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Posts tagged ‘Encouragement’

Feb 13

Connected in the Deep, Hidden in the Ordinary

“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”― William James

“As you take a few minutes each day to quiet your mind, you will discover a nice benefit: your everyday, “ordinary” life will begin to seem far more extraordinary. Little things that previously went unnoticed will begin to please you. You’ll be more easily satisfied, and happier all around. Rather than focusing on what’s wrong with your life, you’ll find yourself thinking about and more fully enjoying what’s right with your life. The world won’t change, but your perception of it will. You’ll start to notice the little acts of kindness and caring from other people rather than the negativity and anger.”― Jack Canfield

May we greet this day and each other with a newness, a hospitality, a welcoming, belonging.
Connected and created for relationship, joy, awe, unfolding, unfurling, wonder.
Open space, home coming, extraordinary in the midst of even a Monday.
Awaken your senses, seek surprise, allow fresh air in to breathe in delight woven into this ordinary day.
Gratitude, grace and a keen awareness of blessings to you today.

“Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life

Feb 9

Stumble Upon

“Peace is not always easy to grasp or keep close. In the process of attaining and protecting it, you may find yourself tired, weary, and uncertain on how to keep your peace safe. While being uncertain is normal, continue to commit yourself to peacefulness. You are worthy of every drop of sweetness and ease that you encounter.”― Alex Elle

“The heart is resilient and forgiving, it is the mind that causes us stress.”― Alexandra Elle, Words from a Wanderer

A new day.
Move through with fresh eyes, open arms, soft heart.
An ease and flow.
An invitation and welcoming.
We will not pass through again.
Make it count.
Give and receive.
Inhale and exhale.
Praise and gratitude.
Joy and delight.
Inquire, observe, see the patterns and shapes.
How the pieces fit together.
How the pieces don’t quite fit yet.
Change what you can, let the rest be.
Knowing, but more unknowing.
Understanding and acceptance.
Patience and resilience.
Reframe, relook, refresh.
Malleable and porous.
Stumble upon and be held in peace, beauty and strength.

“I am thankful for my struggle because without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled upon my strength.”― Alexandra Elle

Jan 26

Clumsily

“Peace is not something you can force on anything or anyone… much less upon one’s own mind. It is like trying to quiet the ocean by pressing upon the waves. Sanity lies in somehow opening to the chaos, allowing anxiety, moving deeply into the tumult, diving into the waves, where underneath, within, peace simply is.”― Gerald May, Simply Sane: The Spirituality of Mental Health

“And yet I decide, every day, to set aside what I can do best and attempt what I do very clumsily – open myself to the frustrations and failures of loving, daring to believe that failing in love is better than succeeding in pride.”― Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society

We curate and assemble.
The highlights.
Sure, that there’s a shortcut and bypass.
10 easy steps.
The formula to our best lives now.
#blessed
But it’s only part of the story.
Struggle, muddling, frustration.
Beauty, joy, laughter.
A potpourri of it all.
Welcome to the human race.
Allow it, wait (ugh, patience required in an instant world).
Gratitude loosens the grip of singularity.
A deeper and wider view, dimension and nuance.
Keep moving through.
Ready to begin and repeat.
Refreshed, renewed, readied.
In time (ugh again) and with patience (oof), grit and endurance to the finish line, to new starts.
The journey is the arriving, again and again.
Starting, stumbles and stops in between.
Underneath the messy, chaos and imperfect, peace simply is awaiting your arrival.
Available now, not someday when.
Get your footing, center, recalibrate, reach out.
Anchor in joy and wonder.
Carry on.

“Optimists focus on the place they are going. Pessimists focus on the obstacles along the route. To become an optimist simply look ahead.” — Simon Sinek

Jan 12

The Math

“As human beings, we’re capable of greatness of spirit, an ability to go beyond the circumstances we find ourselves in, to experience a vast sense of connection to all of life.”― Sharon Salzberg, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Do the math.
The fundamentals
Addition
Subtraction
Division
Multiplication
What will you add?
What will you subtract?
What will you divide?
What will you multiply?
Addition and multiplication create more.
Division and subtraction reduce and bucket.
Good principles to apply to each day.
Adding more without taking away creates more distraction in an already loud and chaotic world.
Subtracting only creates a void which is good if the space opens us up to reflection and connection.
January resolutions are mostly about losing, cutting out rather than contentment and gratitude.
Do the math and also the art.
Both, not one or the other.
Beauty, nature, flowers, snow (yep), poetry, literature, music, fun, play, friendship, dogs (of course), frivolity, silliness, exploration, mystery, heart pumping activity, yoga, meditation, joy, awe.
A deepening, awakening and enriching.
The art and science of living well.

