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Posts tagged ‘Golden Retriever’

May 2

Once and Yes

“Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant clothes.” – Carl Friedrich Gauss

“My favorite six letter word is
always
because it promises
so much.

My favorite five letter word is
never
because it insists on contradicting
the promise.

My favorite four letter word is
once
because it says it
happened then.

My favorite three letter word is
yes
because I’m just now learning
to say it
to my heart.

My favorite two letter word is
if
because it makes
all things possible
like this:

If not always
If not never
Then once.

Yes.”― Kate Dicamillo

May you enter open fields of joy and run with abandon.
Open to this day and all that is present before you.
We remember the extraordinary and live in the ordinary.
Mark this ordinary day be imprinted with your fingerprint, footprint, embrace.
Ordinary becoming extraordinary.
Feel the earth under your feet, the sky filled with blue and light above.
Make your answer “Yes!” to this day.
Love, be loved, enjoy the journey.

“If you have no intention of loving or being loved, the whole journey is pointless.”― Kate DiCamillo

Mar 24

2 Comments

Too Full to Put into Words

“May I create plain fields by collecting clouds and bedeck them with arching rainbows.”― Suman Pokhrel

“Patience is power.
Patience is not an absence of action;
rather it is “timing”
it waits on the right time to act,
for the right principles
and in the right way.”― Fulton J. Sheen

When I let go of their leashes, the girls running full speed into the open, unbound and free.
Not too far out, they stop, turning back to see where I am at.
Never out of sight but out of reach.
Waiting for me to catch up to join them in frolic and play, ball throwing, field pouncing.
Moving on ahead when I catch up, but not too far again.
Just enough and still close.
Wide open fields.
Big horizons.
Deep blue sky.
Waiting, wandering, joy-seeking and finding.
All available to us each day.
I’ll meet you in the field.
And wait.

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.”― Rumi

Feb 27

Unencumbered

“Silence is the language of Om. We need silence to be able to reach our Self. Both internal and external silence is very important to feel the presence of that supreme Love.”― Amit Ray, Om Chanting and Meditation

“Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life…all of our life.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World

May you give your mind a rest,
Your joints a stretch to loosen the concrete,
Exercise your face with a smile,
Expand your lungs with laughter,
Open your ears with silence,
Guiding and harnessing your energy, outlook, thoughts,
Unencumbered, untethered, unfolding into this day,
With joy, awe and wonder in your toolbox,
“Reality” will still be there when you return, but you will have changed.

“It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness. The moment you say “this is good, this is bad,” you have already jumped onto the thought process.

It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, a watcher.” – Osho

Feb 23

Break Out

“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.”― John Muir

“Humor can get in under the door while seriousness is still fumbling at the handle.”― G.K. Chesterton

Under the door.
Through the cracks and crevices.
Out through the slit window.
When the doors are locked.
When staring at the same walls.
When stuck in sameness and habitual reaction.
May I stop fumbling at the handle.
Pause to see the same for the first time, anew.
Breaking out into expanse, joy, laughter, beauty, abundance in all seasons, each day.
A playground, the forest, a maze, a wide open field of grace and wonder.
Losing mind, finding soul.
I’ll meet you there.

“The things we see every day are the things we never see at all.”― G.K. Chesterton

Feb 10

Joy Production

“Do anything, but let it produce joy.”― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

“…You should stay alive
As often as possible and keep yourself open
to anything out of place and everything
with nowhere else to go, to carry what’s left
of your voice out and beyond, into, over,
and under, past, within, outside, between,
among, across, along, and up and around
and to be beside yourself when the spirit moves you…”
― David Wagoner, After the Point of No Return

Wide open field.
Unbound and ablaze.
Space to wander and explore.
Dancing the dance.
Singing the song.
Present in the present.
May you be efficient, effective in your production of joy, pursuit of awe.
Pay close attention, instilled and alive with curiosity, a capacity for delight.

