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Posts tagged ‘awe’

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.

Mar 20

Invoke Joy

“The practice of paying attention really does take time. Most of us move so quickly that our surroundings become no more than the blurred scenery we fly past on our way to somewhere else.” – Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

“Reverence requires a certain pace. It requires a willingness to take detours, even side trips, which are not part of the original plan.” – Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

Put the weight down.
No need to carry it every minute.
Remember laughter, laugh.
Remember fun, play.
Remember delight, enter.
Remember spring, bloom.
Remember hope, let it carry you.
Remember gratitude, the full view.
Remember joy, invoke it.
Cross thresholds, aware of footholds, break loose.
Pause here a bit, life will surely pull you back in.
Remain longer, lighter, changed, transformed.
Reverence, attention, wisdom.

“Wisdom atrophies if it is not walked on a regular basis.” – Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

Feb 17

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Birch Swinging

“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

“I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree~
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”― Robert Frost

The hem of Heaven.
The earth beneath my feet.
The common work between the mountains and valleys.
In all things, in each moment, a possibility to see and be new.
Present, awake and in awe, sitting right next to boredom and commitments.
Auto pilot off, task checking paused, for a moment or two a swinger of birches.
Delight in each season and the moments they are made up of.
Next and near to, a breath away.
May each see all that is before, breathe deeply, choosing what to grasp and what to release.
Daily bread.

“The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain common work as it comes certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.”― Robert Louis Stevenson

Feb 8

Everyday Wonder, Awe Abound

“awe is almost always nearby, and is a pathway to healing and growing in the face of the losses and traumas that are part of life.” – Dacher Keltner, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life

“How does awe transform us? By quieting the nagging, self-critical, overbearing, status-conscious voice of our self, or ego, and empowering us to collaborate, to open our minds to wonders, and to see the deep patterns of life.”— Dacher Keltner, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life

Expand rather than contract.
Unbind rather than constrict.
Deep dive, beneath the surface.
Narrow road, wide journey.
Empty and fill back up again.
Make space for awe and wonder.
A daily practice, a commitment.
To see the same with fresh eyes.
Free from criticism, opinion, assumption.
Seek new ideas and ways to see.
Nature, books, podcasts, music, art, laughter, a good conversation.
Pathways to find awe and everyday wonder.
Be on your way.
Awe awaits your arrival.

“From our first breath to our last, awe moves us to deepen our relations with the wonders of life and to marvel at the vast mysteries that are part of our fleeting time here, guided by this most human of emotions.”— Dacher Keltner, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life

Find wonderful resources and insights on the Greater Good Science Center website. Dacher Keltner, founder of the Center, also hosts the Science of Happiness podcast. Krista Tippet, On Being podcast also just had a wonderful conversation with Keltner on his new book on Awe.

Feb 5

Journey Wisely

“From wonder into wonder existence opens.” – Lao Tzu

“The Sun will rise and set regardless. What we choose to do with the light while it’s here is up to us. Journey wisely.”― Alexandra Elle

May you experience fresh joy, brilliant light, holy ease.
Pursuing wonder in ordinary days.
The burst of a flower.
The crunch of the snow beneath your feet.
The dance of nature.
The symphony of sky.
A shift in attention, a deepening, a quieting.
Transformation and expansion from wonder to wonder.
Filling the space between sunrise and sunset with delight, awe in the details and the vastness.
Inquire. Observe. Anchor.
Till the garden of grace and gratitude.
Sacred ground.

“Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel

Jan 29

Same Landscape, Fresh Eyes, New Horizon

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”― Lao Tzu

“There is no wealth but life.” – John Ruskin

Leave space and margin today.
For discovery and unknowing.
For seeking and searching.
Unfamiliar in the familiar.
The question behind the question.
The place beneath the surface.

For wonder and awe.
For serendipity and surprise.
For expansion and deepening.
For nuance and hue.
For color and symphony.
For belonging and home.

Invite, allow, embrace.
Put down, pick up, tread softly.
Compose, create, connect.
A holy ease, sacred ground.

Imagination and luminosity.
Light and shadow.
Contour and dimension.

No calculating, counting, or comparing.
Suspend opinion, assumption and judgment.
Narrative, story, unfolding.
Swept up in the current, flow, tide.

Same landscape, fresh eyes, new horizon.
Brimming in abundance.
Spilling over into joy.

“I may not know
What a day may bring
But I know
Who brings the day.” – Miracle Power Lyrics by We the Kingdom

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

Jan 7

The Power of Awe and Wonder

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”― Albert Einstein

In a recent New York Times article How a Bit of Awe Can Improve Your Health, research shows that there are health benefits to experiencing awe. As we start the new year with resolutions and intentions, a practice of awe could be the one that facilitates success of the others. Children are the authors of awe. Adults lose it when we enter the “real world.” We become flat, asleep and on autopilot checking off our “to do” lists. According to research, awe is something you can develop, with practice:

  1. Pay attention
  2. Focus on the “moral beauty” of others – witness the goodness of others
  3. Practice mindfulness – distraction is the enemy of awe
  4. Choose the unfamiliar path – gravitate to the unexpected

“Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world,” said Dacher Keltner, author of a new book: Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life

May awe be your new practice and daily habit to expand, deepen and brighten your journey. We can even find in the midst of winter.

“What makes awe such a powerful call to love is that it’s disruptive. It sneaks up on us. It doesn’t ask our permission to wow us; it just does. Awe can arise from a single glance, a sound, a gesture.”― Sharon Salzberg, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection

Jul 9

Wonderment

“Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” – James M. Barrie

Awaken to see the wonder all around in this very moment.
Ask, pause and listen for answers.
In reach and available.
Assume nothing, allow more.
In wandering, exploration and seeking, we make the journey an adventure.
The process and the outcome are the gifts.
Double blessing.

Wonderland

“It is a person’s unquenchable thirst for wonder
That sets them on their initial quest for truth.
The more doors you open, the smaller you become.
The more places you see and the more people you meet,
The greater your curiosity grows.
The greater your curiosity, the more you will wander.
The more you wander, the greater the wonder.
The more you quench your thirst for wonder,
The more you drink from the cup of life.
The more you see and experience, the closer to truth you become.
The more languages you learn, the more truths you can unravel.
And the more countries you travel, the greater your understanding.
And the greater your understanding, the less you see differences.
And the more knowledge you gain, the wider your perspective,
And the wider your perspective, the lesser your ignorance.
Hence, the more wisdom you gain, the smaller you feel.
And the smaller you feel, the greater you become.
The more you see, the more you love —
The more you love, the less walls you see.
The more doors you are willing to open,
The less close-minded you will be.
The more open-minded you are,
The more open your heart.
And the more open your heart,
The more you will be able to
Send and receive —
Truth and TRUE
Unconditional
LOVE.”

― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

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