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Posts tagged ‘awe’

Jan 8

Rituals of Approach

“When one flower blooms spring awakens everywhere.”― John O’Donohue

“What you encounter, recognize or discover depends to a large degree on the quality of your approach. Many of the ancient cultures practiced careful rituals of approach. An encounter of depth and spirit was preceded by careful preparation.

When we approach with reverence, great things decide to approach us. Our real life comes to the surface and its light awakens the concealed beauty in things. When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. The rushed heart and arrogant mind lack the gentleness and patience to enter that embrace.”― John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace – A Spiritual Homecoming Through Celtic Traditions, Art, Music, and Divine Grace

Morning, stepping off point
Slow entry
Reflection, meditation, prayer
Call it what you will
Getting out of your own way
Soft whisper
Discernment and clarity
Setting the tone
Framing the door
Crossing the threshold
Anticipation, reverence, curiosity
Spilling into awe, wonder, delight
Spring smack dab in winter
Ordinary days, sacred gifts woven throughout
Concealed beauty surfaces
Blooming joy in noticing, partaking, generosity
Enter the embrace of a new day.

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”― John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong

Dec 18

Shore of this Day

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

“All that is eternal in me
Welcomes the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.

I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.

May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.” – John O’Donohue

Blank canvas of a new day
Fresh beginning
Joy to be had
White space and margin for slowing
Color, shape, hue for meaning
Beauty unfolding into gratitude, grace, beholding
Invitation, welcoming, belonging
May we see the gifts on the shore of each new day.

“The chief beauty about time
is that you cannot waste it in advance.
The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you,
as perfect, as unspoiled,
as if you had never wasted or misapplied
a single moment in all your life.
You can turn over a new leaf every hour
if you choose.”― Arnold Bennett

Oct 22

Easily Overlooked, Look Again

“We ‘re all yearning for a wedge of sky, aren ‘t we? I suspect God plants these yearnings in us so we’ll at least try and change the course of things. We must try, that’s all” ― Sue Monk Kidd, The Invention of Wings

“The most significant gifts are the ones most easily overlooked. Small, everyday blessings: woods, health, music, laughter, memories, books, family, friends, second chances, warm fireplaces, and all the footprints scattered throughout our days.”― Sue Monk Kidd

In the details
Ordinary days
Delays, detours and distractions
Take a breath, a pause, hard stop
Look up, look in, notice with new eyes
What’s right before and in reach
Small everyday blessings
Awe, wonder, delight
Persist in love, joy, gratitude
Look again.

“And when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love but to persist in love.”― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

Oct 21

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World in a Leaf

“It’s possible to understand the world from studying a leaf. You can comprehend the laws of aerodynamics, mathematics, poetry and biology through the complex beauty of such a perfect structure.
It’s also possible to travel the whole globe and learn nothing.”
― Joy Harjo, The Woman Who Fell from The Sky: Poems

“Bless the poets, the workers for justice,
the dancers of ceremony, the singers of heartache,
the visionaries, all makers and carriers of fresh
meaning—We will all make it through,
despite politics and wars, despite failures
and misunderstandings. There is only love.”
― Joy Harjo, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems

Proximity and attention
Inquiry and perusal
Curiosity and imagination
Awe and wonder
Finding the world in a leave rippling with color
A flower breaking earth
The pulse of a poem
With enthusiasm, anticipation, hope, delight
Fresh morning, new meaning.

“Gather strength, pull it in
Be right where you are.”
― Joy Harjo, An American Sunrise

Aug 31

For the Beauty of the Earth

“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”― Alan Watts

“For the beauty of the earth
For the beauty of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.” – Folliott S. Pierpoint

Earth, skies, all around us that lies
For the beauty of it
Calm the waters
Pause, look, reflect
Move softly and lightly, with reverence
Sacred ground of the present, of full presence in it
Drink in every ounce of beauty, wonder and awe
Abundant and overflowing.

“For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light.”– Folliott S. Pierpoint

Oct 21

Divine Imagination

“Nature is the direct expression of the divine imagination.” – John O’Donohue

“A morning when you become a pure vessel For what wants to ascend from silence,” – John O’Donohue

At least two questions, daily.
In the morning, what will I see today anew?
In the evening, what did I really see this day?
In the middle, open arms, heart, mind.
The power of questions rather than old answers.
The divine imagination at work.

“Many of us have made our world so familiar that we do not see it anymore. An interesting question to ask yourself at night is, What did I really see this day?” – John O’Donohue

Aug 29

Wade and Leap

“I will wade out till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air” – e.e. cummings

“Settle in the here and now.
Reach down into the center
where the world is not spinning
and drink this holy peace.

Feel relief flood into every
cell. Nothing to do. Nothing
to be but what you are already.
Nothing to receive but what
flows effortlessly from the
mystery into form.

Nothing to run from or run
toward. Just this breath,
Awareness knowing itself as
embodiment. Just this breath,
awareness waking up to truth.”
― Danna Faulds

Breathe in the last days of summer.
Drink in the beauty of burning flowers, sun ablaze.
Fall harvest soon, but not yet.
Cusp of transition.
Summer still leading the dance.
Remain in this moment, aware and awake.
Steeped in gratitude.
Overflowing with ease.
Soft whisper of “Yes!”

“All you ever longed for is Before you in this moment If you dare draw in a Breath and whisper “Yes.”― Danna Faulds

Jul 19

Call to Stillness

“I am love. It is never lacking or able to be stolen from me. I am good enough. I trust life. Life is kind. There is no pain too great not to be fed by my love and kindness. I am strong. My worth is not to be gained. I am already all of the worth I will ever be.”― Sarah Blondin, Heart Minded: How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love

“To the dark nights, the relief of the moon. The soft earth that forms to cradle the shape of my foot. To the crickets and the birds who sing our world into harmony. To the flowers that wish to sit on my windowsill, the trees that grow to reach the most sunlight. To the grass that sways and soothes. To the webs the spider tirelessly builds overnight only to be torn down in the daylight. To the life that pulses in exaltation below my feet every day that I am alive. To the portal it offers into a remembrance of our wholeness. To our source of unconditional love.”― Sarah Blondin, Heart Minded: How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love

In nature, beauty to awaken senses and awe.
In a slow morning, to anchor, root and set course.
In relationships, to feed, foster, be present.
A call to stillness.
To discover what I think, to be changed, to return to love without condition.
Heed the call to broaden, deepen, open, wonder, wander, grow, delight.
May joy meet you today.

“I know how scary or intimidating it can be to disconnect, to walk in the opposite direction of all that bright, shiny, noisy distraction. I have faced that fear again and again as I have answered my own call to stillness. But no matter the size of aversion or fear, you must trust me when I say that all that will matter, all that will ever amount to anything, is the relationship you have with the world you carry around inside of you.”― Sarah Blondin, Heart Minded: How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love

Jun 23

5:40 Arrival

“Art can be defined as beauty able to transcend the circumstances of its making.”― Jane Hirshfield, The Heart of Haiku

“Monday comes too soon… Don’t forget to squeeze several moments of joy into this weekend. Throw in some little pockets of peace and then be sure to sprinkle some good old belly-laughter to get the life-giving mix going. Let go of the safety bars for a moment or two, and throw those hands up in the air. This is life. This is it. Give yourself over, to whatever brings you that light, this world so desperately needs. Monday comes too soon.” – Donna Ashworth, Wild Hope

The sun always remains.
Whether hidden between clouds, rain.
Or in resting, letting the moon take its turn.
At peak, arriving slowing, full view, early morning.
Brilliant, bold, transcendent beauty.
A washing of light.
Give yourself over.
The gift of Sunday, that can spill over into Monday too.
Of our own choosing.

“The desire of monks and mystics is not unlike that of artists: to perceive the extraordinary within the ordinary by changing not the world but the eyes that look… To form the intention of new awareness is already to transform and be transformed.”― Jane Hirshfield, Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World

Feb 15

Calm and Grace

“Words are small shapes in the gorgeous chaos of the world.”― Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses

Although life is hard in pace
Lose not thy calm and grace.
If thee are not tender
Vow not to surrender
Eternity lies right before thy face.”
― Ana Claudia Antunes, ACross Tic

 Words soft, kind.
Ears open, attune.
Slowing to notice, awake.
Create calm in chaos.
Grace in this place.
Observe. Listen. Wonder.
Awe in thin places, still points.

“Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don’t have to do anything else. We don’t have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen.”― Margaret J. Wheatley

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