Oct 21
“Every day is an adventure.” – Joseph B. Wirthlin
“One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.” – William Feather
Turn walls into bridges.
Climb.
Scale.
Balance.
Observe.
Embrace.
One step at a time.
Get some height to see a different view.
Create some space to explore, to dance with adventure.
Hang a new picture.
“What do you hang on the walls of your mind?” – Eve Arnold
Sep 7
“Celebrate life in all its glory – challenge yourself to let the routine sing, and the new dance.” – Maximillian Degenerez
“I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.” – e. e. cummings
May you say YES! again and again to joy, to delight, to wonder each and every day;
Open to awe, to surprise, to adventure;
Inviting possibility, welcoming gratitude, embracing the present moment;
Expanding, exploring, smiling with glee, steeped in grace;
YES! to leaping, to blue sky, to ears flapping in the breeze.
“Render yourself free to choose, to be, to live, to see.” – Maximillian Degenerez
“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” – Dr. Seuss
“The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.” – Isaac Asimov
Run
Take flight
Play
Laugh
Delight
Exhale
Dance
Don’t settle
Run to something, not from something
Build on what has been, not bound by it
Create your present and future with your thoughts, words, actions and dreams
Tune out the chatter
Turn up the whisper inside and listen
Imperfect action
Trip and get up, repeat
Keep going
Travel lightly
Chase joy, find yourself.
“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” – e. e. cummings
“Life is a song – sing it. Life is a game – play it. Life is a challenge – meet it. Life is a dream – realize it. Life is a sacrifice – offer it. Life is love – enjoy it.” – Sai Baba
Are you spectating or participating in your life? Stuck looking backward or engaged in doing and planning what lies ahead? In problems or possibilities? In optimism or pessimism? Choose well and daily for it determines the quality and outcomes of your life.
Stay in your game and get on the field. Play. Have fun. Give your best in the moment, keep growing, improving and expanding. Ignore the critic who’s an expert at spectating, never playing. It’s not in error and shortcoming that we suffer defeat, it is in not ever trying or ever getting on the field. Dare greatly.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Guard your joy, embrace optimism, participate imperfectly.
“If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.” – Katharine Hepburn
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.” – Joseph Campbell
Spend time within getting to know yourself again – thoughts, ideas, dreams. The real you.
Reacquaint with your sense of wonder and play.
Turn off autopilot and fly the plane.
Reignite the flame within, pour a little gas on it too.
Go out and play for the sake of sheer joy and delight.
No permission slip needed.
Accept the invitation.
Follow your bliss
Go in and get out
“Forever is composed of nows.” – Emily Dickinson
“Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.” – Henri Nouwen
Lay your thinking down
Give your opinions and assumptions a day off
Enter today with fresh eyes
Free from resistance and rules
Renew, refresh, rewire
Heart over head
Being over doing
Open, listening and aligned in now
No yesterday, no tomorrow, today alone
Go off trail and explore
Anchored in gratitude and awareness in the fullness of each moment
Extraordinary in the ordinary
May you have an ear-flipping, grass stain on the forehead kind of day
“We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves. And we’ll also have a lot more joy in living.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Apr 29
“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” – Dr. Seuss
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton
My scooter has been in the corner of my garage collecting dust for years. For the past five years, I’ve tried to start it without success, so it sits taking up space and collecting dust.
Lately, rather than move onto something new, I’ve been tackling and seeing what’s already right in front of me. Keep it, use it or get rid of it. I decided that the scooter will ride again. I guess that’s what gratitude is – seeing and appreciating what’s already present with no need for more.
A few weeks ago, I had Scooterville pick it up to fix it. Since we had a break in days of rain, I picked it up yesterday. The mechanic told me it needed a lot of work but it’s running well and to get some miles on it – drive it! I was a little nervous driving it through busy side streets from Minneapolis to St. Paul through the University of Minnesota campus where I graduated from decades ago. Driving a scooter requires attention, anticipation and awareness since most car drivers operate on automatic pilot and miss what’s in front of them – like scooters and motorcycles.
I am excited to have it back early in the season and will be putting miles on it rather than letting it collect dust in the corner. So often what we enjoy doing is already present and we forget to have fun because we’re too busy working or list checking. The golf clubs are next up this year too! But I won’t be combining activities. Although carrying golf clubs on the back while driving a scooter might get some attention. Look around at what’s already present with fresh eyes. Fun and adventure just may be a dust cloth away.
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.” – Eckhart Tolle
“To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking.” – Agnes de Mille
“He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
To mix it up, I took the girls to a new dog park at the end of the day. Acres to explore, fresh ground to dance on. When we crossed through the gate, leashes came off and they bolted into the field with joy and delight. They kept circling out and back to ensure that I would be a part of their adventure.
We need not travel far to find fresh ground to plant seeds of exploration and reap the fruit of play. Dance on fresh ground, feel the earth under your feet, breathe in the immensity. Expand.
“When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.” – Wayne Dyer
“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
“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” – Khalil Gibran
“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” – Carl Sandburg
With workdays filled with back to back meetings, an unstructured day is a gift. I’ve been weaving a day off here and there to open space. Yesterday, after a slow start, I took the girls to the dog park, unhurried, no rushing, no watch watching, no place to be, nothing to do. Sauntering, wandering and throwing one ball after the next. With a string of sunny warm days, the snow is almost gone, soft fresh mud taking its place. As we wandered down the path along the field, Sasha and Abby jumped over dead trees, ducked under branches and explored with great abandon.
As we were walking back for some more ball throwing, the girls decided to dive into the swamp where ice was last week. They could not have been more pleased with their decision. While I wasn’t too delighted, I decided to respond with laughter rather than angst. It was fun to witness their joy. As Sasha worked her way out of the water, she emerged looking like a skunk. The walk turned out to be a good bad decision because I chose to to go with the good rather than the bad. A choice each of us has every day.
The next stop was the self-serve dog wash. While the dirt washed out, the fun remained fully intact. We jam our days with meetings, activities and busywork with little room for good “bad” decisions of frolic, play and exploration.
Make room each day for silly, goofy and even a little mud. Make a cannon ball into the deep end of the pool of delight and splash some joy on others. It is not only good for the soul, it is required.
“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” -Charles Schaefer
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin
“The secret to happiness is freedom… And the secret to freedom is courage.” – Thucydides
I stopped by to visit and drop off a few coloring books for Liam who was just getting up from a Sunday nap. He walked out in his lion suit, a costume sewed decades ago by my Aunt Terry for my niece Emily for Halloween.
A random day in February and it was lion suit day. I’ve written often in Cast-Light about my dogs, Liam, friends and family. All sources of inspiration and frustration (humans can do that), light and love. Who and what we surround ourselves with defines the quality of our life. As important, perhaps more so, is who and what we surround our self with inside of thoughts, mind and actions – the me in the we.
When we are our most authentic self, showing up in our own lion suit and not the one others think we should be wearing, we come home to joy, purpose, clarity and contentment.
Many will tell you what “suit” they expect you to wear.
Don’t listen.
Many will tell you that you don’t wear a lion suit that’s too small for you on a Sunday afternoon.
Don’t listen.
Many will tell you, do it my way, it’s better.
Don’t listen.
Wear your lion suit with joy, awe and wonder, entering your own space, completing your own assignment. When I drift and wander, listening to everything but my own voice, I find the courage of a lion again when I see Liam in his lion suit, unapologetic, filled with joy and coloring outside the lines.
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:11-18 NIV
