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Posts tagged ‘Flowers’

Aug 1

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August Deep Dive

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius

“The solution to an overbusy life is not more time. It’s to slow down and simplify our lives around what really matters.”― John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

We have equated busy, checklists and productivity to fulfillment.
And the equation doesn’t add up.
Therein lies the dilemma.
And also, the answer and the opportunity.
To take a different path.
To try new things.
To slow and savor.
To look and listen.
To put down our expectations to make space for fresh eyes.
To allow and invite new thoughts by putting down old thoughts.
Leaving them behind to move ahead anew, off trail.
Followed by small steps, shifts, actions, reflection, pause, daily.
First day of the last month of summer.
Do not miss the gifts of this day, this season.
Dive deep into August to feel the weight of beauty, the lift of attention on what really matters.

“Our time is our life, and our attention is the doorway to our hearts.”― John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Jul 29

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Perennials

“Die to everything of yesterday so that your mind is always fresh, always young, innocent, full of vigor and passion.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

“’Perennial,’ a term coined by tech entrepreneur Gina Pell to describe “ever-blooming, relevant people of all ages who live in the present time, know what’s happening in the world, stay current with technology, and have friends of all ages. Perennials get involved, stay curious, mentor others, and are passionate, compassionate, creative, confident, collaborative, global-minded risk takers, and who know how to hustle.”― Steven Petrow, Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old

Pep in your step.
A Tigger-like bounce.
Light spirit.
Enthusiasm.
Vim. Vigor. Verve.
To the young at heart.
Crazy optimists, hope warriors, life-long bloomers.
To delight, joy, awe and wonder, seeking the good in each day, in each human on the path.
Perennials who keep coming back anew.
In the midst of weeds, brilliant with bold color.
Deep springs of life.
May we all join the club.
Transforming noise into music.

“Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.” – Samuel Ullman

Jul 28

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Summer’s Invitation

“I have spent many days stringing and unstringing my instrument
while the song I came to sing remains unsung.”― Rabindranath Tagore

“Rest is not for weaklings. Hollowing out space for rest is work. Finding time for rest is the hands and feet of the promises we long to claim. It means saying no. It means having limits with ourselves. It means having limits with others. It takes courage to rest in the midst of an outcome-driven society. It takes strength to walk away from good in the pursuit of better.”― Saundra Dalton-Smith, Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity

Busy work, checklists, transactions, speed, efficiency on hold.
Renewal in the pause.
Space to wander.
Not doing to create capacity for doing better.
Quiet your mind.
Enter rest.
Accept the invitation.
Welcome renewal.
Summer shows the way for all seasons, each day.
Follow her lead.

“Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.”― Rabindranath Tagore

Jul 18

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All the Colors Ablaze

“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Life is a painting, and you are the artist. You have on your palette all the colors in the spectrum – the same ones available to Michaelangelo and DaVinci.” – Paul J. Meyer

“Colors are the smiles of nature.” – Leigh Hunt

Summer is ablaze with color, growth, beauty.
Bursting with life and vibrancy.
Be interrupted.
Wake up.
Pay rapt attention.
Slow down, really, slow down.
Look up and around.
Steep in the pause.
Turtle pace.
Soak it all in, all of it.
Long summer days overflowing.
Float.
Awe, wonder, joy woven in all days.

“There are infinite shadings of light and shadows and colors… it’s an extraordinarily subtle language. Figuring out how to speak that language is a lifetime job.” – Conrad Hall

“Nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”― Georgia O’Keeffe

Jul 7

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The Furtherings

“I’m going to give you a handful of wildflowers
so, each petal that falls will remind you
that the earth breathes, and the moon rises.”― Carolyn Riker, My Dear, Love Hasn’t Forgotten You

“I give thanks for arriving
Safely in a new dawn,
For the gift of eyes
To see the world,
The gift of mind
To feel at home
In my life.
The waves of possibility
Breaking on the shore of dawn,
The harvest of the past
That awaits my hunger,
And all the furtherings
This new day will bring.”
– John O’Donohue

Beauty in the forefront.
Delight in the making.
To paint a blank canvas.
Vibrant colors.
Brilliant shapes and hues.
Deep gratitude, awe and wonder.
Oasis at our feet.
In the midst of the desert.
Abundance sitting right next to scarcity.
Awaiting our awakening, our partaking.
The gift of fresh eyes, open heart and waves of possibility in all of the furtherings of this new day.

“Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.”― Madeleine L’Engle

Jun 20

1 Comment

Look Ridiculous, Daily

“Dreams ask for commitment. They require a running leap. They require patient waiting.”
― Christie Purifoy, Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace

“The next time
you refuse to sing
because you’ll never
fill a stadium
or decline the joy of dance
for fear of looking
ridiculous
or you resist risking
the new adventure
because you’re
not entirely ready or
you dim your shine
because you’re not
completely healed and whole

the next time
you hold yourself suspect
because you’re not
entirely qualified

just remember

a bird doesn’t sing
because it’s talented
a bird sings because
it has a song

the moon doesn’t only shine
when it’s whole
it can show up with
a single sliver of itself
and still light an entire
night sky

show up. sing. shine.
the world needs you
as you are.” – Daniell Koepke

Anyone who has seen me dance knows I can bust a move.
And look ridiculous too.
Therein lies the joy.
Uninhibited. Fun. Delight.
Do not underestimate the power of joy, awe and wonder to flip your perspective upside down and sideways.
Dance. Sing. Big open heart.
No permission slip required.
Be yourself.
The only one that can fill the job of you.
Bright, beautiful, ever-blooming you!

Jun 5

Comma, Semi-Colon, Period.

“I see heaven’s glories shine and faith shines equal.” – Emily Bronte

“You are on a soulful path that asks you to step into the greatest version of yourself. It is a sacred gift to shine your brightest light, not just in your moments of glory, but each day.” Debbie Ford

Put commas, semi-colons and periods throughout the day.
In the rush and the hurry, pause, still, stop.
Look up and around.
Color ablaze.
Blue sky abound.
Good soil, time, harvest.
Amidst the doing, witness the becoming.
In the pause, still, stop.
The blooming, almost out of nowhere.

“The farmer has patience and trusts the process. He just has the faith and deep understanding that through his daily efforts, the harvest will come. And then one day, almost out of nowhere, it does.”― Robin Sharma

Jun 3

At the Gate

“For now just remember how you felt the day you were born: desperate for magic, ready to love.”― Kate Baer, What Kind of Woman

“This is not a dress rehearsal before a better kind of life. Pick up your heavy burdens and leave them at the gate. I will hold the door for you.”― Kate Baer, What Kind of Woman

Do not bypass this day.
Put the rocks picked up on the way down.
Walk lightly, even for a bit.
No permission needed.
Magic awaits and love in action.
Cross the threshold.
Good on the other side.

“Let your life rest on what is already good.”― Kate Baer, And Yet: Poems

May 30

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Out of Rocks

“The whole present moment was a celebration; it always had been; all I needed was fresh eyes to see it.”― Narissa Doumani, A Spacious Life

“There’s something about the flower that grows through the rocks, the pavement; through logs and stone or brick walls… all roses are beautiful; but the rose that emerges unexpectedly through the asphalt has a beauty of soul. The flower that reaches through the brokenness of the wall has a beauty of spirit. You stop to look and not only to look but to cherish! Somewhere along its journey, it decided that it would reach for what was unseen, keep going in the direction of something that wasn’t felt, it decided that it would be. That it would become. And it did. And there is something irreplaceable about that.”― C. JoyBell C.

Through the cracks, crevices, under the door.
Thin spaces.
A sliver of light the guide.
Resilience, resistance, persistence.
Out of rocks.
Beautiful, gritty, brilliant bloom.
Keep going, growing, bursting through.
Fresh eyes on this day.
Emergence.
Spacious life.
Becoming daily.

“It starts with a single breath and the present moment, but where it takes you is into the vast radiance of your true nature, into a magical, spacious life.”― Narissa Doumani, A Spacious Life

May 20

3 Comments

Soft Soil

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.

The place where we are right
Is hard and trampled
Like a yard.

But doubts and loves
Dig up the world
Like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined
House once stood.”― Yehuda Amichai

May I seek not to be right, but to soften.
To till the soil of inquiry, compassion, understanding, kindness.
Seeking what resides beneath the trampled path of indignation, judgment, assumption, othering.
A journey of belonging, inviting others to join, all are welcome.
From scarcity to abundance.
A patch of ground where flowers bloom and flourish.
May I answer, again and again, with faltering to be sure, “I have done love.”

“At the end of my life, when I say one final What have I done?, let my answer be, I have done love.”― Jennifer Pastiloff, On Being Human

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