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Posts tagged ‘Family’

Apr 8

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Small Things

“If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.” – Eckhart Tolle

Try as we may, we sweat the small stuff. Those people that cause the most consternation only have an impact because we give them permission, even though we know better. We often become that which we try to avoid. Instead of getting the last word in or a flip remark, choose your words and silence carefully. Often silence is the better option.

Each day, we must choose between our authentic self or our conforming self. And if we have a nagging feeling inside, we’ve chosen to conform. Instead of grand gestures, we can simply offer the subtleness of a gentle tone, the gift of civility and eye contact with a smile that says, “I’m listening.”

Cast light and worry not of the darkness around you. It’s longing for light too.

“To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.” – Eckhart Tolle

“To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.” – Eckhart Tolle

Mar 9

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Beneath

“The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.” – Bernard Williams

Beneath the weight of the snow lies green grass ready to awaken, flowers ready to burst from the earth. The warmth of the sun brings a slow, steady melt. Renewed and refreshed from the dormancy of Winter, Spring patiently waits to unfold in its time.

Through the seasons of our life, we cycle from hibernation to fruition, never the same, growing and unfolding into ourselves. We can remain buried beneath the layers and weight or we can let the heaviness melt away, letting go, forgetting, forgiving, moving on.

Spring releases Winter. We need not carry it any further. It has served its purpose. Melt, soften, become more gentle. Breakthrough the layers, burst, bud, bloom. Be bright, bold and beautiful. Beneath, beneath, Spring has come.

“The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.” – Gary Zukav

“The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.” – Gary Zukav

Feb 17

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BINGO

“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – A. A. Milne

The sound of a text on the phone – a text from Linda today “Another year cancer-free. Hugs and kisses.” Today marks 15 years to the day I was called on Ash Wednesday, 1999 to be told that I had stage 3 melanoma. I had to be reminded. I forgot. She remembered. That’s what friends and family do – they remember, they celebrate, they hold up a mirror to show us the best of us – our soul, our spirit.

We remember the offenses, we remember the struggles, we remember the day and minute we get the call. We need to remember the laughter, the lessons and the steps that lead us to the many victories, the celebrations. Tonight, I had dinner with family and played a little bingo. Laughing, winning the meat raffle twice and sharing special moments that make up a good life. So as the numbers are being called, remember to yell “bingo” when you win. It’s more often than we count.

“God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.” – James M. Barrie

“God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.” – James M. Barrie

Feb 4

4 Comments

Get Up

“Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.” – Anais Nin

We don’t fail when we fail. We fail when we stop getting up, when we give up. Everyone’s story is one of wins and losses, joys and sorrows. The losses give us the most valuable lessons – resilience, grace, faith, strength, fortitude, hope. The wins show us the world of possibilities.

Aim higher, push forward and never quit growing. Go easy on yourself and others, honoring the strength and frailty of the human spirit. We aren’t made for perfection. Only God is perfect. We are made for love, for excellence, for so much more than we allow ourselves to accept, believe, to welcome in.

Move swiftly into the world to risk, to engage, to participate fully. Expect more and work for it. Get into the flow of living instead of always fighting the current. Observe well and be on watch for the next steps will reveal themselves when we’re ready.

We don’t have to figure everything out. Contentment is found in the mystery of our story unfolding, of lessons learned and of moments together in laughter and tears. Be awestruck by the bigness of life and the depth of each moment.

Jan 14

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Take Shape

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer

Embrace change, or at least accept it and move on. Know what you can change and what’s not yours to change. Ground yourself in truth and principles that don’t change with the fickle “weather patterns” of the world. Radical principles like love, faith, grace, compassion, generosity, joy, gratitude. We fritter away too much time pining on people and situations we can’t change instead of what we can change – ourselves. When we know who we are, who we are not, who we can be, we grow, take new shape.

Suddenly, the mundane becomes miraculous. Water goes from rain to snow to an ice sculpture woven delicately through a branch. The multitude of daily blessings reveal themselves as if for the first time, though they have been there the entire time waiting to be seen. Old becomes new. Random transforms into shapes and patterns that we have never seen before. Join the dance.

Jan 5

5 Comments

Impractical, but…

“Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.” – H. L. Mencken

Sometimes love isn’t easy. And that’s the time when it’s needed the most. Love says we should choose…

Patience over frustration
Forgiveness over resentment
Praise over criticism
Kindness over gossip
Ideas over complaint
Understanding over judgment
The best over assumptions
Silence over “I told you so”
Faith over fear
Present over past
Attention over busy
Character over popularity
Second over first
Hope over despair
Blessing over curse
More over less
Light over shadow

Love is impractical, but it is the only choice we have to live the life we are meant to live, to become our true self. It calls us to let go. It calls us to real, lasting peace. It calls us and we must answer “yes”, even and especially when it makes no sense at all.

“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Dec 25

8 Comments

And the weary world rejoices

“Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.” – Michel de Montaigne

“Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.” – Michel de Montaigne

As we long for rest, for respite from a weary world that calls us in several directions at once, let the real hope of this season touch your heart and soul. We weary when we kneel at the wrong altars, giving ourselves to things of no lasting value. A new year comes and each new day gives us the chance for new starts, new beginnings.

Find room at your “inn,” let people in and see the world anew, filled with possibilities. Fall on your knees. O night divine.

Dec 22

3 Comments

Blanket

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” – Norman Vincent Peale

“Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store.” – Dr. Seuss

“Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store.” – Dr. Seuss

May the grace, joy and love of the season warm and comfort you like a soft blanket. Be light as a snowflake and let the spirit of Christmas be your companion all year long. Merry Christmas.

Dec 19

10 Comments

Tidings

“Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!” – Anne Frank

“Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.” – Epictetus

“Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.” – Epictetus

As the race to Christmas and the new year comes to an end, I wish all quiet in the rush and discovery of the depth of the season, of life. Listening to Christmas songs, the words that caught my attention this week and that I really heard for the first time – “God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay…O, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy.” We need comfort and joy and in rest, the good tidings that permeate our lives are revealed, as if for the first time.

Dismay not and get caught up in the true meaning of the next week and how it can change your life well beyond a day, beyond the wrapping. And as the new year awakes, may the ornaments that hang on the “tree” of your life be ones that give comfort and joy to you and all those that cross your path and walk beside you on your journey. Ornaments of love, understanding, peace, empathy, enthusiasm, forgiveness, delight and awe. O, tidings.

Dec 15

Arriving

“If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.” – Henry Miller

We’re arriving every day. In steps. In delays. In small victories. In time. Without knowing or perhaps recognizing, life comes to us in pieces, in moments that all come together to make up the whole. We miss so many days by merely getting by or putting off until “someday” when circumstances will be “perfect” or we have more time. Our life is the accumulation of daily commitments – awareness, hard work, play, repetition, laughter, discipline, endurance, faith, joy, patience, reflection, forgiveness and love.

Notice, share, accept and create the pieces of life scattered through each day.

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