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Posts tagged ‘Beauty’

Enchantment to Transformation

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” – Simone Weil

“Incidentally, the world is magical.
Magic is simply what’s off our human scale… at the moment.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Encounter
Enchantment
Delight
Partake in magic
Woven through the day
Borne of attention, awe and wonder.

“Enchantment arises on the threshold between human activity and nature’s presence. It is always a liminal phenomenon, a momentary relationship, made of the right arrangement on stars and planets and elaborate with art by human consciousness.”― Thomas Moore

Tips and Dust

“The true harvest of my life is intangible – a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched.”― Henry David Thoreau

“Direct your eye inward, and you’ll find / A thousand regions in your mind / Yet undiscovered. Travel them, and be / Expert in home-cosmography”― Henry David Thoreau

Busy, rushing, noise
Distractions, short cuts, avoidance
Clear clutter, in and out
Go off path
Make room, create margin, horizons
Pause, ask, listen
Partake and dive into wonder, awe, reverence
Hidden in moments
Harvest of life
Abundance in tips and dust.

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.”― Henry David Thoreau

Fresh Mind, New Day

“Love life. Engage in it. Give it all you’ve got. Love it with a passion because life truly does give back, many times over, what you put into it.”― Maya Angelou

“Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.”― Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

Thoughts, words, actions.
The framework and foundation.
How we enter the day, the world.
Defeated or hopeful.
Kindness or criticism.
Past or presence.
Grateful even in the challenges or comparing and counting.
Hardened or porous.
Daily decision, choice.
May I choose well.
Praise, laughter, traveling light.
Fresh mind, new day.

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. Do not complain. Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking.”― Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter

Effervecence and Luminosity

“Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.” — Virginia Woolf

“There is a quiet light that shines in every heart. It draws no attention to itself, though it is always secretly there. It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty, our desire to seek possibility, and our hearts to love life.”— John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

Flat rising to effervescence
Luminosity with renewed senses
A deep dive into presence
Holy ease, sacred ground
Soak in light, cast it back out.

“May you recognize in your life the presence, power, and light of your soul. May you realize that you are never alone, that your soul in its brightness and belonging connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe.”— John O’Donohue, Benedictus

Shortcut to Awe

“GET OUTDOORS.”― Dacher Keltner, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life

“Tap into your childlike sense of wonder. Young children are in an almost constant state of awe since everything is so new to them. During your walk, try to approach what you see with fresh eyes, imagining that you’re seeing it for the first time. Take a moment in each walk to take in the vastness of things, for example in looking at a panoramic view or up close at the detail of a leaf or flower. Go somewhere new. Each week, try to choose a new location. You’re more likely to feel awe in a novel environment where the sights and sounds are unexpected and unfamiliar to you. That said, some places never seem to get old, so there’s nothing wrong with revisiting your favorite spots if you find that they consistently fill you with awe. The key is to recognize new features of the same old place.”― Dacher Keltner, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life

Small things
Abundant in ordinary days
A walk in the woods
Blue sky
Flowers unfolding
Fresh air
Wander and wonder
Vastness, depth, expanse
Same transformed by awe.

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

Wabi

“We exist with a wind whispering inside and our moon flexing. Amid the ducts, inside the basilica of bones.”― Jack Gilbert

“Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods. Our dream wrestles in the castle of doubt. But there’s music in us. Hope is pushed down but the angel flies up again taking us with her.”― Jack Gilbert, Collected Poems

Notes falling into music.
Basilicas rising.
Valiant blossoming.
Fruition to flourishing to folding.
New bloom awaits its turn.
Breaking through fertile soil.
Hope ascends.

“The Japanese think it strange we paint our old wooden houses when it takes so long to find the wabi in them. They prefer the bonsai tree after the valiant blossoming is over, the leaves fallen. When bareness reveals a merit born in the vegetable struggling.”― Jack Gilbert, Collected Poems

Muddled, Messy, Unedited

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes… Including you.” — Anne Lamott

“I’m not impressed by efficiency. That’s the truth.
And just because it’s quick, it doesn’t mean that it is masterly.
When it comes to poetry, I don’t think speed has ever really been the goal.
I think sometimes it takes ages
to find the right words for that small piece of your soul.
We are slowly mining language, searching for a gem.
And besides, everything I love is a little bit lumpy.
In this life, the things I most adore
are all so fabulously flawed:
The green corduroy coat, for example,
that patiently waits for winter in my hall—
the one that used to keep my mom warm, and now does the same for me,
with padding peeking out of the cuffs
and pockets clinging on for dear life;
Or the accidental butt-dial left by my friends—
the voicemail where I can hear them chanting for ABBA,
demanding one more song;
Or the dinner that’s burnt at the edges;
Or the apology typed mid-cry;
Or the way my trousers hug my belly;
Or texting, “Sorry, I forgot to reply.”
I really like—I love, actually—living in a way, in a place,
where nothing lines up quite right.
I want more of it. I want all of it:
The muddled. The messy.
The bits AI might edit out.
I am always going to opt for the higgledy-piggledy heartbeat,
the world with its cardigan on backwards,
covered in fingerprints, thumb-smudged, and warm.
I want an awkward pause.
I will choose the unedited pulse of things every single time.
The beauty of the almost,
the nearly there,
the not quite.
The things that remind me I am not sparkly or shiny,
or even really getting it right.
But I am.
We all are.
Undoubtedly alive.” – Georgie Jones

To an unedited, non-curated, honest, messy, fun day.
Steeped in the silly, ordinary, delight.
Flavors rising, colors deepening, light brightening.
The beauty of the almost and unfolding.
Undoubtedly alive and so much more than well.

 

Hovering Sweetness

“Breathe the sweetness that hovers in August.” – Denise Levertov

Don’t Hesitate by Mary Oliver

“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.”

Clenched, curious, attentive.
Joy woven in presence.
In the small and seemingly ordinary.
Unfolding and unfurling.
Stance of awe.
Leap of wonder.
Deliverance of love.
Do not hesitate.
Inhale and exhale.
Sweetness, beauty and light.
Hovering next, around and in you.
On this ground of this very day.

“Do stuff. be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. stay eager.”― Susan Sontag

A Bit of Sky and Peppermint Wind

“It’s amazing the difference
A bit of sky can make.”― Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

“There is a place where the sidewalk ends,
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.”
― Shel Silverstein

A bit of sky
Off road beyond the sidewalks
Of thoughts, worries, resistance
Wander, roam, saunter
Peppermint wind to awaken
Presence in this day

“How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live ‘em.― Shel Silverstein, A Light in the Attic

Art of Harvesting the Day

“We seldom notice how each day is a holy place Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens, Transforming our broken fragments Into an eternal continuity that keeps us.”― John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

“Perhaps the art of harvesting the secret riches of our lives is best achieved when we place profound trust in the act of beginning. Risk might be our greatest ally. To live a truly creative life, we always need to cast a critical look at where we presently are, attempting always to discern where we have become stagnant and where new beginning might be ripening. There can be no growth if we do not remain open and vulnerable to what is new and different. I have never seen anyone take a risk for growth that was not rewarded a thousand times over.”― John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

Blessings abundant
Color and light
Beauty woven brilliantly in presence
For eyes to notice
Hands wide open
Heart porous
Art of harvesting it all.

“As clay anchors a tree in light and wind, May your outer life grow from peace within.”― John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings