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Posts tagged ‘Gratitude’

Aug 14

Abiding Attention

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself”― Henry Miller

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”― Henry Miller

Today, wide and deep
New things to see
New thoughts to think
New paths to cut
In the wandering, wonder appears.

“Why are we so full of restraint? Why do we not give in all directions? Is it fear of losing ourselves? Until we do lose ourselves there is no hope of finding ourselves.”― Henry Miller

Aug 12

Sacred Gift of Wonder

“We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.”— Father Richard Rohr

“we think that accomplishing things will complete us, when it is experiencing life that will.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

Step by step
Tripping, getting back up
Day by day
Fidelity and grace
The middle
In between
Ordinary days
Transformed into extraordinary
Thoughts, words, actions
Hope, joy, work, play, rest, reflection, grit, gratitude, grace
May we recognize beauty, glory, color, nuance, depth, height, simple
Woven, carved, knit, abundant in this day
Disguised in laughter, a flower, a call, holding open a door, a smile and hello
Walking each step of the journey
Awake, aware, with intent and attention.

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift of wonder.” – John O’Donohue

Aug 10

Fully Received

“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair…”― susan polis schutz

“Bless you who are discovering that
summer was never something to
conquer, but something to notice –
the peaches, the porch light, the
smell of rain before dinner.

May you leave a few things undone
on purpose, trusting that not every
empty hour is asking to be filled.

Bless you who return to the same
small practices until they become
their own kind of gratitude.

May you remember that a good life
is rarely made of extraordinary days,
but ordinary ones that were fully
received.” – Kate Bowler

In the noticing, delight
In the undoing, creation
In the in-betweens, joy
In the ordinary days, communion.
Fully received.

“Water is fluid, soft & yielding but water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield … what is soft is strong.”― Lao-tzu

Aug 8

Gracious in Awareness, This Hour

“Peace is always beautiful.” ― Walt Whitman

“Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.”― Walt Whitman

Gaze long
Gratitude deep
Joy flowing
Peace beautiful
Calm rooted
Delight overflowing
For this hour, for this day.

“May I live this day
Compassionate of heart,
Clear in word,
Gracious in awareness
Courageous in thought,
Generous in love.” – John O’Donohue

Aug 5

Today Such a Day

“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.”― Rumi

“Only from the heart can you touch the sky.”― Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi

Curiosity, inquiry, observation.
Reverence, reverie, reflection.
Open hands, heart, eyes.
Breeze, sky, beauty.
Notice and partake.

“On a day
when the wind is perfect,
the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty.
Today is such a day.”― Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi

Aug 2

Sweet Nectar of Tending

“My experience is what I agree to attend to.”― William James

“Everyone knows what attention is. It is taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness are of its essence. It implies a withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.”― William James

Attendance, full participation in this day.
Autopilot off.
To do list aside.
Rapt attention, reverence.
Expansion of presence
Exploration, wandering, sensing.
Sweet nectar of tending.

“Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.”― William James, The Writings of William James

Aug 1

Secret Symmetry

“Take refuge in your senses, open up to all the small miracles you rushed through. Become inclined to watch the way of rain when it falls slow and free… Draw alongside the silence of stone until its calmness can claim you.”― John O’Donohue

“Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.” – John O’Donohue

Small quiet miracles
Silence of stones
Claimed by calm
Sacred gift of this day
Wrapped in wonder

“Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”― John Ortberg, Soul Keeping

Jul 31

Loving Us into Light

“In vain we search the heavens high above, The God of love is kneeling at our feet. Though we betray him, though it is the night, He meets us here and loves us into light.”― Malcolm Guite, Sounding the Seasons

“I have often noticed how interesting footpaths and bridleways start just beyond the brambles at the end of tarmacked roads marked ‘dead end’. And it seems to me that this is very often where prayer starts too.”― Malcolm Guite, The Word in the Wilderness

In, on, through the journey
Detours, delays, distractions
Arrivals, departures, middles
In the busy, rushing, performing
Vain searching, disappointments, celebrations
Kneeling at our feet
Always there. always
Loving us into light.

“Our God beyond, beside us, and within.”― Malcolm Guite, Sounding the Seasons

Jul 30

Brimming and Blooming

“The poetry of the earth is never dead.”― John Keats

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes—The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Alive and brimming
Blooming and breathing
Afire and abundance
Not in the hurrying or hankering
But in full presence, steeping, reverence
Poetry, prose, song, dance, delight, beauty
Woven in this day
To seek, find, offer, receive
Crammed with heaven
Take off your shoes.

“Life is not hurrying on to a receding future, nor hankering after an imagined past. It is the turning aside like Moses to the miracle of the lit bush, to a brightness that seemed as transitory as your youth once, but is the eternity that awaits you.” – R.S. Thomas

Jul 29

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Dew of Little Things

“I want a brighter word than bright”― John Keats

“In the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.” – Kahlil Gibran

Refreshment of morning
Cast onto all things
Renewal, restoration, reclamation
Rejoicing rising from lament
Transformed and transfigured
In the dew of little things
Words brighter than bright
Fertile fields abloom
Glory ablaze.

“So I have taken up the tale
to tell it full and free.
The tale that makes the heart rejoice,
I tell it, for I have no choice—
I tell it till another voice
takes up the tale from me.”
― Malcolm Guite, Galahad and the Grail

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