“Art is not escape, but a way of finding order in chaos, a way of confronting life.”― Robert Hayden

Jan 9

Greatest Treasures

“Stop leaving and you will arrive. Stop searching and you will see. Stop running away and you will be found.”― Lao Tzu

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

January.
The month of strong starts and quick stops.
Returning to familiar old when motivation wanes and drains.
Change it this time.
Not leaps and grand gestures.
A few steps each day repeated to compound, multiply, root.
Repeat, focus, keep going.
Mindfulness. Reflection. Action.
Do the daily work and wait.
Letting go to take hold.
Clearing clutter within and out to create space.
Renewal a moment, an hour, a day at time.
Body, mind, soul.
Simplicity, patience, compassion.
Caterpillar to butterfly.

“Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?”― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Jan 5

Are You Having a Good Day?

“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.”― Mark Twain

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”― Henry James

Two days of snow is making for good sledding and fort building conditions. On a walk with the girls last night with the snow softly falling, a boy was climbing his new snow hill in his front yard to slide. Up and down and back again. As we passed by, he stopped at the top, looked at me and asked “are you having a good day?” I said I yes and it looked like he was having a good one too. He made a good day even better.

A simple question from a boy to check on another. Pretty profound. A sense of other, of interest, of kindness. Are you having a good day? Get out of your own head and take interest in others. Connect, ask and wait for the answer. And certainly do not forget to do something fun with the piles of snow or sand, depending where you live. Divide the joy, get the full value.

Are you going to make it a good day so you can answer “Yes!” to the question? Extend a kindness to another to double the joy.

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Dec 18

Whatever is…

“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”― Rumi

“Finally, beloved…whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Philippians 4:8

Your thinking drives the car, sets the course, the destination for the day
Where actual control resides
Not by chance
Not by accident
Not other or outside
With intention and rigor, choose your thoughts
When they stray, get them back in line
Both hands on the wheel
Beauty, gratitude, attitude
Whatever is worthy of praise
Go there.

“As we enter the path of transformation, the most valuable thing we have working in our favor is our yearning.”― Cynthia Bourgeault

Dec 2

Never Born Enough

“We can never be born enough.”
― E. E. Cummings

“To be nobody but
yourself in a world
which is doing its best day and night to make you like
everybody else means to fight the hardest battle
which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.”― E.E. Cummings

Acceptance and embracing
Open and evolving
Awake and breathing
Hold and releasing
Being and unfolding
Knowing and unknowing
Growth and expanding
Enough and overflowing
Grace and understanding

Be yourself
Let others be who they are and will be
Direct your energy
Foster enthusiasm
Guard and fight for joy
Born again and again

“And now you are and I am and we’re a mystery which will never happen again.”― E.E. Cummings

Nov 30

Transformation Time

“Time flies never to be recalled.” – Virgil

“Nobody’s going to do your life for you. You have to do it yourself, whether you’re rich or poor, out of money or raking it in, the beneficiary of ridiculous fortune or terrible injustice. And you have to do it no matter what is true. No matter what is hard. No matter what unjust, sad, sucky things befall you. Self-pity is a dead-end road. You make the choice to drive down it. It’s up to you to decide to stay parked there or to turn around and drive out.”― Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

When circling the cul-de-sac of comparison, fairness, control, disappointment, expectations, hard right out.
Leave the familiar and flat behind, venture out and go deeper.
New map, new path, new territory.
Be kind and generous along the way, share the road, make space for other.
In the stillness of winter, create your spring.
Transformation time.

“Breaching out of their rooted darkness, breakthroughs are seeds of nonconformity determined to sprout into the light of freethinking.”― Monica Gagliano

Nov 21

The Way of the Heart

“You do not always have to be producing, creating, harvesting. Learn to be idle. Learn to rest.”― Joyce Rupp, The Circle Of Life: The Heart’s Journey Through The Seasons

As the holidays kick off this week with Thanksgiving, find pockets of slow, of wonder, of awe.
Nothing, no one is perfect.
Control what is yours, put the rest down.
Broken, lost, confused, authentic, beautiful, overflowing.
It is here that we are called to live in the mix of it all.
Held by light, seen and unseen.
The way of the heart, stay on course.

“No matter how much light I carry within me, there will always be times of feeling lost, being confused, seeking direction. It is the way of the human heart.”― Joyce Rupp, The Star in My Heart: Experiencing Sophia, Inner Wisdom

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