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Posts tagged ‘Contemplation’

Jul 14

An Instant

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” – Henry David Thoreau

When we allow and invite humanity to show its face, to look deeply into another’s eyes but for a moment, we find ourselves, our connectedness to the whole, how life comes together in both difference and commonality. There’s a story to every human, seek to understand rather than judge. To take a few steps past assumptions and leap beyond opinion.

May empathy, compassion and understanding be the ground we walk on to go beyond soundbites and bumper stickers, political parties and positions deeper into the complexity, beauty and holy ground of others.

“The hardest spiritual work in the world is to love the neighbor as the self – to encounter another human being not as someone you can use, change, fix, help, save, enroll, convince or control, but simply as someone who can spring you from the prison of yourself, if you will allow it.” – Barbara Brown Taylor

Accenture produced a beautiful video on inclusion and belonging worth a few moments to reset the table in your mind, to shift your heart, to see with new eyes.

Jul 7

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Allow

“Divine reality is not way up in the sky somewhere; it is readily available in the encounters of everyday life, which make hash of my illusions that I can control the ways God comes to me.” – Barbara Brown Taylor

“Whoever you are, you are human. Wherever you are, you live in the world, which is just waiting for you to notice the holiness in it.” – Barbara Brown Taylor

Allow rather than pursue for a moment.
Rest and tune in.
Bigger than your thoughts
Deeper than your assumptions.
Broader and richer.
A mystery, the unknowing.
Imagine.
Hope.
Unlock.
Notice.
Everyday life is woven with beauty, light, joy.
Awaiting your attention.
Partake.
Allow.

“…salvation is not something that happens only at the end of a person’s life. Salvation happens every time someone with a key uses it to open a door he could lock instead.”― Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

Jun 30

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Hope Awaits and Abides

“Pay attention to the beauty surrounding you.” – Anne Lamott

“Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.” – Anne Lamott

Wander off path today.
The well-worn one of opinion, judgment, comparison, rightness, cynicism.
Into solemn new territory beyond the echo of old thoughts, assumptions and expectations.
Wide open unfamiliar spaces filled with fresh air, warm sun, a slowing of time.
To be renewed, refreshed, filled up again.
Taste, enjoy, take in the ever-present beauty.
The world will still be there to fix when you return from a short respite.
Perhaps you’ll notice hope awaiting to guide your next steps.

“When hope is not pinned wriggling onto a shiny image or expectation, it sometimes floats forth and opens.” – Anne Lamott

Jun 27

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From the Dirt

“It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.” – C.S. Lewis

“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

Keep planting, tilling, tending.
Bloom comes in its own time.
Rising from the dirt.
Allow, invite, observe.
Wait.
Heavy sigh, the waiting.
And it is in the waiting, transformation from seed to bloom is doing its work.
Pause the pursuit and be found.
Listen, watch, all senses in play.
Slow down, quiet, peel the layers.
Your voice, whispering.

“Courage, dear heart.” – C.S. Lewis

Jun 25

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Essence

“Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing its essence is not easy – your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself.” – Annie Leibovitz

essence
nuance
layers
complexity
beneath
below
beyond
hidden
hinting
beauty
revealed in gazing
lingering
inquiry
listening
observation
silence
embedded in engaging
relationship
conversation
understanding
compassion
expand beyond self
connect
invite
welcome
expand your world

Jun 20

Unknown Places

“In moments of insecurity and crisis, shoulds and oughts don’t really help; they just increase the shame, guilt, pressure, and likelihood of backsliding. It’s the deep yeses that carry us through. It’s that deeper something we are strongly for that allows us to wait it out. It’s someone in whom we absolutely believe and to whom we commit. In plain language, love wins out over guilt any day. It is sad that we settle for the short-run effectiveness of shaming people instead of the long-term life benefits of true transformation.”― Richard Rohr, The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder

“Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), the great American essayist, said “nothing great is ever achieved without enthusiasm.” What a deconstructed culture lacks, because of its deep cynicism and pessimism about reality, is a basic confidence and enthusiasm that is necessary to start almost anything.”― Richard Rohr, The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder

Wander off path today.
To unknown places within yourself.
Covered up, put away, not done.
Beauty, unfolding, bold.
With wonder, curiosity and joy, let light in.
Break the rules, change the story, allow surprise.
Be transformed.

“Remember: The rules, like streets, can only take you to known places.”― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

Jun 4

Spaciousness

“Salvation is a word for the divine spaciousness that comes to human beings in all the tight places where their lives are at risk, regardless of how they got there or whether they know God’s name. Sometimes it comes as an extended human hand and sometimes as a bolt from the blue, but either way it opens a door in what looked for all the world like a wall. This is the way of life, and God alone knows how it works.” – Barbara Brown Taylor

“Earth is so thick with divine possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere without cracking our shins on altars.” – Barbara Brown Taylor

May you feel the touch, the embrace, the anchoring of the divine already present
Kneel at the altars that are real rather than false ones we fall too readily on
Notice the sacred and holiness in the ordinary moments of each and every single day
Hidden in plain sight, in reach, awaiting our attention and care
Walls into doors
Light amidst darkness
Blue lingering with clouds
Thick with possibility
Ripe for the receiving, taking and giving
Abundant and available.

“Whoever you are, you are human. Wherever you are, you live in the world, which is just waiting for you to notice the holiness in it.” – Barbara Brown Taylor

Jun 2

Wide, Sweet Spaces

“Where do we begin? Begin with the heart.” – Julian of Norwich

“Where do we begin? Begin with the heart.” – Julian of Norwich

“Lord, let not our souls be busy inns that have no room for thee or thine,
But quiet homes of prayer and praise, where thou mayest find fit company,
Where the needful cares of life are wisely ordered and put away,
And wide, sweet spaces kept for thee; where holy thoughts pass up and down
And fervent longings watch and wait thy coming.”― Julian of Norwich

Beyond the noise
Beneath the surface
Around the corner
Under your feet
Above your head
Surrounding you
Holding you
Carrying you
Go there
Right next to, around and in you
Start with the heart
Journey with and to the soul
Returning, undeterred, home
Fullness, light, hope, joy, peace, love
Spend time each day here
Choose to stay longer
Make room at the inn
Then move into the world from this place
Newness of spirit
Sight to vision
Wide, sweet spaces

“The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything.
God is the ground, the substance,
the teaching, the teacher,
the purpose, and the reward for which every soul labors.” – Julian of Norwich

May 29

Unknown Realms

“Silence is God's first language.” – John of the Cross

“Silence is God’s first language.” – John of the Cross

“Some things cannot be spoken or discovered until we have been stuck, incapacitated, or blown off course for awhile. Plain sailing is pleasant, but you are not going to explore many unknown realms that way.” – David Whyte

Be still.
Observe.
Listen
Fully present.
Find joy in this day alone.
In the ordinary, beauty is woven.
Partake in it.
Participate, awake, aware.
Rapt attention.
Conscious of the complexity, frailty, depth.
Self, others, the world.
Inquire.
Discover.
Explore unknown realms.

“Courage is the measure of our heartfelt participation with life, with another, with a community, a work, a future. To be courageous, is not necessarily to go anywhere or do anything except to make conscious those things we already feel deeply and then to live through the unending vulnerabilities of those consequences.” – David Whyte

May 27

Exhale, then In Again

“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

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