Jul 3
“A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.” – Anne Bronte
“The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy.” – Henry Ward Beecher
Divine
Sacred
Light
Notice
Partake
Breathe
Participate in the beauty of this day.
“When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Beauty is the illumination of your soul.” – John O’Donohue
Wherever you are, wherever you wander today, may beauty be your companion, light your friend, joy your spirit.
On Beauty
by Kahlil Gibran
“And a poet said, Speak to us of Beauty.
And he answered:
Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall your find her unless she herself be your way and your guide?
And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?
The aggrieved and the injured say, “Beauty is kind and gentle.
Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us.”
And the passionate say, “Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread.
Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us.”
The tired and the weary say, “Beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit.
Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow.”
But the restless say, “We have heard her shouting among the mountains,
And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions.”
At night the watchmen of the city say, “Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east.”
And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say, “We have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset.”
In winter say the snow-bound, “She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills.”
And in the summer heat the reapers say, “We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair.”
All these things have you said of beauty,
Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,
And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy
It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,
But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.
It is not in the image you would see nor the song you would hear,
But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.
It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw,
But rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.
People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror.”
“Even
After
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,
“You owe me.”
Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.”
― Hafiz
A canvas
A possibility
An opening
An invitation
To bigness
To expanse
To dance
To delight
Composition
Rhythm
The poetry of a summer’s day coming to a close.
Lighting up more than the sky.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18)
by William Shakespeare
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
Jun 21
“The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.” – Walt Whitman
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh
A paper plate, some paint and fingers meet and dance, art blooms.
Uninhibited and with delight, a child reminds us to return to this place again and again.
No boundaries, no rules, no judgment.
Colors, shapes, beauty.
New day, fresh palette.
Paint.
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso
Jun 19
“When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it.” – William Blake
“In a world myriad as ours, the gaze is a singular act: to look at something is to fill your whole life with it, if only briefly.”― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
May you be overwhelmed and embraced with the fullness of today.
Lingering in the summer sun.
Slowing to see bounty and abundance in reach.
A singular act.
The drains of heaven.
At our feet.
Walk softly on this holy sacred ground.
Lighter.
With ease, gratitude and in amazement.
“Stars. Or rather, the drains of heaven – waiting. Little holes. Little centuries opening just enough for us to slip through.”― Ocean Vuong, Night Sky with Exit Wounds
“Gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us.” – David Whyte
“These few words are enough. If not these few words, this breath. If not this breath, this sitting here. This opening to the life we have refused again and again. Until now.” – David Whyte
Exhale. Inhale. Repeat.
Stop holding your breath.
Trying to predict, to plot, to control.
Beating disappointment to the punch, rooting in apprehension, preparing for disappointment.
Expectations unmet, disappointment, detours.
All a part of life.
Along with joy, delight, awe, wonder, ease, exhalation, enthusiasm, laughter.
The ebb and flow.
Life is a conversation waiting to happen each day, not a lecture or series of lessons.
Rhythm, flow, the dance.
Enter, abide, allow.
“What if the world is holding its breath – waiting for you to take the place that only you can fill?” – David Whyte
Breathe deeply.
In and out.
Inhale, exhale.
Release, put it down, pick up only what is necessary to travel light.
Rest awhile.
To find and be found again.
“When your eyes are tired the world is tired also. When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you.” – David Whyte
Allow joy to wash over, to become the ground you stand on.
Perfection a myth, plans unfinished.
A mix, a mess, a muddle.
Dimensional and deep.
Immerse yourself into this day.
The ordinary, the blessings, the sun.
Inhale, exhale, begin again.
“What you can plan is too small for you to live. What you can live wholeheartedly will make plans enough for the vitality hidden in your sleep.” – David Whyte
“I imagine that yes is the only living thing.” – e. e. cummings
“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
How we frame our world, bucket people, box it up to explain shapes our world, often limiting, greying, and stunting.
We put blinders on, losing our peripheral vision, our gazing-ability and wandering-instinct.
When we allow unknowing, mystery and exploration, we broaden our view, deepen our connection, enrich our experience of daily life, discovering a 360-degree, technicolor landscape filled with beauty, joy and mystery right in front of us.
In a flower, in another’s eyes, in our own heart.
Explain less, relinquish “control,” trade sight for vision.
Invite the horizon, the sky, the ocean into view.
Gaze, grow, imagine.
Expanse, depth and light, right in front of you for the taking, and the giving.
Break the frame, empty the bucket.
New eyes, open arms, beating heart.
Get a glimpse of the wonder and awe, hidden in reach.
“Every creature is a word of God.” Meister Eckhart
“Be here now.”― Ram Dass
“If your mind carries a heavy burden of past, you will experience more of the same. The past perpetuates itself through lack of presence. The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes the future.”― Eckhart Tolle
We can live twice.
Once in real time, present to the moment, our place in it.
Aware of the blessings and beauty amidst burdens, hidden in plain sight, longing to be noticed.
Grateful when in it, not racing ahead, or rearview mirror driving.
A second time in memory, reflecting, finding meaning, seeing the pieces fit, accepting not understanding, weaving and integrating into our story.
Moving forward to new paths, not circling back to familiarity and the “good old” days.
The “good old” days are now.
Slow down, put down the “to-do” list, stop checking boxes and experience the depth and expanse.
Live twice, maybe more.
“Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds’ wings.”― Jelaluddin Rumi
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Elizabeth Appell
“The Law of Divine Compensation posits that this is a self-organizing and self-correcting universe: the embryo becomes a baby, the bud becomes a blossom, the acorn becomes an oak tree. Clearly, there is some invisible force that is moving every aspect of reality to its next best expression.” – Marianne Williamson
Beyond our limited awareness lies an immensity, depth, breadth and expanse.
Not requiring our understanding, control, permission.
Demanding our trust, praise, awareness, hope, faith, wonder.
Comply to get a glimpse, touch the hem, allow mystery.
Bud, bloom, spring.
Not in our timing, but to be sure.
The next best expression.
Lean in, enter the flow.
Bud to bloom.
“The gracious, eternal God permits the spirit to green and bloom and to bring forth the most marvelous fruit, surpassing anything a tongue can express and a heart conceive.” – Johannes Tauler
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius
“Concentration and mindfulness are the internal ways in which the mind restores itself from being out of balance and lost in confusion to a condition of ease, clarity, and wisdom. No external action needs to happen.” – Sylvia Boorstein
Take a long walk and drink in the beauty of nature.
Fill your heart with goodness.
Be kind to yourself and others.
Expand. Deepen. Delight.
Breathe it in.
“Mindfulness meditation doesn’t change life. Life remains as fragile and unpredictable as ever. Meditation changes the heart’s capacity to accept life as it is.” – Sylvia Boorstein
