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Posts from the ‘Mindfulness’ Category

Nov 16

Already Here

“…And we pray, not for new
earth or heaven, but to be quiet
in heart, and in eye clear.
What we need is here.”― Wendell Berry

“You mustn’t wish for another life. You mustn’t want to be somebody else. What you must do is this:
“Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks.”
I am not all the way capable of so much, but those are the right instructions.”― Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter

We get and give advice.
We read the books.
We conjure up the formula, the secret recipe.
We search for the shortcut.
We have the instructions.

And yet, and yet, still.

Amid the schemes, the prescriptions, life continues in the unknowing, uncertainty and mystery.
Changing.
Twisting, turning, flipping, flopping.
From boredom to busy.
We don’t need all the answers.
We need to live well with the questions.
Moving through with a sense of wonder and delight, gratitude and optimism for no good reasons at all.
Merely because we can, especially when it makes no sense at all.
Be present in today.
Be kind, generous, light, laughter, grateful, playful, at ease.
What we need is already here.

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.”― Wendell Berry

Nov 14

Stirred Up, Settled Down

“As a result, nature has endowed the human brain with a malleability and flexibility that lets it adapt to the demands of the world it finds itself in. The brain is neither immutable nor static but continuously remodeled by the lives we lead.”― Richard J. Davidson, The Emotional Life of Your Brain

“A short practice that you do every day is better than a long practice you keep putting off to tomorrow.”― Kelly McGonigal, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It

Meditation isn’t complicated and the payback is worth the small investment.
I have been using the free Insight Timer app for three years.
10 to 20 minutes in the morning to set the stage for the day as well as at the end of the day to close it out.
Some guided, nature sounds, mostly music.
Give yourself the gift of reflection, quiet and discernment.
You are worth it.
Continuously remodeling, learning, unlearning, unfolding, becoming.
Stir up by settling down.

“Neuroscientists have discovered that when you ask the brain to meditate, it gets better not just at meditating, but at a wide range of self-control skills, including attention, focus, stress management, impulse control, and self-awareness.”― Kelly McGonigal, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It

Nov 10

Just One Second

“For the person who has learned to let go and let be, nothing can ever get in the way again.”― Meister Eckhart

“Alice: How long is forever?
White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second.”― Lewis Carroll

The weight of a drop.
The immensity of small.
Slivers, pocket and crevices.
Thin spaces.
Seconds, moments making up forever.
Be ever present in this day to not miss the wonder of being.

“I have been a drop in the air. I have been a shining star. I have been a word in a book.… I have been the string of a harp, Enchanted for a year in the foam of water. I have been a poker in the fire. I have been a tree in a covert. There is nothing in which I have not been.”― Stephanie Burt, Don’t Read Poetry: A Book About How to Read Poems

Aug 27

1 Comment

Unfolding in Grace

“To be transformed implies letting go of control for a while in the hopeful expectation that something worthwhile may result.” ― Esther de Waal, Living On the Border: Reflections on the Experience of Threshold

“You do not always have to be producing, creating, harvesting. Learn to be idle. Learn to rest.”― Joyce Rupp, The Circle Of Life: The Heart’s Journey Through The Seasons

Rest to be filled back up again
Off leash to wander, explore
Step back to get a treetop view
Listen with rapt attention
Allow the unfolding and transformation of grace.

“When you start to feel like things should have been better this year, remember the mountains and valleys that got you here. They are not accidents, and those moments weren’t in vain. You are not the same. You have grown and you are growing. You are breathing, you are living, you are wrapped in endless, boundless grace. And things will get better. There is more to you than yesterday.”― Morgan Harper Nichols

Aug 9

Of Now

“The place on which you are standing is holy ground.” – Exodus 3:5

“Only in the pauses between things, in the brief contemplative spaces of just being, can we catch a glimpse of love itself.”― Gerald G. May

In the pause, may you know holy ground on which you stand.
That of now, of presence, of yes!
Slow down to see time while it is happening.
The sacred space that surrounds.
The beauty abundant and overflowing.
Steep in it so the color washes off on you.
Glimpses of love woven through each day.
Spend your days well.
Each one a strand that weaves life together.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”― Annie Dillard

Jul 20

1 Comment

Brush and Canvas

“It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.” – Eckhart Tolle

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”― Simone Weil

Be both brush and canvas.
Paint color on the day.
Allow the day to paint color on you.
An exchange, a conversation, a dance.
Participant and spectator.
Enter the mystery, the unfolding, the overflowing now.
Pause and take notice.
What do you need to hear?
What do you need to see?
Listen. Look.

