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Posts from the ‘Nature’ Category

Jul 10

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Into the Field

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” – Alice Walker

“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.” – Henry David Thoreau

Go into the field
Wide open spaces
Into imagination
Expansiveness
Possibility
Exploration
Adventure
Where the ground and sky unite
The air is fresh and crisp
Open the windows of your mind
Walk through the doors
Allow the walls to fall
Release your spirit to play
Let old and worn fall away
Be refreshed in the present and new
Accept the blessings
Keep becoming who you are within and within reach.

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” – Joseph Campbell

Jul 6

Same New

“Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the Infinite.” – Francis Bacon

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor E. Frankl

The space between stimulus and response
See the same in a new way
Take a different route
Tilt your head to see a different angle
Pause

Detach from the old
Draw outside the lines
Throw away the box you put yourself in
Throw away the box others put you in
Wide open spaces

Venture out beyond old stories, thoughts, opinions, assumptions
Make the unknown, known
Do not settle for familiarity, complacency, and certainty over fruition and growth
We are built for more, called to better, capable for hard
Density over volume
Imperfect wholeness and completion

Energy, creativity and light
Do not play small
Listen, look, receive, release
Make the same new
Always choose to bloom

“You have to color outside the lines once in a while if you want to make your life a masterpiece.” – Einstein

Jul 5

Summer Song

“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The wind through the trees
Dancing to the summer song
Inviting all to join the dance
Sway with the summer song
Empty to be filled yet again
Renewed, refreshed, awake.

Trees
by Alfred Joyce Kilmer

“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.”

Jun 30

Undeterred

“Take a walk with a turtle. And behold the world in pause.” – Bruce Feiler

Slow
Focused
Unflappable
Steadfast
Confident
In rhythm and flow
Undeterred, the turtle crossed the path, sure of his destiny, knowing the water was near just beyond the foliage.

With intention
Attention
Effort
Repetition
Patience
Resilience
One step at a time, entering, plopping, sinking below the still surface.
Home.

Insights, cues, signs, signals, wonders, beauty.
Nature is a brilliant classroom.
Learn the lessons.
Trust your intuition.
Proceed, undeterred.

“Try to be like the turtle – at ease in your own shell.” – Bill Copeland

Jun 6

Hover

“When the flower blossoms, the bee will come.” – Srikumar Rao

“To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few.” – Emily Dickinson

Hover in the moment
Float, observe, absorb
Be at ease
No place to go
Resting in simply being
Landing on a thread
Taking in the sweet nectar of a summer day
Drinking in gratitude, quenching your thirst.

“The key to nature’s therapy is feeling like a tiny part of it, not a master over it. There’s amazing pride in seeing a bee land on a flower you planted – but that’s not your act of creation, it’s your act of joining in.” – Victoria Coren Mitchell

 

Jun 5

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Charge the Hill

“Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” – Steven Pressfield

Without fail, every time we hit the incline into the woods, the girls charge the hill. Not fast but steady momentum. Forward motion.

Resistance is a guarantee. Downhill coasts come from uphill climbs. Ups, downs and steady. Circles, cycles and seasons. It’s the ebb and flow of life.

When we stop trying to change the inevitable and change our perspective, daily joy can enter and take hold. The battle is in the mind, not in our circumstances.

Charge the hill, take the mountain. Stop pondering and do the work. Sprinkle it with some enthusiasm and a side of joy along the way. And don’t forget to coast on the downhill and let the wind move through you.

“Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance. This second, we can sit down and do our work.” – Steven Pressfield

Apr 17

Yellow and Blue

“Remember even though the outside world might be raining, if you keep on smiling the sun will soon show its face and smile back at you.” – Anna Lee

“The key to abundance is meeting limited circumstances with unlimited thoughts.” – Marianne Williamson

The sun broke yesterday for the first time in weeks. Clouds replaced with brilliant blue sky. With the sun and light, moods shift and lift. Gratitude comes with ease in these conditions. Remember these days and bring them within to foster gratitude separate from external sources of circumstances, weather and others.

