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Posts from the ‘Peace’ Category

Sep 27

Four Good Agreements

“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

“1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.”― Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

Change your thoughts, change your life.
Optimism, hope, laughter, kindness, generosity, compassion, love.
These are what last after you pass through and by.
Intention, attention, action.
Plant seeds, scatter love, harvest joy.

“Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.”― Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

Jul 15

First and Last Response

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”- Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Peace starts in our own heart.
Go back to the root.
Nurture, feed, till the soil.
Then go out into the world.
Listen, ask, help, love.
In kindness, generosity, belonging, inviting, including, we change the world.
Our first and last response, always love.
Sow love today.

“I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.”― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

Dec 18

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Those Moments

“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?”― Thornton Wilder, Our Town

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”― Thornton Wilder

A pause
A comma
A still point
To ground
To root
To sit
In the present
In the unfolding
In the possibilities already realized
Gratitude over griping
Joy in the ordinary
Conscious of treasures
Peace lives here.

“My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it is on your plate.”― Thornton Wilder

Nov 13

Gravity and Flight

“Hope is a verb with its shirtsleeves rolled up.”― David Orr

“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”― Thich Nhat Hanh

May peace be your path today.
Hope the work.
Rigorous joy.
Earth the playground.
Feet anchored.
Eyes up and around.
Gravity and flight.

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”― Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

Nov 9

Peace Practice

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.”
― Rumi

“Let go once. And if it keeps coming up, let go again. Peace does not just happen, you have to practice it.” – Yung Pueblo

Commitment, repetition, action.
Daily walking it out.
Energy, pursuit, zeal.
Sticking with what matters.
Letting go of the unnecessary again and again.
Open to newness, possibility, change.
Making space and room for ease, flow, restoration.
In the practice, the commitment, the action lies the fruit.
May you find and be found by peace, light and joy today.
And pass it on to others too.

“Peace begins with a smile..”― Mother Teresa

Oct 24

Into Peace

“One must learn an inner solitude, wherever one may be.”― Meister Eckhart

“freedom is happening every moment when we are not craving something more.”― Yung Pueblo, Inward

Color outside the lines.
No rules.
Uninhibited.
Free of rules or instructions.
Just expression.
Create.
Whatever comes in the moment.
Allowing joy in by getting out of the way.
Open the door.
Play, delight, savor.
Right where you are, right now.
No place to be but here, in this moment.

“Run into peace.”― Meister Eckhart

Oct 18

Bother

“Trees generously share their fruit.
Bees generously share their honey.
Flowers generously share their perfume.
Do likewise.”― Matshona Dhliwayo

“We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place–or not to bother”― Jane Goodall

Kindness.
Empathy.
Forgiveness.
Gentleness.
Compassion.
Encouragement.
Attention.
Generosity.
A listening ear.
A smile.
A phone call.
Small acts rooted in love.
In giving.
In a soft open heart.
This is how we make the world a better place.
Pray for peace.
Offer peace.
The world needs it.
Do your part.

“The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
― Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

Aug 11

Just Beneath the Waves

“Peace is not something you can force on anything or anyone… much less upon one’s own mind. It is like trying to quiet the ocean by pressing upon the waves. Sanity lies in somehow opening to the chaos, allowing anxiety, moving deeply into the tumult, diving into the waves, where underneath, within, peace simply is.”― Gerald May, Simply Sane: The Spirituality of Mental Health

“Healing can begin in any of the four centers of power and energy—body, heart, mind, and spirit—but in the modern world most healers work in only one area. However, our affect on the world is most magical when all four are in alignment. The great American Indian shaman Sun Bear emphasizes the need to strengthen our bodies by good nutrition and exercise; our emotions by being open and honoring our feelings; our minds by being tough-minded and rigorous in our thinking; and our spirits by connecting with our spiritual source. We can only connect with that spiritual source by finding the spiritual path that is our own.”― Carol S. Pearson, Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World

May peace find you on your path today.
Healing do its work in you.
Seize joy, enter the waves, dive deep, resurface.
Let go of all of the rest.

“He had a gift for seizing joy, grabbing opportunities, and holding on to things that matter. And he had an unusual knack for an even more difficult task: letting go of all the rest.”― David von Drehle, The Book of Charlie

Apr 19

Transcend to Understand

“Why, when God’s world is so big, did you fall asleep in a prison of all places?”— Rumi

“There are too many people in the world today who decide to live disappointed rather than risk feeling disappointment. This can take the shape of numbing, foreboding joy, being cynical or critical, or just never really fully engaging.”― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

Allow feelings to come, go and pass as they will.
Feel, do not deny.
A full spectrum of emotions without numbing.
Witness them flowing through and by.
The control is not in stopping feelings or circumstances, but not becoming them.
Pause, create space and distance to respond rather than react.
Off autopilot, awake and aware.
In the world, not of the world.
Step back, breathe, transcend, if but only for a few minutes of clarity, of reset.
Accept grace, love, light and a peace that passes all understanding.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” – Philippians 4:6-8

Jan 28

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Enduring

“The insight and wisdom we gain in our journey through love and suffering is transformational and enduring.” Mark Nepo, Surviving Storms

“You may not control life’s circumstances, but getting to be the author of your life means getting to control what you do with them.”― Atul Gawande, Being Mortal

On the path.
Curves, hills, detours.
May you look up, around, ahead.
Wander off trail.
Slowing to see and absorb the full rich view, scenery and beauty.
Seeking and finding joy and delight in ordinary days.
Peace and endurance in struggle.
Blessings in the burdens.
Gratitude and patience in the mystery and unknowing.
Awe and wonder to author your life well.

“The battle of being mortal is the battle to maintain the integrity of one’s life—to avoid becoming so diminished or dissipated or subjugated that who you are becomes disconnected from who you were or who you want to be.”― Atul Gawande, Being Mortal

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