Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Peace’ Category

Jun 3

Highest of Arts

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”― Henry David Thoreau, Walden or, Life in the Woods

“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us even in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavour. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.”― Henry David Thoreau, Walden or, Life in the Woods

Deep breath
Soft shoulders
Long gaze
Rapt presence
Reawakening
Well of peace
Within
Grounded in this day
Choices
Before each to decide
To affect the quality of day
Highest of arts, indeed.

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”― Henry David Thoreau

May 30

It

“Finding a sanctuary, a place apart from time, is not so different from finding a faith.”― Pico Iyer

“The movement of grace toward gratitude brings us from the package of self-obsessed madness to a spiritual awakening. Gratitude is peace.”― Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers

Let it be
Put it down
Busy
Production
Efficiency
Performance
Speed
Judgment
Comparison
To dos
Whatever your “it” is that distracts from grace, gratitude, peace.

“In spring, we expand and stretch in all directions. It’s green exuberance and giddiness, bright clown colors and Easter colors, too; the rebirth of the tender growing soul.”― Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers

May 17

Sow Love, Bloom Peace

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.” – Francis of Assisi

“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.” – Dalai Lama

Peace
Woven in pause, stillness, reflection, putting down, beauty, grace, generosity
A jolt out of complacency
Paddles to jumpstart your heart
To get out of your head
The figuring, counting, comparing, complaining, blaming, othering, assumptions
An inside job
Daily practice, consistency and commitment
A shift
In thoughts, words, actions
Kindness, thankfulness, gratitude, goodness, praise
Awe, wonder, love, reverence
Sow, tend, bloom
Cast light.

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” – Henry David Thoreau

May 9

2 Comments

Open Like the Sky

“Peace comes when our hearts are
open like the sky,
vast as the ocean.”
― Jack Kornfield

“We need the courage to learn from our past and not live in it.”― Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

Overflowing in presence
Living this moment
Leaving the rest in its place
Foregoing, forgiving, yielding
Craft, carve, create this day
Blank canvas, paint beauty, joy, delight
No do overs, no predictions, no overthinking
May this day be more than enough
Grace, goodness, generosity
Open like the sky, deep waters
Cast light.

“In the end
these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you live?
How deeply did you let go?”― Jack Kornfield, Buddha’s Little Instruction Book

Feb 11

The Pause…to Peace

“Practice the pause. Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you’re about to react harshly and you’ll avoid doing and saying things you’ll later regret.”― Lori Deschene

“Regardless of our circumstances, we always have a choice. We can choose more of the same; or we can recognize this moment is different and that we can be different, too.”― Lori Deschene, Tiny Wisdom: On Mindfulness

Turn off autopilot
Disrupt habit
Resist busy
Interrupt spiraling
Ground in gratitude
Wait in wonder
Rest in stillness
Pause, peace, presence.

“If we can observe and understand how our thoughts are impacting us, we can change who we’re being and how we’re experiencing the world.”― Lori Deschene, Tiny Wisdom: On Mindfulness

Feb 8

Planting Peace

“If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace.”― Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace

“There is peace even in the storm.”— Vincent van Gogh

Drops to waves
Seeds to bloom
Calm to peace
Kindness, generosity, encouragement, a smile
Transform the world
One small act at a time
Compound interest
Cast light.

“Calming, Smiling. Present moment, Wonderful moment”― Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace

Jan 15

Higher, Deeper, Peace

“Don’t just do something, sit there.” – Sharon Salzberg

“Think higher, feel deeper.”― Elie Wiesel

Take a break
Hard stop
Pullover
Often
Away from noise
Distractions
Confetti attention
Opinions
Assumptions
Knowing
Control
Out of the weeds
Reflection
Higher, deeper, inquiry
You can’t outrun you
Sit with love, kindness, compassion
The start and finish line of peace is within
Spilling into the world in between
Cast light

“Let yourself go. Pull out from the depths those thoughts that you do not understand, and spread them out in the sunlight and know the meaning of them.”― E.M. Forster, A Room with a View

Dec 23

Deep Peace, Profound Wholeness

“You have the most beautiful things surrounding you. Give your mind the breather it deserves.”― Hiral Nagda

“When there is nothing to prove to anyone in the world, there is a deep peace and a profound wholeness which cannot be touched or pierced.”― Hiral Nagda

Expectations, assumptions, demands, control, ego, proving, counting, comparing, performance
Blinders to the beauty, abundance, blessings, contentment, joy, peace
Let go
Of all of it
Put it down
Drink in this day
Full presence
Sips and sprinkles
Drops and waves
Invite, allow, welcome
Newness poured into you
Nothing to do
But open, accept, receive
Mystery, serendipity, grace
Blinders off
Get out of your own way
Yield
Awe and wonder await your arrival, your participation
Deep peace, profound wholeness.

“Drink life one sip at a time. This moment is brand new. Let it pour its newness into you.”― Hiral Nagda

Dec 22

Gentle Break

“Birds chirping around you is a beautiful realisation that life in incredibly good. Let this sound be a gentle break in your routine.”― Hiral Nagda

“There’s nothing like
the fecund beauty of calmness.”
― Bhuwan Thapaliya, Our Nepal, Our Pride

Carve space into this day
Step away
Break the busy routine
Field trip
Conservatory, art museum, park
30 minutes will do
Reset, retreat, refocus
In the pause, awareness
In the noticing, gratitude
In the slowing, peace
Beauty of calmness
Spilling into the world.

“As you slow down, you instantly enter into a brand new world.”― Hiral Nagda

Dec 17

Listening and Presence

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

“Be here now.”― Ram Dass, Be Here Now

Quiet
Pause
Listening and presence
Be here now
Full attention.

“Happiness is not out there for us to find. The reason that it’s not out there is that it’s inside us.”― Sonja Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness

« Older Entries