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Posts tagged ‘Change’

Jan 4

Limit of the Sky, Depth of the Sea

“We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.” – Mary Catherine Bateson

“New beginnings are usually welcome. But being a beginner? Not so much. We want our circumstances to change, to start again, to be brand-new. But when they change, we often don’t give ourselves permission to be new within them. Instead, we want to rush ahead to mastery. We think we ought to know how to navigate the newness, especially if it’s something we wanted, something we prayed for, waited for, asked for, or planned.”― Emily P. Freeman, The Next Right Thing

Beginnings and being a beginner
To try new things
To turn, shift, wander
To be willing to learn and unlearn
If this is our one intention for this new year
What adventures may be right before us in ordinary days
Limit of the sky, depth of the sea.

“We either live with intention or exist by default.” – Kristin Armstrong

Dec 30

Brilliant, Bright, Becoming, Daily

“It makes you wonder. All the brilliant things we might have done with our lives if only we suspected we knew how.”― Ann Patchett, Bel Canto

“Growing up, I never knew a relaxed woman. Successful women? Yes. Productive women? Plenty. Anxious and afraid and apologetic women? Heaps of them. But relaxed women? At-ease women? Women who don’t dissect their days into half hour slots of productivity? Women who prioritize rest and pleasure and play? Women who aren’t afraid to take up space in the world? Women who give themselves unconditional permission to relax? Without guilt? Without apology? Without feeling like they need to earn it? I’m not sure I’ve ever met a woman like that. But I would like to become one.”― Nicola Jane Hobbs

To becoming
Daily
Imperfectly, beautifully
To unfolding and unfurling
Slowly and surely
From bud to bloom, again and again
Seasons and cycles
Transitions to transformations
Planting, feeding, harvesting
Waiting and arriving
To aim and focus on what matters most
Loving every version of ourselves and others too
To failure because it shows we are still trying
To getting back up and swinging at the ball again and again
As we continue to grow, deepen and become
With all the detours, delays and wanderings
Awake, aware and grateful for it all.

“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”― George Bernard Shaw

Dec 27

Crossing Over

“He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.”― George Herbert

“At the end of my life, I know I won’t be wishing I’d held more back, been less effusive, more often stood on ceremony, forgiven less, spent more days oblivious to the secret wishes and fears of the people around me…”― George Saunders, The Braindead Megaphone

What will I lay down to enter the new year ahead, to enter this fresh day?
Not more
Less and deeper
Richness and connection
Purpose and meaning
Joy and delight
Clear the decks, discard, release, let go
Create space and capacity
To pick up the good and travel lightly
Open arms and heart
To embrace and be held
Mercy, love, forgiveness
To give and receive
Build and cross the bridge.

“What if we just started with the idea that all of us want to swim in mercy, love, and forgiveness?” – Father Greg Boyle

Dec 6

1 Comment

Opaque Guidance

“Maybe our world will grow kinder eventually. Maybe the desire to make something beautiful is the piece of God that is inside each of us.”― Mary Oliver, Devotions: A Read with Jenna Pick: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

“Knowing is a pilgrimage. It requires taking personal responsibility, born of love, to pledge allegiance to what we do not yet know. It requires relying on seemingly opaque guidance to venture into the darkness of half-understanding. We invite its gracious and surprising self-disclosure, seeking to indwell its clues to make sense of a hidden pattern. We risk our forever being changed. It is an adventure.”― Esther Lightcap Meek, A Little Manual for Knowing

Futility of shortcuts, bypasses.
Demanding others, circumstances to change, the past to return.
Or.
Taking our own journey.
Off path, eyes on the road ahead, rooted in today.
Into unknowing, inquiry, observing.
Taking the pilgrimage with intent and resolve.
To change, be changed, transformed.
Born again and again.
Curiosity rather than resistance.
Indwelling, seed sowing, fertile ground, preparation, waiting, watering, more waiting.
The makings of Advent, of springs sure return, of perpetual growth.

“Congratulations, if you have changed.”― Mary Oliver, Devotions: A Read with Jenna Pick: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

Nov 30

Geography of Seasons

“May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.” – John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us

“There are no manuals for the construction of the individual you would like to become. You are the only one who can decide this and take up the lifetime of work that it demands. This is a wonderful privilege and such an exciting adventure. To grow into the person that your deepest longing desires is a great blessing. If you can find a creative harmony between your soul and your life, you will have found something infinitely precious. You may not be able to do much about the great problems of the world or to change the situation you are in, but if you can awaken the eternal beauty and light of your soul, you will bring light wherever you go. The gift of life is given to us for ourselves and also to bring peace, courage, and compassion to others.” – John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes

Changing seasons.
Without and within.
Parallel, alignment, rhythm.
Transitions, thresholds, crossings.
Stillness, pause, restoration.
Invisible geography.
Territory to travel.
Daily.
The path of becoming, unfolding, unfurling.
Awaken.
Bring light wherever you go.

