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Posts tagged ‘appreciation’

Jan 30

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Leap and Dive

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” – Meister Eckhart

As we bounce all around, moving rapidly from one thing to the next, we forget to pause and be grateful. Yesterday, I was waiting for tests on two lumps on Molly. A few hours later, I got the call and they are benign. Spike the football!

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop

We are quick to be frazzled and distraught, bouncing and skimming. We need to be even quicker to let gratitude breakthrough and interrupt our busy life. And invite it to stay. The good news reminded me that I need to do more leaping for joy and diving deep into thankfulness every day, letting the busyness fade to the background to take its proper place.

Leap for joy and dive deep into gratitude today. A good prayer indeed. Amen.

Jan 28

8 Comments

Even Then

“Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.” – e. e. cummings

Even in our coldest days when the wind is blowing, the sun remains.
Even in the starkness of winter, the blue skies look down.
Even in the depths of gloom, hope waits patiently, to be found and embraced.

Even then.

“God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.” – Laurence Sterne

“God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.” – Laurence Sterne

Jan 22

4 Comments

Alignment

“The changes in our life must come from the impossibility to live otherwise than according to the demands of our conscience.” – Leo Tolstoy

Bouncing from one thing to the next in a hurry and hustle, we get distracted, fragmented, out of alignment. Going through the motions, we become both numb and uncomfortable.  And if wise enough to heed the message of discomfort, we can thoughtfully and carefully consider our choices and make good decisions based on what’s right, not on the emotion of the minute. The mistake is to ever think we are stuck without options.

We can stay where we are knowing it’s where we are meant to be right now or we can move on because it’s the next step in our journey. We are not made to coast, just getting by, good enough. We are made for more, to be larger, to give our best wherever we are, especially when we don’t feel like it.

And through the laughter, tears, frustrations and celebrations, we discover the ever present richness and depth of a life lived well day by day, present in the moment. When we align our beliefs with our actions, we are our most authentic self, in sync, moving with natural ease and flow.

Jan 6

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Hibernate

“A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves.” – Marcel Proust

We are having plenty of time to recreate ourselves as we hibernate from the weather, like many in the U.S. In Minnesota today, 23 below zero, with wind chill, 36 below zero.

We had an hour reprieve on Saturday and the girls and I got out for a 3 mile run before the cold front settled in. You really appreciate what you have when you can’t have it. Looking forward to the thaw and outdoor running’s return on Thursday when we take a 50+ degree swing to the 30s. Until then, we hunker down, read a little more, snuggle up and follow Lily’s lead…

“When the going gets tough, the tough take a nap.” – Tom Hodgkinson

“When the going gets tough, the tough take a nap.” – Tom Hodgkinson

Jan 1

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Promises

“Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.” – Cavett Robert

While a new year invites a clean slate, we can create that clean slate in each new day. We need not wait for a year to pass to commit to living well, loving deeper, giving more and laughing harder. Instead of resolutions, we can make promises to ourselves and others, not taking them lightly and putting in the effort and attention needed. And each day, we can transform those promises into reality, a step at a time, with the sustained enthusiasm and joy.

Happy new year, happy new day.

Dec 19

10 Comments

Tidings

“Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!” – Anne Frank

“Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.” – Epictetus

“Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.” – Epictetus

As the race to Christmas and the new year comes to an end, I wish all quiet in the rush and discovery of the depth of the season, of life. Listening to Christmas songs, the words that caught my attention this week and that I really heard for the first time – “God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay…O, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy.” We need comfort and joy and in rest, the good tidings that permeate our lives are revealed, as if for the first time.

Dismay not and get caught up in the true meaning of the next week and how it can change your life well beyond a day, beyond the wrapping. And as the new year awakes, may the ornaments that hang on the “tree” of your life be ones that give comfort and joy to you and all those that cross your path and walk beside you on your journey. Ornaments of love, understanding, peace, empathy, enthusiasm, forgiveness, delight and awe. O, tidings.

Dec 15

Arriving

“If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.” – Henry Miller

We’re arriving every day. In steps. In delays. In small victories. In time. Without knowing or perhaps recognizing, life comes to us in pieces, in moments that all come together to make up the whole. We miss so many days by merely getting by or putting off until “someday” when circumstances will be “perfect” or we have more time. Our life is the accumulation of daily commitments – awareness, hard work, play, repetition, laughter, discipline, endurance, faith, joy, patience, reflection, forgiveness and love.

Notice, share, accept and create the pieces of life scattered through each day.

Dec 3

4 Comments

Quiet

quiet

Today by Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings

“Today I’m flying low and I’m
not saying a word.
I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep.

The world goes on as it must,
the bees in the garden rumbling a little,
the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten
And so forth.

But I’m taking the day off,
Quiet as a feather.
I hardly move though really I’m traveling
a terrific distance.

Stillness. One of the doors
into the temple.”

In this festive, busy season of high expectations, create internal quiet amidst the chaos to prepare, reflect, be still. Quiet to hear the soft whisper of peace, guided by the compass of your soul, breathing in the crisp air to be restored and gently pulled toward purpose and depth.

On a foundation of gratitude, awe and silence, be ready to take it in. All of it. And then go back out and be a blessing to your world.

Nov 30

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Never Too Late, But

“The life that I could still live, I should live, and the thoughts that I could still think, I should think.” – C.G. Jung, The Red Book

It’s never too late…to give forgiveness, to ask forgiveness, to break the silence, to dream, to pursue your dreams, to dance, to give, to laugh, to understand, to be grateful, to stop, to listen, to be heard, to say thank you, to try something new, to let go, to change, to yield, to learn, to play, to love.

It’s never too late, but someday it will be. And we know not the day. Start today, so regret has no place to visit tomorrow.

Nov 24

16 Comments

Detach

“In order to settle down in the quiet of our own being we must learn to be detached from the results of our own activity. We must withdraw ourselves, to some extent, from effects that are beyond our control and be content with the good will and the work that are the quiet expression of our inner life. We must be content to live without watching ourselves live, to work without expecting an immediate reward, to love without an instantaneous satisfaction, and to exist without any special recognition.” – Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

Immerse yourself into each day with no attachments or expectations with the exception of giving your very best to each moment, each person. When we focus on doing good and being authentic, it’s so much more than enough. Detach from that which you have no real influence and get out of your own way.

“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.” – Rabindranath Tagore

“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.” – Rabindranath Tagore

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