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Posts tagged ‘awe’

Nov 16

Walk in Peace

“The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.”― Thich Nhat Hanh

“Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings…It’s something we make inside ourselves.”― Corrie Ten Boom

Pause and pursuit.
Quiet and clarity.
Slow and motion.
Space and place.
Look around on the path you walk today.
Seek beauty, color, delight.
Inside and out.
Focus attention, intention, direction.
Plant seeds along the way.
Joy, awe, kindness.
Walk in peace.

“waste time wisely, my friend. Time spent in rest, joy, company and kindness is never wasted. As for everything else, just do it. You won’t regret the things you tried and failed at. But you will regret a life spent waiting. Those who wait, wait. You have a life to live.”― Donna Ashworth, I Wish I Knew: Poems to Soothe Your Soul & Strengthen Your Spirit

Nov 14

In the Present Moment

“Life is available only in the present moment.”― Thich Nhat Hanh, Taming the Tiger Within: Meditations on Transforming Difficult Emotions

“May you live every day of your life.”― Jonathan Swift

Drop anchor.
Pause.
Hover.
Look longer.
Color, nuance, hue.
Breathe deeply.
In and out, repeat.
In the slowing, witness beauty.
Partake in quiet.
Put down the unnecessary.
Tune out to tune in.

“Smile, breathe and go slowly.”― Thich Nhat Hanh

Aug 17

The Weight of Beauty

“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

“The sunlight claps the earth, and the moonbeams kiss the sea: what are all these kissings worth, if thou kiss not me?”― Percy Bysshe Shelley

Flowers in bloom swaying in the breeze.
Top-heavy and bursting.
Bending the branch, but not breaking it.
Waving to get my attention.
To break the trance of habit and autopilot.
Simple and filled with wonder.
Show stopper.
A prayer of gratitude for beauty that is cast carelessly and abundantly at our feet daily.
To awaken our senses.
Capture our attention.
Softening our grip on the unnecessary.
To put it down long enough to carry the weight of beauty.

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”― Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Aug 3

Tremble

“The sacred is discovered in what moves and touches us, in what makes us tremble.”― Sam Keen

“Life leads us into its spaces slowly. We’re not sure what awaits us next. We set out to explore it, moving circumspectly, with a sense of anticipation then suddenly it opens up and teases us with its transparency.”― Bhuwan Thapaliya

Slowly then suddenly.
Then back to slow, steady, delay, detour.
Leave room for surprises.
For serendipity.
For communion.
Sacred sky opening up.
Holy ground we walk.
Explore and tremble.

“Soul grows in communion. Word by word, story by story, for better or worse, we build our world. From true conversation – speaking and listening – communication deepens into compassion and creates community.”― Sam Keen, Hymns to an Unknown God: Awakening The Spirit In Everyday Life

Aug 2

Ground of Wonder

“What if wonder was the ground of our gathering?”― Ross Gay, Inciting Joy: Essays

“Because in trying to articulate what, perhaps, joy is, it has occurred to me that among other things—the trees and the mushrooms have shown me this—joy is the mostly invisible, the underground union between us, you and me, which is, among other things, the great fact of our life and the lives of everyone and thing we love going away. If we sink a spoon into that fact, into the duff between us, we will find it teeming. It will look like all the books ever written. It will look like all the nerves in a body. We might call it sorrow, but we might call it a union, one that, once we notice it, once we bring it into the light, might become flower and food. Might be joy.”― Ross Gay, The Book of Delights: Essays

To look through the eyes of love.
To stand on the ground of wonder.
To pay attention and see new in the same.
To teem, steep and overflow with gratitude.
To find joy woven into each day.
And delight waiting to dance.
Look longer.
Notice.
It just might be joy sitting next to you.

“The point is that in almost every instance of our lives, our social lives, we are, if we pay attention, in the midst of an almost constant, if subtle, caretaking.”― Ross Gay, The Book of Delights: Essays

Jul 16

Common

“Laughter is a sunbeam of the soul.”― Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain

“As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness — just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.”― Laura Ingalls Wilder, Writings to Young Women from Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Wisdom and Virtues

May our eyes be clear to see and hold everyday blessings.
To find joy in simple things.
Discover awe again and again in the sunrise and sunset.
Put down worry.
Laugh often.
Love well.
Each day.
Common things, extraordinary wonder.

“Worry does not keep it from raining tomorrow, but it does keep it from being sunny today.”― Shannon L. Alder

Jun 27

There is a Field

“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

“Beauty isn’t all about just nice loveliness. . . . Beauty is about more rounded, substantial becoming. So I think beauty, in that sense, is about an emerging fullness, a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth, and also a kind of homecoming for the enriched memory of your unfolding life.”― Aundi Kolber, Try Softer

Abundance even in difficulty.
Color and bloom abound.
See it all, especially beauty.
To be reminded often of our life unfolding to newness.
To change and be changed, overcoming resistance.
To do it afraid, watching fear diminish through action.
Fresh day, empty page to write your story anew.
Wide open fields, soft breeze, dancing color.
Feel the pulse of life.
Enter it.

“May I have the courage today To live the life that I would love, To postpone my dream no longer But do at last what I came here for And waste my heart on fear no more.”― John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

Jun 14

Dragonfly

“Magic is seeing wonder in nature’s every little thing, seeing how wonderful the fireflies are and how magical are the dragonflies.”― Ama H.Vanniarachchy

“Dragonflies hover on an abundance of air.”― Anthony T. Hincks

Dragonflies dancing.
Pausing to rest.
Summer sun and soft breeze.
A poem.
A song.
A declaration of light.
Abundance singing out loud in summer.
Reflect the light.
Bring the ease of summer wherever you pass through.
The dance of the dragonfly.
Magic and awe.
Good things.

“Dragonflies are reminders that we are light and we can reflect light in powerful ways if we choose to do so.”― Robyn Nola

Jun 5

Drink in Beauty

“Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity.” – Oscar Wilde

“Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.”― Edith Wharton, Artemis to Actaeon and Other Verses

Enter this day.
Fresh and new.
Blank canvas.
Empty cup.
Ready to be filled with shape, color and hue.
In the details, in the ordinary, in the moment.
Rid yourself of old and sameness.
Empty your cup to be filled again and again.
Hope, enthusiasm, joy, delight.
Ours for the taking, receiving, and sharing.
Enter this day new and come out changed.
Drink in the beauty.
Spill out awe.

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” – Ray Bradbury

Mar 27

Planting Trees You’ll Never See

“Wonder is the heaviest element on the periodic table. Even a tiny fleck of it stops time.” – Diane Ackerman

“First day of spring
The whole world’s wakin’ up and turnin’ green
And everything connects to everything

It’s a beautiful design
It just takes love and faith and grace, a little time

We’re all sons and daughters, just ripples on the water
Trying to make it matter until our time to leave
One day, they’ll carve your name in stone
And send your soul on home

‘Til then it’s prayin’ for rain and pullin’ up the weeds
Plantin’ trees we’ll never see”
– Lyrics to Amy Grant’s newly released song Planting Trees We’ll Never See

A drive, music turned up high.
Windows open to let spring air in, stale air out.
New music and familiar too.
A fresh playlist to enter a new season.
Winding roads to take.
Twists and turns.
Trees lining the path.
Small and big.
Scatter seeds. Pull weeds.
Planting trees you’ll never see.
Leave a legacy of love wherever you go.

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