We have the power, capacity and calling to find joy in ordinary moments anchored in our very being. Tether your contentment and steady state joy to internal rather than external sources.

Slow down, breathe, center and anchor in gratitude to fill each day with blue skies and brilliant sun.

“After every storm the sun will smile; for every problem there is a solution, and the soul’s indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer.” – William R. Alger

Mar 31

Claim the Sky

“A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky.” – Maya Angelou, Caged Bird

“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.” – Alice Walker

Church is not a place to go or not go once a week for an hour to check the attendance box and return to “normal” life. We are the church, not a building. Individually and collectively, we make up the church. What we believe in, what altars we kneel at, who we become if we dare to take the journey within and venture out.

We put ceilings up to limit God, circumstances, other people, self to be comfortable, safe and certain. We want to know the ending, but the ending is being written each new day in choices, thoughts, actions and inactions.

Our willingness to expand and open without fear of losing our sense of security and stability is the dance, the balance beam, the inflection point that pulls us into this moment, this day, aware of the mystery and entering it without full knowing but trusting it will unfold as it should.

“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

Regret’s only purpose is to change our behavior and actions. Carrying it further slows and stalls the journey forward. When we stop circling the same mountains looking for new terrain, we can venture off trail cutting new paths to new mountains.

Life is a series of interwoven journeys, moments to savor and memories in the making. Be present, feel the ground under your feet, expand your lungs with a deep breath.  Grasp the immensity and breadth of all that is before you and most importantly in you.

Allow the mystery to unfold and be revealed in quiet reflection and inquiry. Feel the pull of gravity. Follow the compass of intuition. Trust the soul’s compass. Ask the questions. Listen for the answers. There is no ceiling, just sky. Claim the sky.

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” —Henry David Thoreau

Mar 25

Nature Delivered

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.” – John Milton

“For me, the reason why people go to a mountaintop or go to the edge of the ocean is to look at something larger than themselves. That feeling of awe, of going to a cathedral, it’s all about feeling lost in something bigger than oneself. To me, that’s the definition of spectacle. – Diane Paulus

Amidst my morning routine yesterday, I glanced out my front window and a herd of deer was across the street. I immediately went out in the rain to capture this rare occurrence. There’s a wooded trail a few blocks away where the girls and I normally see a few deer scattered through the trees. Delivered to my doorstep, they turned off my autopilot and pulled me into wonder and awe, a place we need to spend more time in.

Seek, invite and welcome awe and wonder in to wake you up to miracles found in ordinary days. Be open to surprise, joy and delight. Let it soak into your being to change you and how you see the world. The world needs more wide-eyed childlike optimists to show us the way. Heed the call.

We are at the foothills of mountains and looking only three feet ahead. Lift your head up and see the mountains to reset your perspective and shift into gratitude, magnitude, awe and wonder.

“Give yourself a gift of five minutes of contemplation in awe of everything you see around you. Go outside and turn your attention to the many miracles around you. This five-minute-a-day regimen of appreciation and gratitude will help you to focus your life in awe.” – Wayne Dyer

Mar 23

Zoom In, Around and Out

“Nature’s music is never over; her silences are pauses, not conclusions.” – Mary Webb

“Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.” – Yousuf Karsh

On the first lap around Como Lake, an eagle appeared on the left, floating and then swooping down to the lake to capture its prey with rapt focus, attention and execution. After landing, he stood on the remaining thin ice savoring his dinner.

On the second lap, the eagle was now in a tree looking all around and soaking in the fractured light of the sun setting through the clouds. Focusing with the same rapt attention on the wide as the narrow.

Throughout the day, change up your view to see wider, farther, closer, larger and smaller. Broaden and deepen your perspective through all lens – microscope, wide-angle and telescope.

Suddenly you’ll see the complexity and beauty in places, people and within as opinions, judgment and assumptions fall away. Beauty and grace enter to hold you in that space of possibility and abundance.

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