Nov 4
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
On today’s path
May colors blaze
Fresh air crisp, deep breath
Light stream through thoughts, words, deeds
Encouragement, kindness, grace
Love well.
“What we do now echoes in eternity.”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“Small wins little things look for the beauty in everything.”― Donna Ashworth, I Wish I Knew: Poems to Soothe Your Soul & Strengthen Your Spirit
“JOY CHOSE YOU Joy does not arrive with a fanfare on a red carpet strewn with the flowers of a perfect life joy sneaks in as you pour a cup of coffee watching the sun hit your favourite tree just right and you usher joy away because you are not ready for her your house is not as it should be for such a distinguished guest but joy, you see cares nothing for your messy home or your bank balance or your waistline joy is supposed to slither through the cracks of your imperfect life that’s how joy works you cannot truly invite her you can only be ready when she appears and hug her with meaning because in this very moment joy chose you.”― Donna Ashworth, Wild Hope: Healing Words to Find Light on Dark Days
Thoughts of hope
Words of encouragement
Acts of kindness
Not for others or institutions to do
Small but mighty, adding up
Daily devotion
Showing up
No advice, mere presence
In the messy, flawed, imperfection
Joy to be found
Look longer
Offer it first, second, third
Cast light.
“Follow the flawed, the real, the messy. Follow the women who say it like it is, no filter, no glossing, no bull. Follow those people who accept themselves, and you, as you are. And leave the rest to edit their lives to perfection,”― Donna Ashworth, I Wish I Knew: Poems to Soothe Your Soul & Strengthen Your Spirit
“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.”― Thomas Merton
“Hope has holes
in its pockets.
It leaves little
crumb trails
so that we,
when anxious,
can follow it.
Hope’s secret:
it doesn’t know
the destination–
it knows only
that all roads
begin with one
foot in front
of the other.” – Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Seeds of hope
Joy and encouragement too
Scatter generously|
Gather frivolously
One foot in front of another
“Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone.”― Thomas Merton
“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.” – Saint Basil
“You can’t change the fruits without changing the roots” – H.L. Mencken
Blue skies
Rushing river
In all seasons and circumstances
Seed daily both on fertile and dry soil
Some with take, some will blow away, some may take time
Roots firm, shoot sure, fruit harvested
Be kind
Thoughts, words, actions
Plant kindness, gather love.
Cast light.
“Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.” – Mother Teresa
“Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing”― Dolly Parton
“Cause I am strong and I can prove it
And I got my dreams to see me through
It’s just a mountain, I can move it
And with faith enough there’s nothing I can’t do
And I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And I can see the light of brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And everything’s gonna be all right
It’s gonna be okay
[lyrics from “Light of a Clear Blue Morning”]”― Dolly Parton
Be kind, bright, generous.
Offer encouragement without measure.
Spread enthusiasm, joy, laughter.
Simple, we make it hard.
Do it anyway.
Love well, thoughts, words, actions.
Self and others.
Cast light.
“I always just thought if you see somebody without a smile, give’em yours!”― Dolly Parton
“How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow
“It wasn’t ’til I saw my daddy’s name in stone, I knew
It ain’t a question of if they will
It’s how they remember you
Did you stand or did you fall?
Build a bridge or build a wall
Hide your love or give it all
What did you do?
Did you make ’em laugh or make ’em cry?
Did you quit or did you try?
Live your dreams or let ’em die
What did you choose?
When it all comes down
It ain’t if, it’s how they remember you
When you’re down to your last dollar
Will you give or will you take?
When the stiff wind blows the hardest
Will you bend or will you break?” – Rascal Flatts
Fall, get back up. Begin again, and again.
Bridges, not walls.
Laughter, lots of it.
Quit then start over, keep going.
Give generously.
Bending and breaking open.
Do good.
Love well.
Cast light.
“What will matter is the good we did, not the good we expected others to do.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow
“To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds,”― William James
“I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success, and I am for those tiny, invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, yet which if you give them time, will rend the hardest monuments of man’s pride.”― William James
Effort, daily
Kindness, consideration, care
Small acts
Planting seeds
Sooner than later
Drops to waves
Wings spread
Pay attention
Put in effort
Give before receiving
Fearless and bold
Postpone no more
Joy, delight, gratitude, narrow path, extra mile
Baptized by, with, for love.
“We forget that every good that is worth possessing must be paid for in strokes of daily effort. We postpone and postpone until those smiling possibilities are dead… By neglecting the necessary concrete labor, by sparing ourselves the little daily tax, we are positively digging the graves of our higher possibilities.”― William James
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
“If you allow yourself to be the person that you are, then everything will come into rhythm. If you live the life you love, you will receive shelter and blessings. Sometimes the great famine of blessing in and around us derives from the fact that we are not living the life we love, rather we are living the life that is expected of us. We have fallen out of rhythm with the secret signature and light of our own nature.” – John O’Donohue, Anam Cara
Be kind.
To self.
Spilling over to others.
Presence daily.
Graciousness, generosity, gratitude.
Becoming and unfolding.
Beautifully, imperfectly, authentically.
Belonging and worthiness.
Time and timing.
Questions and answers.
Unknowing and knowing.
Intuition and trust.
Armour of light.
Rooted in joy.
Blooming in brilliant color.
“Do we dare to be ourselves? That is the question that counts.”― Pablo Casals
And do we dare to let others be themselves and respond in love and kindness.
“You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control.” – Marcus Aurelius
“People travel to wonder
at the height of the mountains,
at the huge waves of the seas,
at the long course of the rivers,
at the vast compass of the ocean,
at the circular motion of the stars,
and yet they pass by themselves
without wondering. ”― Saint Augustine
Explore. Ponder. Question.
Wander. Seek. Embrace.
Tenderly, with kindness.
And love.
All beauty, mystery, expanse.
Within.
Geography of the heart.
Depth of the soul.
Height of the spirit.
“People are more comfortable with a familiar discomfort than they are with an unfamiliar new possibility.”― Lisa Nichols
“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”― Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
“I have drunken deep of joy,
And I will taste no other wine tonight.”
― Percy Bysshe Shelley
Work ethic.
Got it.
Yet only a sliver of life.
Joy.
Love.
Enthusiasm.
Kindness.
Faith.
Resilience.
Grit.
Generosity.
Delight.
Fidelity.
Laughter.
Awe.
Wonder.
Reverence.
Play.
Do not bypass, forego, dismiss.
The fabric of a good life.
Woven together daily.
“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”― Nicolas Chamfort
