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Posts tagged ‘Gratitude’

Feb 4

Opened to Air, Carrying Love

“Likewise, every disturbance, whether resolved or not, is making space for an inner engagement. As a shovel digs up and displaces earth, in a way that must seem violent to the earth, an interior space is revealed for the digging. In just this way, when experience opens us, it often feels violent and the urge, quite naturally, is to refill that opening, to make it the way it was. But every experience excavates a depth, which reveals its wisdom once opened to air.”― Mark Nepo, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred

“Hope is the hardest love we carry.”― Jane Hirshfield, The Lives of the Heart

Beneath the surface
Above the noise
Beyond the chaos
Quiet and calm
Soft whisper
Invitation
Pause, abide, engage
Breaking ground
Open to air
Carrying hope, light, love.

“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”― Thomas Paine

Feb 3

In Such a Moment

“When your world moves too fast
and you lose yourself in the chaos
introduce yourself to each color of the sunset,
reacquaint yourself with the earth beneath your feet,
thank the air that surrounds you
with every breath you take
find yourself in the appreciation of life.”– Christy Ann Martine

“One breath taken completely; one poem, fully written, fully read – in such a moment, anything can happen.”― Jane Hirshfield, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry

Abiding in gratitude
Perfection not required
Steeping in grace
Unearned and generous
Dancing with joy
In the middle of winter
Waiting with anticipation
Spring in the making

“One breath taken completely; one poem, fully written, fully read – in such a moment, anything can happen.”― Jane Hirshfield, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry

Feb 2

Ask, Listen, Pay Attention

“Zen pretty much comes down to three things — everything changes; everything is connected; pay attention.”― Jane Hirshfield

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” – Zora Neale Hurston

Living the answers with grace and gratitude
Allowing more questions without knowing the answers
In thin spaces, quiet places, gentle throughways
Releasing the grip of control and knowing
Inviting and allowing
Sacred, holy ground of
Curiosity, inquiry, nuance, noticing, imagination, connection, laughter, gratitude, joy
Rooted in trust, fidelity, love
Different seasons
Each with its own gifts to bear
Opening the gifts
Of presence, awe, wonder, planting, abiding, slowing, savoring
No rushing to get to the other side, in a hurry or to be first
Alignment, attunement, rooting, rising
The work of eternal blooming.

“The most sublime act is to set another before you.”― William Blake, Proverbs of Hell

Feb 1

2 Comments

Fresh Coat, New Day

“He who kisses joy as it flies by will live in eternity’s sunrise.”― William Blake

APACHE Blessing

“May the sun bring you new energy by day,
May the moon softly restore you by night,
May the rain wash away your worries,
May the breeze blow new strength into your being,
May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life.

Scratch the surface of her joy,
And you will find a well of sorrow.
Dive into the well,
And discover her spring of hope.
Follow that spring to the river of her strength,
Compassion, and faith . . .
And you will have touched her soul.” – Terri St Cloud

Fresh coat of snow this morning
Brightening and refreshing the landscape
New day, new month, new start
Brilliant white, bold colors
Wakeup call
Invitation to seeing the same in different ways
Beneath the surface
Into a wellspring
Make space for joy today.

“And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love.”― William Blake

Jan 29

Bewilderment and Beauty

“Holy unanticipated occurrences!”― Kate DiCamillo, Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

“Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice.”― E.M. Forster, A Room With A View

Detachment and distancing
Emergence and embrace
Deepening and weaving
Leaning in and leaning back
Grief and grace
Color and hue
Gratitude and gravity
Reverence and awe
Metaphor and paradox
Dance of poetry
Beauty in motion.

“Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.”― W.H. Auden, New Year Letter

Jan 27

Poetry in Flowers

“I must have flowers, always, and always.”― Claude Monet

“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, Georgia O’Keeffe

Make time
A sliver, a slice
For beauty
Noticing
Attention
Awe
Wonder
Light
Color
Joy
Poetry in flowers
In the pause, peace rises
Spilling into the day.

“In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends.”― Okakura Kakuzo, The Book of Tea

Jan 17

Making Music Each Day

“Life’ wrote a friend of mine, ‘is a public performance on the violin, in which you must learn the instrument as you go along.”― E.M. Forster, A Room with a View

“Life never gives us what we want at the moment that we consider appropriate.”― E.M. Forster, A Passage to India

Life is life-ing
As it does
To not take it too lightly
To not take too heavily
To allow, invite, experience
So much we think we know but don’t
Assumptions and judgments to simplify and feel in control
False narratives for false comfort
To be awake, aware, at attention
Gratitude, grief, grace
In small things
Big too
Keep asking, growing, softening
Porous heart
Generous spirit
Curious mind
Plant seeds
Play often
Offer love, laughter, joy
Music in the making, written in the playing
Enjoy and participate in life in all of it’s life-ing
Cast light

“Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.”― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Jan 15

Higher, Deeper, Peace

“Don’t just do something, sit there.” – Sharon Salzberg

“Think higher, feel deeper.”― Elie Wiesel

Take a break
Hard stop
Pullover
Often
Away from noise
Distractions
Confetti attention
Opinions
Assumptions
Knowing
Control
Out of the weeds
Reflection
Higher, deeper, inquiry
You can’t outrun you
Sit with love, kindness, compassion
The start and finish line of peace is within
Spilling into the world in between
Cast light

“Let yourself go. Pull out from the depths those thoughts that you do not understand, and spread them out in the sunlight and know the meaning of them.”― E.M. Forster, A Room with a View

Jan 12

Grounding and Grace

“Children, like animals use all their senses to discover the world. Then artists come along and discover it the same way…Or now and then we’ll hear from an artist who’s never lost it.”― Eudora Welty

“I go fishing in my mind. I put out bait, the bait of my own longing, my desire, and my hunger for connection, for a tug of something alive at the end of a line. Something that I may have to struggle with to pull in, but that will be wild and important to me, whether I keep it or let it go.”― Pat Schneider, How the Light Gets In: Writing as a Spiritual Practice

Crisp air
Deep breath
Awakening senses
Calm and wonder
Delight and awe
Grounding and grace
What to keep
What to let go
Choose well

“Be led by your joy.”― Pat Schneider, How the Light Gets In: Writing as a Spiritual Practice

Jan 11

Open Heart, Beams of Light

“Some people are so much sunshine to the square inch.”― Walt Whitman

“You shall love your crooked neighbour, with your crooked heart.”― Wystan Hugh Auden

Reverence. Awe. Wonder.
Right here.
Right now.
More than enough.
Abundant, overflowing.
For a grateful, full, soft heart.
To live awake on ordinary days.
With extraordinary care, love, kindness, light.
May I move it into action with expediency.
Inches, acts, beams.
Cast light.

“To live in the kingdom is to be ready to rub shoulders with all kinds. God’s love is given freely and is accepted by many. I pray for a heart that is open to those who are not like me.”― The Irish Jesuits

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