“Do stuff. be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. stay eager.”― Susan Sontag

Feb 2

Mission Fun, Accomplished

“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” – Dr. Seuss

“Success is not like a cake that needs to be divided. It’s more like a heap of stones – a cairn. If someone is successful, they add a stone to the cairn. It gets very high and can be seen from all over the world. That’s how I see it.” – Maeve Binchy

By lunch the temperature broke 10 degrees.
An invitation to get some fresh air and crisp sun.
A sliver of warm sandwiched before the next dip.
After five days of mall walking, invitation accepted.
The girls needed to get out to chase some joy too.
Without delay, recess is in session.
Mission Fun for 30 minutes triggered.
From one end of the wooded park to the other, ball chasing and frolicking with other dogs who got the same invitation to the party.
Walking the hill to the car, Abby proudly carried all three balls she came with.
Gently placing them down, she created a tennis ball cairn.
Cairn is a Gaelic term meaning “heap of stones.”
There are several meanings to cairn in different cultures across centuries.
Balance, marking, peace, prayer.
All seem to fit our quick adventure.
Mission Fun, accomplished.
Take a recess or two and go stack some fun today.

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” – Maya Angelou

Jan 23

Like Never Before or Ever Again

“Animals praise a good day, a good hunt. They praise rain if they’re thirsty. That’s prayer. They don’t live an unconscious life, they simply have no language to talk about these things. But they are grateful for the good things that come along.” – Mary Oliver

“Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.” – Dale Carnegie

I take the girls to the dog park almost every day.
A few blocks out, Abby starts groaning with anticipation.
If no one is around, I let them off leash at the top of the hill and they barrel down the wooded path as if arriving somewhere new for the first time ever.
Every single time, enthusiasm overflowing, fresh and new joy.
We can make the ordinary daily activities extraordinary by entering them through doors of wonder and windows of awe.
Seeing the same from a different angle.
Like we’ve never been here before and that we won’t ever be in this day again.
One is in our control and the other is not.
Time is moving swiftly.
We slow it down when we savor and celebrate it while we are in it.
No where to be but here and now.
Like never before or ever again.
Praise this good day.
Hunt well.
Plenty to be found.

Jan 20

Blazes of Gladness

“Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.”― Aeschylus

“Remember that happiness is as contagious as gloom. It should be the first duty of those who are happy to let others know of their gladness.” – Maurice Maeterlinck

May the door to delight and awe be unlocked and open.
Letting play and fun do their work in you.
Lightening the load.
Creating space.
Putting down the unnecessary.
Making room for the breath of life.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Smile, laugh, let your guard down.
Rejoice and be glad in this day.
Cultivate, create, and share gladness to spark and kindle joy for others.
Be contagious with zest, enthusiasm and encouragement.
Unexpected sparks, brightest blazes.
Make it a “I got three balls in my mouth” kind of day.

“Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”― Samuel Johnson, The Idler

Jan 11

2 Comments

Aright

“Many people lose the small joys in the hope for the big happiness.”― Pearl S. Buck

“We can either spend this moment wishing it could be different, or we can embrace this moment.”― William B. Irvine, A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

Receive this day with open arms.
A clarity.
A bright smile.
A fresh outlook.
A sense of delight.
A zest for laughter.
A hunger for connection.
An invitation.
An allowing.
An ease.
Embrace, hold, release, be held.
Joy. Peace. Light.

“Childhood is not a state which only applies to the first phase of our lives in the biological sense. Rather it is a basic condition which is always appropriate to a life that is lived aright.”― Karl Rahner

Jan 2

Great Triumphant Joy

“Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.”― Aeschylus

“What was love but a lifetime of conversations. And silences. Knowing when to be silent. Above all, knowing when to laugh.”― Bernard MacLaverty, Midwinter Break

May you partake in laughter often
Opt in to lighten up
Frolic and dance in silliness
Take life serious enough to not be so serious.
Gratitude. Grace. Joy.
Life, to the fullest extent.
In simple delights.

“It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found. God it’s great to be alive! Thank you. Thank you.”― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

“Listen, whatever you see and love—
that’s where you are.”― Mary Oliver, Dog Songs

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