To ask questions.
To go deeper.
Than assumptions, judgments, easy answers.
At ease in the knowing and unknowing.
Trusting time and timing.
Slowing and savoring.
Paying attention.
Giving and receiving.
Opening and softening.
The work of becoming, of blooming.

“Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart.”― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

Sep 23

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Every, Every Minute

“Light isn’t always buoyant and shadows aren’t always despair; yet both, I believe, are limitless in lessons that they share.”― Carolyn Riker, Blue Clouds: A Collection of Soul’s Creative Intelligence

“We have such a long way to go,” sighed the boy
“Yes, but look how far we’ve come,” said the horse”
― Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

Slow to see your life in real time
Not merely in memory, anticipation, regret, fear
We put lipstick on the past
Or are bound by it
The good ol’ days
The same ones we missed when we were in them
Life is unfolding in the ordinary, at our feet, in this day
Amidst sun and clouds
Flowers and weeds
Seen and unseen
Knowing and unknowing
Seeking and finding
In Our Town by Thornton Wilder, Emily asks, “Does anyone ever realize life while they live it… every, every minute?” and the Stage Manager replies, “No. Saints and poets maybe…they do some”
No place to be but here
May you find joy, peace, delight, wonder today and let it find you too.

“Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”― William James

Aug 25

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Of Ordinary Beautiful Things

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu

The Patience of Ordinary Things by Pat Schneider

“It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they’re supposed to be.
I’ve been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish,
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs.
And what is more generous than a window?”

May I always welcome different perspectives.
To broaden, deepen, expand.
To see the commonalities of humanity.
Belonging, acceptance, connection.
To invite intellectual humility to keep learning, understanding and growing.
To be kind, generous, considerate, assume the best.
Patient, allowing, inviting.
Opening windows and doors to let fresh air in.
To slow down, pause and savor.
To weave gratitude, wonder and awe into each ordinary day.
Transforming the journey into one of love.

Aug 18

1 Comment

Deep Roots

“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

“Water your roots so your soul can blossom” – Unknown

To what are you rooted?
Timeless.
True.
Deep within.
Release the rest to grow.
Keep planting.
Watering.
Blossoming.

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

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