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Posts tagged ‘Mindfulness’

Apr 12

Small Joys Stacking

“It is a great thing to know how to make use of the present moment.”― Maria Faustina Kowalska, Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul

“Act in such a way that all those who come in contact with you will go away joyful. Sow happiness about you because you have received much from God; give, then, generously to others. They should take leave of you with their hearts filled with joy, even if they have no more than touched the hem of your garment.”― Maria Faustina Kowalska

We forego small joys in search of big demands and conditions.
Anchoring on others changing, the world changing, us remaining the same.
“Someday when” thinking.
Yield to this day alone.
All that is present and available.
Filled and flowing.
Seek moments of joy, delight through rapt attention.
Capture and give them away.
Compound interest of love in action.
Scatter seeds, sow happiness, cast light.

“The past does not belong to me; the future is not mine; with all my soul I try to make use of the present moment.”― Maria Faustina Kowalska, Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul

Mar 29

Perpetual Revival

“Each of us experiences the perpetual revival of the self. We constantly recast our connate emotional index by perceiving each encounter in life as a marvel, impedance, problem, disaster, or nothing at all. Living in the moment allows us to escape the lonely landscape of self-interest and be part of a larger world filled with beauty, reverence, and adoration.”― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

Volume low.
Brilliant color.
Light bright.
Anchor and attune.
In the ordinary and small.
Transformed by attention and reverence.

“Mind the little things.
Appreciate them.
Revere them, too.”― Shellen Lubin

Mar 25

Sacrament of Ploppage

“Stillness is a brilliant teacher.”― Shannan Martin, Start with Hello

“So how do you connect with the real person inside you… You just… stop. You do what I call the “sacrament of ploppage”—you sit down, and you start to realize that everything electronic will usually work again if you just unplug it. And that includes you, too.” — Anne Lamott, Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage

Stop, sit, stay
From doing and speed to being and stillness
Unplugged and undone
Sensing, observing, absorbing
Small things in ordinary
Color, detail, beauty
Simple and plentiful
Strewn and scattered throughout each day
To gather and hold
Look up and around
In awe, reverence, wonder
Sacrament of ploppage

“Sometimes we get so hung up on doing something great, we forget the best thing is often the smallest.”― Shannan Martin, The Ministry of Ordinary Places

Mar 24

Further Shore

“Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.”― Seamus Heaney, Death of a Naturalist

“So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
And cures and healing wells.”
― Seamus Heaney

Poetry of this day.
What will you read?
What will you write?
The pen is in your hands.
Signatures of your own frequency.
Cures and healing wells, deep and wide.
Shores to reach.

“You lose more of yourself than you redeem
doing the decent thing. Keep at a tangent
When they make the circle wide, it’s time to swim
Out on your own and fill the element
with signatures on your own frequency.”
― Seamus Heaney, Station Island

Mar 23

Bringing to Life

“The natural world is built upon common motifs and patterns. Recognizing patterns in nature creates a map for locating yourself in change, and anticipation what is yet to come.”― Sharon Weil, ChangeAbility

“Tenderness is the art of personifying, of sharing feelings, and thus endlessly discovering similarities. Creating stories means constantly bringing things to life, giving an existence to all the tiny pieces of the world that are represented by human experiences, the situations people have endured and their memories. Tenderness personalizes everything to which it relates, making it possible to give it a voice, to give it the space and the time to come into existence, and to be expressed.” – Olga Tokarczuk

Easy to harden in this world.
To check out.
Autopilot.
Surface and skim.
Do not succumb.
Till the dry soil.
Let fresh air in.
Wander with wonder.
Anticipation, hope, joy, delight, tenderness, laughter, gentleness, enthusiasm.
Let beauty, light, grace in to awaken, abide, transform.
Easy threads weaving together the tapestry of this day.

“A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread.”― George Herbert

Mar 22

Wide Awake Presence

“At other times I wake up from the half sleep I’d fallen into, and hazy images with poetical and unpredictable colours play out their silent show to my inattention.”― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

“May today’s moments move you
to where love can reach you.
May a deep truth remind you
with each step.
May you grow where you are,
sending down roots into trusted truths,
to where love lives,
and beauty is wide awake.
Let your heart seek the one good step.
And then the next.
Movement.
That is the way.” – Kate Bowler

Pay attention.
Be tender.
Offer kindness.
Walk lightly.
Love well.
Small noticing, slivers of light, bold color.
Love well.

“We are light, sound, color, and form living a physical reality. Add the element of love and you have everything.”― Deborah Bravandt

Mar 18

2 Comments

Walking on Air

“Walk on air against your better judgement.”― Seamus Heaney

“Blessed are the noticers.
The ones who see the full story.
Blessed are the attenders.
The witness-bearers.
The story-holders.
The ones who tiptoe to the edge with us,
knowing that it will break their heart, too.
Choosing us anyway.
Blessed are those who are amazed
by a life lived in its fragility,
in its brevity, in its beauty.” – Kate Bowler

Daily noticing.
Tending.
Attention.
Abiding.
Rooting, weeding, uprooting.
Gratitude, grief, grace.
All, most, some.
In ordinary days.
In waiting, wading, weighting.
Timorous or bold, in between
More bold, walking on air.

“The way we are living,
timorous or bold,
will have been our life.”― Seamus Heaney

Mar 13

Blooming in the Questions

“How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me?”― Leonard Cohen, Beautiful Losers

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.”― Wendell Berry

Good questions
Curiosity
Listening
Seeking
Bloom that comes from seeds of inquiry.

“The greatest discoveries in life come not from finding the right answers but from asking the right questions.”― Sahil Bloom, The 5 Types of Wealth

Mar 12

Attention to Devotion

“Attention is the beginning of devotion.” — Mary Oliver

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” — Simone Weil

Slowing.
Noticing.
White space.
Margin.
Pause.
Focus.
Inquiry.
Unknowing.
Curiosity.
Listening.
Kindness of presence
Generosity of spirit
Gift of rapt attention.
Cast light.

“You become what you give your attention to.” — Epictetus

Mar 6

Rivers and Bridges

“No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life. There may be countless trails and bridges and demigods who would gladly carry you across; but only at the price of pawning and forgoing yourself. There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk!” – Friedrich Nietzsche

“My path is made of poetry and music, characterized by rowdiness and sunflowers, and given life by everyone I have met along the way in this process of becoming human. (When I say “everyone,” I don’t mean just us ornery two-legged beings.)”― Joy Harjo, Catching the Light

Keep walking
Crossing
Stay awake
Succumb to delight
Divine in the mundane
Extraordinary in the ordinary
Gratitude. Grace. Goodness.
Woven in this day.

“Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?

Who can travel the miles who does not put one foot in front of the other, all attentive to what presents itself continually?”― Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems, Vol. 2

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