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Posts tagged ‘Blog’

Mar 19

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The Power of Stillness

“Everything that’s created comes out of silence. Your thoughts emerge from the nothingness of silence. Your words come out of this void. Your very essence emerged from emptiness. All creativity requires some stillness.” – Wayne Dyer

Carve quiet into each day.

To hear what is most important;
To see what is right in front of you;
To taste the sweetness of gratitude;
To feel awe for all that is in this very moment;
To think thoughts that need to be thought;
To release what is deep within;
To sow seeds so harvest comes;
To fill the well so it can be drawn upon again;
To grasp the brevity of this very life so you can live it for the purpose you are called to fulfill;

There is something in nothing;
There is more is less;
There is discovery in stillness.

Be still.

Mar 14

The Light of a Smile

“Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.” – Lord Byron

Should you forget your blessings, pause for a moment;
Should you lose your way, pause for a moment;
Should you be tossed about by the winds, pause for a moment;

For in the quiet moments of repose, we shall be gently reminded of the abundance abound, the path will rise to meet us and we shall discover the depth of our roots and the freedom and light of a smile, both given and received.

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” – Nhat Hanh

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” – Nhat Hanh

An Old Irish Blessing
“May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!”
– Source: islandireland.com

Mar 12

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Clearing Brush

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” – John Muir

We’ve had the taste of an early spring in Minnesota, sixty degree days in March. Last week while taking Lily for a walk, we went into the woods. We haven’t been up there in a while. The brush had been cleared and it looked so different, new. The light came through the trees with ease.

“Sadly, it's much easier to create a desert than a forest.” – James Lovelock

“Sadly, it’s much easier to create a desert than a forest.” – James Lovelock

I have been on vacation for the past week. Some time at home with the girls and a quick trip with family. Vacation has a way of clearing the brush. The dried sticks of urgency, multi-tasking and rushing are put aside long enough for a new perspective to enter.

And if take time each day to hang onto that new perspective and “schedule” in unscheduled time, we can keep the brush from building back up again. Clear the brush and keep the path open so the light of each day can enter with ease.

Mar 8

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2190 Days

“There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.” – William Barclay

It’s Lily’s 6th birthday today. Lily wakes up around 5:00 am every day (yes, even the weekends) with a boundless enthusiasm, boisterous curiosity and a smile that won’t quit. And she demands that Molly and I join in. A paw to the shoulder, her butt up in the air, head down and then the famous flop on top of me, she’s ready to start the day and she needs her pack to join in. Every morning, she wipes the slate clean, starts anew in the hunt for delight.

Lily’s life is measured in moments and days. A lesson she teaches and reteaches me when I forget and go astray. And for the past 2190 days of her life, she has made my life and Molly’s more fun, rich and meaningful. The strut in her walk with her ear flipped back when she was a puppy remains strong and intact today. She’s loving life and it’s loving her right back.

“Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!” Dr. Seuss

“Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!” Dr. Seuss

So Happy 6th Birthday or 2190 Days Celebration of Really Living Life Lily. May we all be so wise, kind and generous in sharing wonder and awe by living each and every moment on purpose and with purpose.

“It takes a long time to become young.” – Pablo Picasso

“It takes a long time to become young.” – Pablo Picasso

Mar 2

Count Less

“We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.” – Aristotle

When it all doesn’t add up, stop counting. We wear ourselves down measuring, comparing, trying to figure it all out. To have it all make sense right now, to complete the puzzle. While aiming for the end of the story, we miss living the plot, the purpose, the depth found in a simple moment, in a smile, in rapt attention. Shortcuts sell us short. Depth trumps distance.

Join the living and start living each day, especially when it doesn’t all make sense. Worry, anxiety and demanding fairness traps us on the surface of the ocean of life. Sometimes one plus one equals five, sometimes it’s zero and sometimes it’s two.

Stop trying to “game” life and enter it fully with an open heart, willingness to be perplexed and grace to let go of the unnecessary and be grateful for the beauty, chaos and mystery. Never settling for less, demand, work and accept more than you ever thought possible.

Live more, count less.

Feb 26

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Plans

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” – Henry David Thoreau

“The most important lesson that I have learned is to trust God in every circumstance. Lots of times we go through different trials and following God’s plan seems like it doesn’t make any sense at all. God is always in control and he will never leave us.” – Allyson Felix

As I drove through the University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus, this sculpture that I’ve seen many times jumped out at me this time. It captured what life has felt like lately. As we meticulously work on plans in search of the shortest and straightest line from point A to point B, life ensues. And our path detours, swirls, circles and strays, not according to plan at all.

Our path is never quite as simple as our plans. Understanding occurs in the rear view mirror after we go through. When we go beyond the why and when questions, we realize that we are where we are needed and meant to be. When we trust, let go and start to enjoy this ride, we realize the futility of our plans.

With time and distance, we discover that the swirls and twirls of our journey have created a beautiful piece of art, a sculpture that only we can create with the guidance and grace of the Master artist.

Feb 14

Fundamental

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” – Deuteronomy 30:19

Pretty simple, yet often so hard to live out each day consistently with unwavering commitment. No matter where we wander or where we land, our choice is between life and death, blessing and curse, abundance and scarcity, loving unconditionally or with condition. When we let go of our theories, judgments and justifications, the choice is crystal clear. Life, blessing and light sustain and propel us forward.

Choose life, love wholeheartedly, live well. It’s fundamental.

Feb 10

A Soft Place to Land

“It is still breathtaking to me to watch people bring love, preciousness and kindness to their inner world, allowing the light of God to shine through their eyes so that the beauty of their soul can come forth.” – Debbie Ford

We all need a soft place to land. May you find yours today. May you be one in return.

“Be true to yourself. Make each day a masterpiece. Help others. Drink deeply from good books. Make friendship a fine art. Build a shelter against a rainy day.” – John Wooden

“Be true to yourself. Make each day a masterpiece. Help others. Drink deeply from good books. Make friendship a fine art. Build a shelter against a rainy day.” – John Wooden

Feb 9

Divine Transformation

“Prayer is the means by which we transform our lives by adding that divine dimension to it.” – Marianne Dorman, Living Lent

If we allow, if we dare to be open enough to make prayer an ongoing conversation rather than an occasional obligatory monologue, we find a peace and calming quiet that transcends the noise. It is in our struggles that we are being changed, made new. If we are willing to release our own expectations and to be held in the merciful grace that only God can offer, a divine and lasting transformation begins. Never easy, but we will never be the same again.

“God is offering an invitation. A call to waiting. A call to the mysteries of the cocoon. I discovered in the spiritual life, the long way around is the saving way. It isn’t the quick and easy religion we’re accustomed to. It’s deep and difficult –  a way that leads into the vortex of the soul where we touch God’s transformative powers. But we have to be patient. We have to let go and tap into our creative stillness. Most of all, we have to trust that our scarred hearts really do have wings.” – Sue Monk Kidd, When the Heart Waits

Accept the invitation.

Feb 7

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Life Heals Itself

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” – Michelangelo

As we weave through celebration and sorrow, diving and surfacing, pushing and pulling, time passes. Whether we see it sooner, later or ever, through the yin and yang of it all, life balances, goes deeper to rise higher again and heals itself. Only to start all over again, but from a new place, leading us to what’s next.

Our blessings and burdens both serve to shape, sustain and make the fragments whole again. Life, the very force that hurls us forward, breaks us open and binds us up resides in each day, each moment and in each one of us.

Sometimes we are the stone being sculpted and sometimes we are the sculptor. Chip by chip, we reveal and do the revealing, discovering the beauty that patiently waits to be found. Both light and dark move us further into our blooming, burgeoning and becoming. Life, indeed, heals itself and each of us in the very living of it.

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