“Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. Every day, from here to there, funny things are everywhere.” ― Dr. Seuss
“You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!”― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Children remind us how to find joy daily.
The ordinary made extraordinary.
Imagination.
Play.
Fun.
Exploration and discovery.
Eyes wide open.
May we connect with our own inner child and invite them out to play often.
To lighten up and delight in this day.
Happy 7th Birthday to one of the best humans I know – Liam!
“You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.”― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
“The real treasure offered by mindfulness—its most amazing gift—is that mindfulness provides us with the opportunity to respond rather than simply react.”― Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself
“Rather than wandering around in problem-solving mode all day, thinking mainly of what you want to fix about yourself or your life, you can pause for a few moments throughout the day to marvel at what’s not broken.”― Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself
Be where you are at now, completely.
With a full view, not merely a crack.
Marvel at what’s not broken.
Savor goodness.
Drink in beauty.
Respond rather than react.
Nothing to fix.
Always arriving and unfolding.
Enjoy this day, who you are, invite others in too.
“Happiness is not dependent on circumstances being exactly as we want them to be, or on ourselves being exactly as we’d like to be. Rather, happiness stems from loving ourselves and our lives exactly as they are, knowing that joy and pain, strength and weakness, glory and failure are all essential to the full human experience.”― Kristin Neff
“The lilac branches are bowed under the weight of the flowers: blooming is hard, and the most important thing is – to bloom.― Yevgeny Zamyatin, “A Story About The Most Important Thing”
“Spring as always was in full bloom, the breeze laden with lilac, the brush flanking the path rustling with life.”― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury
What lilacs lack in length, they make up in fragrance, in presence.
Bursting for only a short time but worth it.
Depth rather than length.
Brevity, reminding us to appreciate what and who we have while we do.
People. Places. Seasons.
Awake. Blooming. Life.
Notice, hold, be held.
While in it.
Gratitude over griping.
Beauty overflowing.
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.”― Seneca
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“i do not wish
to change the past
it made me
who i am today
i only want
to learn from it
and live in a new way”
― yung pueblo, Inward
Circling the same mountains.
Doing the same things, getting the same results.
When the horse is dead, dismount.
Pick new mountains to climb, not circle.
Do new things.
Keep going.
Live well in a new way.
Color. Beauty. Bloom.
Seasons. Cycles. Transformation.
“Become who you want to be while you can enjoy it. Don’t put off doing the work of becoming who you want to be. Waiting will not make it easier, and time is short.”― Kerry Egan, On Living
“Real devotion is an unbroken receptivity to the truth. Real devotion is rooted in an awed and reverent gratitude, but one that is lucid, grounded, and intelligent.”― Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
“The beauty and mystery of this world only emerges through affection, attention, interest and compassion . . . open your eyes wide and actually see this world by attending to its colors, details and irony.”― Orhan Pamuk, My Name Is Red
Tend to this day alone.
Engage, enter, attend fully.
Dimension. Color. Beauty.
Devotion rooted in awe and reverence.
The sacred and holy of the ground that is now.
Pause. Look. Pay attention.
“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”― Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
“The key to knowing joy is being easily pleased.”― Mark Nepo
“The further I wake into this life, the more I realize that God is everywhere and the extraordinary is waiting quietly beneath the skin of all that is ordinary. Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond, and music is in both the flowing violin and the water dripping from the drainage pipe. Yes, God is under the porch as well as on top of the mountain, and joy is in both the front row and the bleachers, if we are willing to be where we are.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have
As you walk and wake into this day, feel your feet touch the earth.
Pause and be still.
Look around.
A new angle and perspective.
See in new ways.
Listen and observe.
Praise and sing.
Present on all levels – physical, cognitive and spiritual.
Be where you are fully, easily pleased to know joy.
In each step along the way.
“We work so hard to get somewhere, to realize a dream, to arrive at some destination, that we often forget that though some satisfaction may be waiting at the end of our endurance and effort, there is great and irreplaceable aliveness in the steps along the way.”― Mark Nepo
“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
“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
“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
“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
“Everything can be taken from a man or woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor E. Frankl
“Cast Light” is an invitation to release your inner light, your authentic self every day. Choose light and cast it to the world.
Featured Quotes
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”― Mary Oliver
“I do not understand the mystery of grace — only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.” — Anne Lamott