Oct 29

Shrink or Expand

“He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch.” ― Jean-Luc Godard

“From caring comes courage.” — Lao Tzu

Courage to not…

Chase empty
Go faster
Bypass the present
Get stuck in the past
Cement the future with limits, mere repetition of the same
Justify the means for the end
Search for the shortcut
Pursue easy
Numb to incivility and vitriol
Succumb to cynicism
Merely sit on the sidelines and criticize

Courage to…

Be kind and generous
Listen with rapt attention, seek understanding
Seek with curiosity and interest
Be open to change, transformation
Ask good questions
Challenge assumptions, opinions and othering
Yield to hope
Try new things, daily
Go off trail of the beaten path
Invite discernment and clarity
Make mistakes and keep going
Do the hard work
Grow, deepen and expand
Have faith, accept grace
To keep climbing mountains, leaping into the unknown
To love, without condition, the only way to really love
One step, one day at a time.

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” ― Anais Nin

Oct 17

Ballast

“The only way to make sense of change is to plunge in and join the dance.” – Alan Watts

“As human beings, not only do we seek resolution, but we also feel that we deserve resolution. However, not only do we not deserve resolution, we suffer from resolution. We don’t deserve resolution; we deserve something better than that. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.”― Pema Chödrön

To plunge in.
To join the current.
To dive into the waves.
To be open and curious.
To join the dance.
Calm, steady, awake.
Contentment within.
The very place it resides.
Grace, peace, delight too.

“You can never make a ship go steady by propping it outside; you know there must be ballast within the ship to make it go steady. So there is nothing outside us that can keep our hearts in a steady, constant way, but grace within the soul.― Jeremiah Burroughs

Sep 13

Start Close In

“What do you think is the biggest waste of time?”
“Comparing yourself to others,” said the mole.”
― Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

Start Close In by David Whyte

“Start close in, don’t take the second step or the third,
start with the first thing close in,
the step you don’t want to take.
Start with the ground you know, the pale ground beneath your feet,
your own way of starting the conversation.
Start with your own question, give up on other people’s questions,
don’t let them smother something simple.
To find another’s voice, follow your own voice,
wait until that voice becomes a private ear listening to another.
Start right now take a small step you can call your own
don’t follow someone else’s heroics,
be humble and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake that other for your own.”

Turn down the volume.
The noise and clanging.
Others’ expectations, assumptions, opinions, fear.
Start close in.
Comparison and counting.
People pleasing and over functioning.
Should, must, have to, expectations, rules.
Start close in.
A firm pause, stillness, hard stop.
Wide space, margins.
To hear your own voice, soft whisper, home.
Start close in.
To cut your own path, one small step at a time.
Listen, foster, be gentle.
Kindness, grace, love.
Start close in.
Then go back out anew.

“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Jul 16

1 Comment

From Stasis to Transformation

“I’m very concerned that our society is much more concerned with information than wonder, in noise rather than silence. How do we encourage reflection? … Oh my, this is a noisy world.” – Mister Rogers

“Every day in every way we are gently, and sometimes not so gently, being guided in the direction of our inherent truth. Every experience is walking us home to ourselves.”― Shayne Traviss, Your Vivid Life

When I want to …

Put up walls and call them boundaries, knock them down;
Stay hunkered down in the nest, push me out and remind me I have wings;
Bounce from one thing to the next scattered from demands of others, tune out the noise and make music;
Return to old narratives, assumptions and judgments because they prove me right, prove me wrong, show me love and kindness;
Get comfortable in the containment of the chrysalis, wiggle enough to break the pod into a beautiful butterfly;
From stasis to transformation;
Our call and calling;
Change, connect, grow;
The path of walking home to ourselves and the world.

“Stop, be still for a moment, drop your shoulders, close your eyes and take a long deep breath.”― Shayne Traviss, Your Vivid Life

Jul 9

First Step, Repeat

“The distance is nothing; it’s only the first step that is difficult.” — Marquise du Deffand

“I just want to say three things. One, never, ever give up. Two, you’re never too old to chase your dreams. And three, it looks like a solitary sport, but it takes a team.” – Diana Nyad

Yesterday, three decades into my career in nonprofit management, I launched my own business after five months of planning and doing the work to arrive to this day. I am so grateful for family and friends who have encouraged and challenged me along the way. And for not listening to those who say, “you’re too old” or “it’s too late,” often woven in our own thoughts and limiting beliefs.

Life leads us down paths we didn’t expect. Twists, turns, delays, detours, losses and wins. A soft whisper, a pull, seeds planted within. Calling each of us to try new things, to keep growing, to stay in the game, to bloom. Try, dig in, stumble, get up and keep going. Never ever give up, never too old, and it takes a team but ultimately you need to take the leap when the plane door opens. Pack your shoot well and leap.

To new adventures, helping others and having fun along the way. KP Connections is up and running.

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.” – Albert Einstein

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