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Posts tagged ‘Beauty’

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

The Great Silence, Soft Voice

“Whatever is happening, whatever is changing, whatever is going or not going according to my plans—I release my hold on all of it. I leave behind who I think I am, who I want to be, what I want the world to be. I come home to the great peace of the present moment,”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

“May you listen to the voice within the beat even when you are tired. When you feel yourself breaking down, may you break open instead. May every experience in life be a door that opens your heart, expands your understanding, and leads you to freedom. If you are weary, may you be aroused by passion and purpose. If you are blameful and bitter, may you be sweetened by hope and humor. If you are frightened, may you be emboldened by a big consciousness far wiser than your fear. If you are lonely, may you find love, may you find friendship. If you are lost, may you understand that we are all lost, and still we are guided—by Strange Angels and Sleeping Giants, by our better and kinder natures, by the vibrant voice within the beat. May you follow that voice, for This is the way—the hero’s journey, the life worth living, the reason we are here.  ”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Senses awakening
Slow over urgency
Soft over hard
Reflection over judgment
Yield over assumption
Praise over complaint
Pause over pass by
Sauntering over speed
Presence over past
Thriving over striving
Peace, praise, delight
Receive and cast light.

“Everything gets sorted out in the Great Silence.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Walking and Waking Up

“Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost.”― Erol Ozan

“Walking . . . is how the body measures itself against the earth.”― Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Walking and wandering
The path, the destination
Beauty the gift
Lost to be found.

“The magic of the street is the mingling of the errand and the epiphany.”― Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Joy Doing and Receiving

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.”― Walt Whitman

“Do anything, but let it produce joy.”― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Reclaim reverence, awe, wonder.
Keep it close.
Restore delight, frolic, play.
Weave it in the ordinary.
Release all that is not yours to carry.
Walk lightly with the rest.
Awake, aware, tending.
Sacred, holy ground of this day.

“Give me the splendid, silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling.”― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Find and Found

“true solitude is found in the wild places, where one is without human obligation” — the places where “one’s inner voices become audible.” – Wendell Berry

“Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything . . . It is the presence of time, undisturbed. It can be felt within the chest. Silence nurtures our nature, our human nature, and lets us know who we are. Left with a more receptive mind and a more attuned ear, we become better listeners not only to nature but to each other. Silence can be carried like embers from a fire. Silence can be found, and silence can find you. Silence can be lost and also recovered. But silence cannot be imagined, although most people think so. To experience the soul-swelling wonder of silence, you must hear it.”― Gordon Hempton

Presence in silence.
Stay awhile.
Find and found.

Daily Tax of Presence and Appreciation

“To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds,”― William James

“I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success, and I am for those tiny, invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, yet which if you give them time, will rend the hardest monuments of man’s pride.”― William James

Effort, daily
Kindness, consideration, care
Small acts
Planting seeds
Sooner than later
Drops to waves
Wings spread
Pay attention
Put in effort
Give before receiving
Fearless and bold
Postpone no more
Joy, delight, gratitude, narrow path, extra mile
Baptized by, with, for love.

“We forget that every good that is worth possessing must be paid for in strokes of daily effort. We postpone and postpone until those smiling possibilities are dead… By neglecting the necessary concrete labor, by sparing ourselves the little daily tax, we are positively digging the graves of our higher possibilities.”― William James