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Posts from the ‘optimism’ Category

Aug 22

Bridges, Hands, Light

“Here’s to the bridge-builders, the hand-holders, the light-bringers, those extraordinary souls wrapped in ordinary lives who quietly weave threads of humanity into an inhumane world. They are the unsung heroes in a world at war with itself. They are the whisperers of hope that peace is possible. Look for them in this present darkness. Light your candle with their flame. And then go. Build bridges. Hold hands. Bring light to a dark and desperate world. Be the hero you are looking for. Peace is possible. It begins with us.”― L.R. Knost

“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”― L.R. Knost

Arm-chair quarterbacks.
Backseat drivers.
Critics and cynics.
The loudest voices.
The non-doers.
The easy path.
Do the hard work.
Contribute, create, add, multiply.
Bridge building.
Hand holding
Light bringing.
Peace is possible.
Always starts within.
The world awaits your generosity, kindness and light.
Heed the higher call.

“Leave a trail of light behind you
Everywhere you go.
Whose darkness you’ll illuminate
You may never know.”― L.R. Knost

Jun 21

1 Comment

Sunny and 80 Degrees Within

“Zen pretty much comes down to three things — everything changes; everything is connected; pay attention.”― Jane Hirshfield

“When life throws you a rainy day, play in the puddles.” – Winnie the Pooh

We are getting our winter in summer.
Our snow is coming in the form of long stretches of rain.
Greenest, most colorful season in many years.
Muddy too.
Unexpected twists and turns.
Plans not working out as planned.
Circumstances, the weather, others, not in my control.
Attitude and perspective, mine to own.
Tigger or Eeyore?
To not turn what’s outside inside.
To remain, and not complain.
Sunny and 80 degrees within, please.
And a good pair of boots, to go play in the puddles.
Guard your joy.
Stand watch over your peace.
Go out into the world, find the good and cast light.

“Optimism

More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam
returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous
tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another. A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers,
mitochondria, figs — all this resinous, unretractable earth.”
― Jane Hirshfield, Each Happiness Ringed by Lions : Selected Poems

Jun 10

More Presence

“I will not be distracted by noise, chatter, or setbacks. Patience, commitment, grace, and purpose will guide me.”― Louise Hay

“All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry – all forms of fear – are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.”― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

To be here fully now
To see flowers woven with the weeds
To choose beauty and color, light
So much right and good
May I stay here, and not be moved
To past or future
To complaint and ungratefulness
Accepting, delighting, praising
Today is what is before me to partake in
Eyes, effort, ease in the now.

“See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.”― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

May 1

1 Comment

Holding, Releasing

“Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.”― Ann Patchett, State of Wonder

“I’ll never stop being surprised by the things I’ve held onto and the things I’ve learned to release.” – Sarah Bessey, Field Notes from the Wilderness

To hold.
To release.
Choose well.
Again and again.
Daily.
Moment to moment.
To walk lightly as possible.
Rooted, uprooted, replanted.
Be where you are right now.
Blooming amidst weeds.
Spring after winter.
The dance of seasons, bridges, thresholds and in between.

“Don’t wait to celebrate the life you have been given, even if it looks different from the one you thought you would have.”― Katherine Wolf, Hope Heals: A True Story of Overwhelming Loss and an Overcoming Love

Feb 11

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Onward Upward

“Your hopes, dreams and aspirations are legitimate. They are trying to take you airborne, above the clouds, above the storms, if you only let them.”― William James

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

Not too old.
Not too late.
Not over.
Allow, embrace, pursue, hopes, dreams, aspirations.
Release, take flight, airborne.
Daily actions, attitudes, approaches.
Do not be deterred, dismayed, delayed.
Detours are apart of the journey.
Do all, big and small, with cheerfulness.
There’s joy in the journey if you choose it daily.

“Actions seems to follow feeling, but really actions and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not. Thus the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there.”― William James

Feb 10

A Day Away

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. Do not complain. Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.”― Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter

“Every person needs to take one day away.  A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future.  Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence.  Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.  Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”― Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

Take a break from your thoughts.
From others’ too.
Opinions, assumptions, bucketing, othering, reduction, complaining, plotting, planning, limits, walls.
Put it all down.
From doing to being.
From spiral to stillness.
From frantic to fun.
From busy to attention.
From figuring to recess.
The power of pause, of still points.
To be refreshed and made new.
To see differently, deeply.
To find awe, reverence, delight.
To live well.

“Living well is an art that can be developed: a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings and assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift. ”― Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

Feb 4

Currency of Presence

“Listen. Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember.”― Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible

“Small change, small wonders – these are the currency of my endurance and ultimately of my life.” – Barbara Kingsolver

May you heed the call of slowness.
Of noticing.
Of awareness.
Of attention.
Of stillness.
Lay the rocks down.
Off your shoulders.
Weightless, at ease, in awe.
The holy, sacred ground of this moment, fully present.
Small wonders.
Waves of beauty.
Bursts of color.
Hope. Joy. Peace.
Under your roof.
On the path before you.

“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” – Barbara Kingsolver

Dec 29

Life Distilled

“Poetry is life distilled.”
― Gwendolyn Brooks

“Say to them,
say to the down-keepers,
the sun-slappers,
the self-soilers,
the harmony-hushers,
“Even if you are not ready for day
it cannot always be night.”
You will be right.
For that is the hard home-run.

Live not for battles won.
Live not for the-end-of-the-song.
Live in the along.”
― Gwendolyn Brooks, Selected Poems

To what will you pay attention to this day?
What thoughts will shadow or light the way?
Who will you listen to?
The past, others, self-doubt?
The utility and necessity to guide and direct what we can.
Our thoughts first and foremost.
May enthusiasm, hope, gratitude, laughter, optimism, color, beauty and joy be your guides.
To live fully in the along.

“This is the urgency: Live!
And have your blooming in the noise of the whirlwind.”
― Gwendolyn Brooks, The World of Gwendolyn Brooks

Dec 4

Own the Day

“This is the homely heart of Incarnation, this meeting of God in man with men and women, this simple face of divine graciousness in ordinary life rather than in the hymns of church fathers or in the dry elaborations of theologians.”― Eugene Kennedy, The Joy of Being Human: Reflections for Every Day of the Year

“Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Collected Poems and Translations

 Hope, anticipation, joy.
May this be the ground you stand on each day.
To see color, light, beauty.
To hear birds, music, poetry, hums.
To feel an embrace, ease, delight.
To smell flowers, fresh air, cookies in the oven.
To be found in the searching and standing still.
Write it on your heart.
Own the day.

“But it isn’t easy, said Pooh. Because poetry and hums aren’t things which you get, they’re things which get you. And all you can do is to go where they can find you.” – AA Milne

Nov 12

Just Add Fun, Daily

“When God created dogs He just sat back and smiled.”― Will Rogers

“True Fun is the confluence of playfulness, connection, and flow. Whenever these three states occur at the same time, we experience True Fun.”― Catherine Price, The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again

May you discover the value, utility and necessity of fun.
Of play and frolic.
Of awe and delight.
Of ease and optimism.
Of laughter and lightness.
To know all of the “facts” and to choose joy.
Get to know fun again.
To feel alive.
Daily.

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”― C.S. Lewis

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