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Posts tagged ‘Happiness’

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 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

Dec 23

Yes, Virginia

“Oh, Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a frame of mind.” — Kris Kringle from Miracle on 34th Street

“Dear Editor— I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus? – Virginia O’Hanlon

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.” – Letter to Santa, New York Sun in 1897

May the wonder of these coming days break through and open delight.
May love, generosity and devotion expose beauty and joy.
And may Santa Claus and Jesus be born in your heart.
Peace, hope, light to you and to all.

“Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.” – Francis B. Church Editor, New York Sun

Nov 25

A Big Scoop of Joy with a Side of Wonder

“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.”― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

May we only go backwards to rediscover the innate joy of childhood.
We need not look far to find the PhD’s of delight and wonder.
Sparkle in eyes, anchored in the moment, inviting us to partake.

“Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.” – Khalil Gibran

“A flower blossoms for its own joy.”― Oscar Wilde

Nov 6

Already There

“The funny thing about the mind is that if you ask a question and then listen quietly, the answer usually appears.”― Yongey Mingyur, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness

“Let your own experience serve as your guide and inspiration. Let yourself enjoy the view as you travel along the path. The view is your own mind, and because your mind is already enlightened, if you take the opportunity to rest awhile along the journey, eventually you’ll realize that the place you want to reach is the place you already are.”― Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness

Enjoy the path you are on today.
Go off trail, wander a bit.
Look around, listen quietly, inquire with openness.
Your thoughts, assumptions and opinions are your compass.
Choose them well, invite change, allow unknowing.
Beauty, flow and blessings amplified with new eyes.

“The opportunity to experience yourself differently is always available.”― Yongey Mingyur, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness

Sep 23

Never Enough Sunsets

“True love begins when nothing is looked for in return.”― Antoine De Saint-Exupery

“This equation has helped many people I know identify the difference between practicing happiness and pursuing it. When my happiness feels elusive, I tend to ask myself, “What am I not being grateful for, and what am I pursuing that’s distracting me from that gratitude?”― Chip Conley, Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success

Gratitude interrupts scarcity, broadens horizons, expands perspective.
Practice over pursuit.
The daily work of attention and awe, a new math.
Acceptance and joy amidst imperfection, detours and delays.
Transforming ordinary, sometimes difficult days into perfect love, overflowing with abundance.

“So blessed are you who say this did not add up. I had hoped these choices I made. The life I tried so hard to pick would add up to something meaningful. But now I’m left without many choices at all. Left wondering, did I pick? Right. Did I waste my days? What should I have done differently? This limited life is what it means to be human in our failures and bad, bad math, in our best intentions and hardest work, in our waylaid hopes and far off dreams. In the love that is never, ever too late to give or receive. Maybe success and happiness can mean something different now. On the other side of a life changed when minutes become moments and there will never be enough sunsets or handholds or jokes shared. But there is never, ever too much love.” – Kate Bowler

Sep 2

Reciprocity

“Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.” – Samuel Smiles

Summer Sun by Robert Louis Stevenson

“Great is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven without repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.

Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.

The dusty attic spider-clad,
He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles,
Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.

Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy’s inmost nook.

Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes.”

May you be touched by the sun
Warmed
Softened
Held
In return, share your light with the world
Reciprocity.

Jun 3

Long Summer Days

“Aaah, summer – that long anticipated stretch of lazy, lingering days, free of responsibility and rife with possibility. It’s a time to hunt for insects, master handstands, practice swimming strokes, conquer trees, explore nooks and crannies, and make new friends.” – Darell Hammond

“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James

Vibrant colors, sun lingering, soft breeze.
Days when glory shows its face in bloom.
Play, wander, watch.
Somersaults and cartwheels.
Crisp vegetables, sweet fruit.
Soak in these days.
No place to be but here.
In the balm of long summer days.
Do not let them pass you by.

“We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.” – Jenny Uglow

“In summer, the song sings itself.” – William Carlos Williams

Apr 4

Awaken and Thrive

“We can find true refuge within our own hearts and minds-right here, right now, in the midst of our moment-to-moment lives.” – Tara Brach

“Even when there is no immediate threat, our body may remain tight and on guard, our mind narrowed to focus on what might go wrong. When this happens, fear is no longer functioning to secure our survival. We are caught in the trance of fear and our moment-to-moment experience becomes bound in reactivity.” – Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance

May you allow new thoughts in to color this day.
Open, inviting, attentive.
Filtering with your heart rather than mind, the past, assumptions, resentment, offense.
Tools of the world, of ego.
Allow your spirit to take the lead, to dance, delight and release to freshen the air.
Generosity, kindness, gratitude widen the path, deepen the journey.
Seek, ask, listen.
What else, what if, why not?
Bud and bloom.
Awaken and thrive.

“If we are holding back from any part of our experience, if our heart shuts out any part of who we are and what we feel, we are fueling the fears and feelings of separation that sustain the trance of unworthiness. Radical Acceptance directly dismantles the very foundations of this trance.” – Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance

Mar 31

Unrepeatable Miracle

“We have all the light we need, we just need to put it in practice.” – Albert Pike

“We move through the world with a kind of tunnel vision that prevents us from enjoying what is in front of us.” – Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance

May you see what’s right in front of you now, grateful.
Awake in the fullness of this moment, unbound.
Alert in the possibility found in fresh thinking, expansive.
Shaken from a trance of worry and doubt, worthy.
Choosing to change, unstoppable.
Stirred to move into newness, shining.
Joy, awe, ease to you as you broaden, deepen and unfold.

“The only way to live is to accept each minute as an unrepeatable miracle, which is exactly what it is: a miracle and unrepeatable.” – Storm Jameson

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