“All serious daring starts from within.”― Eudora Welty, On Writing

Jul 8

Beautification

“Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that dance.” – Amit Ray

“Life is a collection of moments. Mindfulness is beautification of the moments.” – Amit Ray

Just when you think you’ve seen every flower, nature paints a new one.
Mixing colors, shapes, shadow, light.
Seek, hunt, pursue beauty each day.
A gift of renewal, refreshing, awakening.
It is always there awaiting your witnessing, embracing.
We find what we look for, what we pay attention to.
Joy resides in the simple made holy.

“Meditation is making a bridge between the Silence of the Inner World and the Waves of the Outer World.” — Amit Ray

May 27

Exhale, then In Again

“Gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us.” – David Whyte

“These few words are enough. If not these few words, this breath.  If not this breath, this sitting here. This opening to the life we have refused again and again. Until now.” – David Whyte

Exhale. Inhale. Repeat.
Stop holding your breath.
Trying to predict, to plot, to control.
Beating disappointment to the punch, rooting in apprehension, preparing for disappointment.
Expectations unmet, disappointment, detours.
All a part of life.
Along with joy, delight, awe, wonder, ease, exhalation, enthusiasm, laughter.
The ebb and flow.
Life is a conversation waiting to happen each day, not a lecture or series of lessons.
Rhythm, flow, the dance.
Enter, abide, allow.

“What if the world is holding its breath – waiting for you to take the place that only you can fill?” – David Whyte

Breathe deeply.
In and out.
Inhale, exhale.
Release, put it down, pick up only what is necessary to travel light.
Rest awhile.
To find and be found again.

“When your eyes are tired the world is tired also. When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you.” – David Whyte

Allow joy to wash over, to become the ground you stand on.
Perfection a myth, plans unfinished.
A mix, a mess, a muddle.
Dimensional and deep.
Immerse yourself into this day.
The ordinary, the blessings, the sun.
Inhale, exhale, begin again.

“What you can plan is too small for you to live. What you can live wholeheartedly will make plans enough for the vitality hidden in your sleep.” – David Whyte

May 13

Twice, Maybe More

“Be here now.”― Ram Dass

“If your mind carries a heavy burden of past, you will experience more of the same. The past perpetuates itself through lack of presence. The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes the future.”― Eckhart Tolle

We can live twice.
Once in real time, present to the moment, our place in it.
Aware of the blessings and beauty amidst burdens, hidden in plain sight, longing to be noticed.
Grateful when in it, not racing ahead, or rearview mirror driving.
A second time in memory, reflecting, finding meaning, seeing the pieces fit, accepting not understanding, weaving and integrating into our story.
Moving forward to new paths, not circling back to familiarity and the “good old” days.
The “good old” days are now.
Slow down, put down the “to-do” list, stop checking boxes and experience the depth and expanse.
Live twice, maybe more.

“Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds’ wings.”― Jelaluddin Rumi

Apr 11

Restoration in Progress

“There is an eternal landscape, a geography of the soul; we search for its outlines all our lives.” – Josephine Hart

“Poetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn’t know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future.” – David Whyte

May you be restored each day within.
Pruning, burning, rooting, seeding, growing.
Pay attention to your internal landscape.
Nurture, garden and tend to it.
Peace in the world begins with self.
Restoration in progress.

“If you keep the Sabbath, you start to see creation not as somewhere to get away from your ordinary life, but a place to frame an attentiveness to your life.” – Eugene H. Peterson

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