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Posts tagged ‘Beauty’

Jan 16

Front Row Seat

“To escape and sit quietly on the beach - that's my idea of paradise.” – Emilia Wickstead

“To escape and sit quietly on the beach – that’s my idea of paradise.” – Emilia Wickstead

“Sometimes you need to press pause to let everything sink in.” – Sebastian Vettel

Take a seat.
A pause, a hard stop, an inflection point.
Interruptions. Distractions. Detours. Delays.
What are they offering?
Pause. Reflect. Let it sink in.
Weave it all together.
Sit in the front row of now for a bit.
Observe what is present and available, in abundance, overflowing.
Beauty, rising from beneath still waters to get your attention, direct your intention, wake you up.
In the beginning, middle and end at the same time.
The arc of the story.
We reside in all of it and see none of it on the way to next.
What is right in front of you now awaiting your discovery?
The necessity and fullness of reflection to hurl us back into our life, renewed, refreshed and reborn.

“To doubt everything, or, to believe everything, are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.” – Henri Poincare

Jan 15

1 Comment

Focal Point

“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” – Jonathan Swift

“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” – Jonathan Swift

“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.” – Stephen Sondheim

As each moment appears and unravels, may peace be the ground you walk on.
Carrying what is necessary for the journey, laying the rest down to travel lightly in grace and ease.
Same place, fresh eyes, new place appearing as if for the first time.
Invisible revealed.
Order from chaos.
Keeping the beauty, releasing the rest.
Clarity and discernment.
Surprise and awe.
Witness and engage.
Focal point, art unfolds.

“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” – William James

Jan 12

Brushstrokes

“Imagination allows you to bend the rules of the temporal world.” – Amy Sheral

“Imagination allows you to bend the rules of the temporal world.” – Amy Sheral

“A line is a dot that went for a walk.” – Paul Klee

On the canvas of today, what colors, shapes, strokes will you brush on the white space?
How will you see the same differently, be changed, moved, uprooted, furled into awe?
Where will you reside and where will you venture to?

You are the artist, the writer, the creator of today.
Do not let the past, circumstances, others take that responsibility and power from you.
Own what is yours and create something beautiful that only you can create.
Be generous, invite whimsy, take the voyage, shine your light.
Blank canvas, create a masterpiece, unfolding a brushstroke at a time.

“Every painting is a voyage into a sacred harbour.” – Giotto di Bondone

Jan 1

2 Comments

Be Glad In It

“Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.” – Henry Van Dyke

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalms 118:24

A new day. A new year. After a few years of making plans to only have them thwarted by an ongoing pandemic, resolutions are hollow and a set up for disappointment. And yet, and yet. Hope keeps calling. Joy demands attention. Light keeps breaking through. Resolutions with commitment and work pull us forward. This will not go on forever. Nothing does and there are no do-overs as hard as we try to change the past. Our response is more important than the circumstances. That’s where our power lies.

In the unmaking and unraveling, we can reclaim, reshape, repurpose the materials and tools we have been given to create something new from what’s already available and in reach. Abundance over scarcity creates options and avenues to follow.

Put your focus, effort and attention on that which you can influence and stop wasting time trying to fix others and waiting for the perfect circumstances that never arrive. Be bold and fierce, present and engaged in this day.

We know all too well that we can’t predict the future. But we can enter this day, give it our best, whatever that is for you right now. Hope. Light. Joy. Today and on the road ahead. Be glad in this day.

“Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” – Doris Day

Dec 29

See It, The Beauty

“Pay attention to the beauty surrounding you.” – Anne Lamott

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius

Rush to color, joy, beauty.
Let them do their work in you.
Be slow to judgment, resentment, assumption.
Think the best in others and let them prove you wrong.
And then forgive them.
People are imperfect, including self.
Beneath the surface, the real story lies.
Don’t accept the answer “fine” when you ask how someone is doing.
Ask the follow up question. Listen, don’t solve.
Choose to be kind and considerate.
Go first in letting others go first.

Music. Art. Literature.
Expand the world, pull us out of “what about me” ruts.
Gratitude. Grace. Anticipation.
Expand the world, focusing our eyes on possibilities and blessings.
Light. Laughter. Love.
Expand the world, saving it from itself.

Live this day in color, joy and beauty.

“Beauty is power; a smile is its sword.” – John Ray

Dec 19

Big Sky

“Excuse me while I kiss the sky.” – Jimi Hendrix

“Aim for the sky, but move slowly, enjoying every step along the way. It is all those little steps that make the journey complete.” – Chanda Kochhar

As you walk the earth, may you pause frequently to see the big sky.
Anchored in now and hopeful for tomorrow.
Gratitude doesn’t deny struggles.
It makes us look at the big sky to see the whole picture.
Where blessings and burdens reside together.
In the landscape of life, beauty resides awaiting attention, offering an embrace.
Joy for the taking.

“O God, we praise Thee for keeping us till this day, and for the full assurance that Thou wilt never let us go.” – Charles Spurgeon

Dec 12

faire le hiontas

“To love beauty is to see light.” – Victor Hugo

“Time itself comes in drops.” – William James

“Faire le hiontas” is Irish for “watch with wonder.”
Learn a new language.
Expand your view.
Language and composition add dimension and depth, connection and complexity.
Multiple answers rather than one.
The ego binds, the spirit sets free.
We forego wonder for certainty.
Ordinary for extraordinary.
Wide open spaces for protected forts.
Windows for walls.
Go to the edge of yourself and leap.
Cannon ball into deep waters of blue water and sky.
The place beyond your knowing, into other knowing and unknowing.
Breath in crisp clean air, partake in the sounds of quiet beauty.
Transform ordinary days by daring adventure of new thoughts free from opinion, assumption and judgment.
Exploration, mystery, imagination.
Watch with wonder.

“Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.” – William Wordsworth

Nov 5

Get Out, Nature Awaits Notice!

“How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.” – John Burroughs

“Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.” – Blaise Pascal

Get outside daily.
Drink in the beauty.
Open the gifts of nature.
Reset your view.
Put your senses back in order.
See and be seen.
Pause to notice what is within reach today.
No place to go but here.
Get out into the center and nearness of what is available now.
Harmony. Gratitude. Awe.

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” – John Burroughs

“All nature wears one universal grin.” – Henry Fielding

Nov 3

Rooted and Reaching

“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” – John Muir

Rooted and reaching;
Grounded and in praise;
Go amidst the trees to observe and absorb;
To wash your spirit clean;
Sing the song;
Dance the dance;
Become the poem of ordinary days made extraordinary by simply taking notice;
God’s canvas, creation and poetry to partake in;
Keep reaching for the sky, rooted firmly in deep rich soil;
Sacred ground, holy place;
Pause here a bit and rest;
And then softly carry it forward into each day.

Trees by Joyce Kilmer

“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.”

 

Oct 12

Into the Wild

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein

The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry

“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.”

Open and receive the grace woven in stillness, quiet and rest.
Without effort or forethought of grief.
A holy sacred place, inviting all in.
Enter the peace of the wild things to awaken to the breath, depth and presence of life.

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