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Posts tagged ‘Mindfulness’

Jul 22

All-Surrounding Grace

“You have come to the shore. There are no instructions.”― Denise Levertov

“The Avowal

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them;
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.”― Denise Levertov

To the shoreline
Of grace
Peace
Awe and wonder
A few yards away
Awaiting your arrival
To sit and be held
Made new
Witnessing presence.

“Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
down to the shore or a few yards
up the road, on a clear day,
to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.”― Denise Levertov

Jul 20

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Open as the Sky

“Peace comes when our hearts are
open like the sky,
vast as the ocean.”
― Jack Kornfield

“With an undefended heart, we can fall in love with life over and over every day. We can become children of wonder, grateful to be walking on earth, grateful to belong with each other and to all of creation. We can find our true refuge in every moment, in every breath.” – Tara Brach

In the pause
In ordinary moments
In the hustle and hurry
Deep breath, open heart, light spirit
Wonder, gratitude, delight
May you find peace
May peace find you
The dance.

“The art of living is neither careless drifting on the one hand or fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consist in being completely sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.” – Allan Watts

Jul 18

Gracefully Flowing

“May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.”― Rainer Maria Rilke

“Many different strands of your past experience begin to weave together until gradually the new direction announces itself. Its voice is sure with the inevitability of the truth. When your life-decisions emerge in this way from the matrix of your experience, they warrant your trust and commitment. When you can choose in this way, you move gracefully within the deeper rhythm of your soul. The geography of your destiny is always clearer to the eye of your soul than to the intentions and needs of your surface mind.” – John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes

Deep waters.
Flowing with ease.
No forcing.
Nor turning back.
Rhythm of your soul.
Enter the waters.
Already in.

“Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing. We are in it.”― Richard Rohr

 

Jul 16

Follow the Arrows

 

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.”― Rumi

“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you
Don’t go back to sleep!
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep!
People are going back and forth
across the doorsill where the two worlds touch,
The door is round and open
Don’t go back to sleep!”― Rumi

Steep and slow
Look up and around
Pause and listen
Perpetual blooming
Unfurling beauty
Signs and signals
Follow the arrows
Compass within.

“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”― Rumi

Jul 14

Sunshine Swimming

“When you regain a sense of your life as a journey of discovery, you return to rhythm with yourself. When you take the time to travel with reverence, a richer life unfolds before you. Moments of beauty begin to braid your days.”― John O’Donohue, Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

“Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path.
Let the flame of anger free you of all falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame.
May anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
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

May beauty braid your day.
Wonder wander in, take your hand, come follow me.
Awe rise inviting reverence in.
Open hands, soft heart, quiet mind.

“When we approach with reverence, great things decide to approach us. Our real life comes to the surface and its light awakens the concealed beauty in things. When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. The rushed heart and arrogant mind lack the gentleness and patience to enter that embrace.”― John O’Donohue, Beauty: A Study of Beauty in Celtic Spirituality and the Human Spirit

Jul 8

Emergence in the Pause

“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

“Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.”― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

In the pause, stillness
Gaze
Abide
Release
Reset
Slow
Mindfulness spilling into grace, gratitude
Anchoring
Patterns reshape
New stories emerge
Narrative wanders off path
Peace, delight, anticipation
In the paragraph on the blank page of this day.

“In our frantic search for something to quench our thirst, we overlook the water all around us and drive ourselves into exile from our own lives. ”― Sharon Salzberg

Jul 7

Slight Shift, Quiet Eyes

“look at the world with quiet eyes.”― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

“Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope – a slight change, and all patterns alter.”― Sharon Salzberg

Summer the stage
Slow and savor
Kaleidoscope of color
Bountiful beauty
Vibrancy and growth
Quiet eyes
Soft heart
Travel light
Lovingkindness, peace, ease.

“Restore your attention or bring it to a new level by dramatically slowing down whatever you’re doing.”― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

Jul 6

Carried by Surprise

“I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”― John O’Donohue

“That the soft overcomes the hard, and the yielding overcomes the resistant, is a fact known by all, but practiced by few.”― Lao Tse

Softening
Yielding
Pause
Grounding
Flowing
Slowing
Response rather than reaction
Unfolding
Unhindered
At attention
Witnessing and participating
No rearview mirror
No crystal ball
Anchored
In this day alone.

“May today bring us simple things in simple packages. Easy-to-use things. Things we can tuck into our hearts and don’t require instructions or batteries. Simple things like love and peace, like comfort and joy.”― Mary Davis, Every Day Spirit: A Daybook of Wisdom, Joy and Peace

Jul 5

Stay Here, Full Presence

“May I give the gift of talking less and listening more.”― Mary Davis, Every Day Spirit: A Daybook of Wisdom, Joy and Peace

“Should we have stayed home and thought of here?”― Elizabeth Bishop

To be present in, on, through this very day.
Not to be somewhere else, someone else.
No counting, comparing, calculating.
Letting others be who they will be.
Self too.
Changing perspective rather than others and circumstances.
Responding with presence, inquiry, love.
In the here, in the now.
Open to delight.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Jul 2

Beeing

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind.” – Ashley Smith

“Mindfulness is not chasing the moment but sipping the nectar of the moment.”― Amit Ray, Mindfulness Living in the Moment – Living in the Breath

Put on summer.
Soak in slow.
Put down doing.
Pick up ease.
Sit in being.

“Let July be July. Let August be August. And let yourself just be even in the uncertainty. You don’t have to fix everything. You don’t have to solve everything. And you can still find peace and grow in the wild of changing things.” — Morgan Harper Nichols

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