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Posts tagged ‘joy’

Forefront and Backdrop

“There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep. ”
― Elizabeth Bishop

“There are those fortunate hours when the world consents to be made into a poem.”― Mark Doty

Space and reflection
Curiosity and attention
Pause and praise
Spell of rest to notice
Forefront and backdrop
Magic of melody, flow
Music and poetry woven into this day
To be found, to be written
Joy, no slight thing

“What did you think, that joy / was some slight thing?”― Mark Doty

Sacred Spaces, In and Out

“It seems that intuitive listening requires us to still our minds until the beauty of things older than our minds can find us.”― Mark Nepo, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred

“Let all your thinks be thanks.”― W.H. Auden

Within, to heart, not head
Venturing out, beauty abound
Enter the stream
At ease in the flow
Stay here for a spell
Sacred spaces, of awe and wonder
Tune out the noise to listen.

“Now, I want only to give away all that I’m blessed to know and disappear in the stream.”― Mark Nepo, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred

Unraveling Magic

“In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.”― W. H. Auden

“This is a reminder to let you know that you are not here just to do stuff, just to perform duties and complete tasks.
You are here also to feel happy, and content, and inspired and well within yourself.
You are here to have some fun, create meaningful moments and find the sparkle in your eyes again.
You are here to unravel the magic of being alive, the magic of being you. To heal, to feel whole again.
Do something today that lights you up. That activates your joy. That brings about a genuine smile from your heart.
You are worth the effort.” – S.C. Lourie

Permission granted
To pause
To not crowbar everything into a day
To have fun, the tail wagging kind
A call to joy
Answer the call
Unravel some magic today.

“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”― Steven Pressfield

Cultivate, Wait, Flow

“In the continuous flow of blessing our heart finds meaning and rest.”― David Steindl-Rast

“Times that challenge us physically, emotionally, and spiritually may make it almost impossible for us to feel grateful. Yet, we can decide to live gratefully, courageously open to life in all its fullness. By living in a gratefulness that we don’t feel, we begin to feel the gratefulness we live.”― David Steindl-Rast

Wait or cultivate
A grateful heart when circumstances don’t warrant
When others don’t cooperate, go our way
Laughter amid “serious” business
Joy in dailyness
Gratitude forced to flowing
Platitude to planted
Cultivate and wait, tend
Deep breath
Thankfully rooted on the ground of this day
On the wave of presence
At-homeness.

“When we cultivate that gratefulness to life, we not only cultivate trust in life and openness for surprise, we practice again and again saying yes to our limitless belonging to this great Earth household. That roots us and makes us at home; it gives us that great at-homeness.”― Brother David Steindl-Rast

Invincible Summer

“Where there is no hope, it is incumbent on us to invent it.”― Albert Camus

“Find meaning. Distinguish melancholy from sadness. Go out for a walk. It doesn’t have to be a romantic walk in the park, spring at its most spectacular moment, flowers and smells and outstanding poetical imagery smoothly transferring you into another world. It doesn’t have to be a walk during which you’ll have multiple life epiphanies and discover meanings no other brain ever managed to encounter. Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself. Find meaning or don’t find meaning but ‘steal’ some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self. Opt for privacy and solitude. That doesn’t make you antisocial or cause you to reject the rest of the world. But you need to breathe. And you need to be.”― Albert Camus, Notebooks 1951-1959

Invincible summer, in all seasons.
Curiosity, interest, exploration.
Attention, noticing, discovery.
Love, laughter, ease.
This day, not someday “when”
This day.
Cast light.

“In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.
In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.
In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.
I realized, through it all, that…
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” – Albert Camus

Cultivate, Bear Good Fruit

“Solitude is the soil in which genius is planted, creativity grows, and legends bloom; faith in oneself is the rain that cultivates a hero to endure the storm, and bare the genesis of a new world, a new forest.”― Mike Norton, White Mountain

“Cultivating the power of presence comes from creating the space to observe one’s mind and one’s self.”― Dee Waldeck

Till soil
Cast seeds
Water roots
Look up to the sun
Tend to self and others
Cultivate joy, kindness, love
Garden well
Bear good fruit.

“We must cultivate our garden.”― Voltaire

To See Today’s Beauty

“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.”― T.S. Eliot, The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.”― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

For eyes to see the beautiful thing
Ears to hear the symphony
Words for today
Stamina and resilience to stay and participate
Gratitude to root and anchor
Grace of presence
Light to cast
Love to offer
Devotion to what matters
Joy on the journey
A life’s work.

“Be committed to creating a life’s work, not a season. If you get overexcited and rush everything for fear of missing out, you run the risk of being a flash in the pan and fading away fast. Have the stamina to stay in the game. To do it for the devotion and pleasure alone.” – Rebecca Campbell, Rise Sister Rise

November Color, Light, Bloom

“Trees still grow after letting dead things go.”― Darnell Lamont Walker

“WELCOME NOVEMBER…

There is something about November that says ‘just keep going’.
We are not quite through the year yet the finish-line looms out of nowhere.
We are plunged into darkness by Mother Nature.
We are faced with the ‘season of joy’,
and yet many of us wonder where we will find it.

And I think November is a great time to take a little peek behind you,
and see just how much you’ve done.
To take stock of your achievements, your endurance,
your survival.
To rest, reinforce, before the festivities envelope us all.
Before beautiful new beginnings.

And most importantly, November is a time to seek out light.
As the natural order darkens, we must find it ourselves.
We must do whatever we can to brighten our day,
our home, the world.

Seek out light wherever you can my friends,
and pay no heed to those who condemn your sparkle.

You are much-needed.

Keep showing up, in that special way only you can do.
And show up for yourself too
(which can sometimes mean not showing up somewhere else).

This year has been hard.

Again.

But beautiful.

Again.

As is the way of life.

As is the way of life.” – Donna Ashworth

Music. Light. Dance. Color.
Partake, participate.
Keep showing up.
In all seasons.
Do not rank.
Do not discard.
Do not dismiss.
Be present, with vigor.
There is joy here.
To be found.
To be given.
To receive.
The way of life.
Well-lived, daily.
While in it.

“You are the music while the music lasts.”― T.S. Eliot

Walking Home

“When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are …
… lose all that. And you are constantly saying ‘You are too this, or I’m too this.’ That judgment mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”- Ram Dass

“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”― The Dalai Lama

Find the beauty.
Daily.
It’s there.
Look longer.
Dive in, both feet.
Expand your heart.
Open your mind.
Curiosity. Joy. Kindness.
Love well.
Transform the world.
Walk each other home.

“Our work is to call each other home, to call to one another’s spirits and say, “This is for you. This is what it means to be human, to love and be loved. Let’s learn from one another as we go.”― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native

Mostly Live

“October, crisp, misty, golden October, when the light is sweet and heavy.”― Angela Carter, The Magic Toyshop

“Under the brush of the autumn wind, the leaves dance, painted in hues of orange and gold, a visual symphony that sings in every corner of the forest.”― David Passarelli, Mountain poems: Musings on stone, forest, and snow

Lingering summer
Late fall
Beauty of each season
Gravity of today
Weight of wonder
Pull of joy
Push of awe
Look around
On the ground of this day
A visual symphony
Mostly live

“There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow. Today is the right day to Love, Believe, Do and mostly Live.”― Dalai Lama XIV