Feb 29
“Happiness is a matter of one’s most ordinary and everyday mode of consciousness being busy and lively and unconcerned with self.” – Iris Murdoch
May you see the extraordinary in the ordinariness of this day. May you seek and find joy in regular moments. In moments that present themselves while we wait and search ahead rather than in the now to what lies right in front of us.
Seize this day and the abundance of moments that offer simple wonder and delight. Small moments, big gifts.
“Don’t let anything stand in the way of you claiming and manifesting the life that you choose rather than the life you have by default.” – Joy Page
Enter this day knowing what is yours to claim and that which is not. We are more than our circumstances and greater than we dare to be. When we focus on what we can contribute and stop comparing our lives to others, we create the life we are meant to. Pause and reflect, allowing deep gratefulness to fill the space. Claim it.
Nov 1
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” – Helen Keller
My plans for the day fell through so I actually stayed home and dug into the “when I have time” projects. Facing the pile to file, organizing and discarding clutter. Projects that we delay but once started and completed offer a certain satisfaction. And in the act of decluttering our surroundings, we declutter our minds. We’re good starters and multitaskers at the expense of finishing and focusing. There’s value in finishing and not starting the next thing until we finish, in going deeper instead of wider.
We move so quickly between one thing and the next, not fully appreciating and experiencing the fullness of what is right before us. When we allow for pondering and planting, we harvest joy and gratitude. Plan for some unplanned time and let the tasks and gifts of the day unfold.
Oct 11
“I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!” – Theodore Roosevelt
I gave my niece Emily a silly hat as a little gift for running me in at the marathon last week. I thought it was fun but I wasn’t sure if she’d actually wear it. She was very excited and in her sage wisdom said she’d wear it everywhere now that she doesn’t care what other people think.
It takes some of us many years to get to that point, some never do. Instead of unfolding and blossoming into who we are, we hide and keep true self to ourselves. Pleasing others, making decisions from the outside instead of inside. The sooner we become at ease with ourselves, the sooner we can live a good life being the person we are born to be. Acceptance is a beautiful gift.
Be yourself, unencumbered and unafraid. Let go of expectations and judgment on yourself and others and release your true self to the world, silly hats and all.
“If people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein
Oct 9
“We all walk around within the numbness of our habits and routines so often that we take the marvels of ordinary life for granted.” – Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
Let yourself and all that you carry from the past, from yesterday and about the future, about tomorrow and leave it where it was or will be. Sink deeply into the moments of today. No judgment, measurement, comparison, heaviness, preconceived notions, worry or hesitation.
See as if for the very first time all that surrounds you. With a grateful heart, dancing spirit and open soul, be new and renewed by the beauty and simplicity of the ordinary.
Cast light, first sight.
Sep 25
“By enduring our way to the calm at center and endearing our way to an expansiveness of spirit, we can return to this elusive state of inner tranquility. And however brief the peace, the underlying calm of life will free us from the weight of our self-reference. Again, not to pull us out of our lives, but to move us more deeply into them.” – Mark Nepo, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen
Life throws a lot at us. At times, we move around the edge, on the petals to catch our breath and pause. But the depth, dimension and richness of life is found in the middle, in abundance and scarcity. Push and pull. In and out. Up and down. In the sweet nectar of the center, our spirit is renewed and engaged as it expands and contracts.
“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.” – Vaclav Havel
Life is overflowing with goodness and light that overcome the shadows that remain. And when awake in gratitude, we accept the truth that our days are filled with both enduring and endearing. Surviving and thriving, all at once, at the same time. And hope remains and resides right in the middle.
Sep 13
“Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” – Thomas Carlyle
As I was getting ready for my 20 mile run yesterday morning, I kept telling myself – time and distance, time and distance. It’s not about speed, but about running long enough to get the mileage in. I was apprehensive about my ankle and missing two long training runs over the past two weeks.
After the first 5 miles, I settled in, let go, listened to music and just ran. Nothing existing before or after, steeped in the flow of the movement, in the moment. When I hit 16 miles, I could feel the wear on my body but knew I would complete it. The last 4 miles were run by my heart.
After a long hot shower, gratefulness and contentment set in, something I was short on the past two weeks. My ankle demanded rest, my head argued that I would lose three months of training capacity if I took a break for however long it for my ankle to heal. Luckily with the encouragement of friends and family, the work of my chiropractor and massage therapist/friend and rest, I finished.
Sometimes we need to rest. Sometimes we need to push through. Most times we need to do both. It’s the ebb and flow of life. And most of all, when we tire when we are so close to finishing, we need to let our mind rest and run with our heart that tells us we can do it, we have it in us, keep going.
Anything we pursue in life requires our whole person to be on the same team – our body, mind, heart and spirit. Our heart and spirit are fueled by faith. And often times our body and mind stray, leaving the heart and spirit to finish the job. And when we put the time in, we will go the distance.
“Time does not change us. It just unfolds us.” – Max Frisch
Aug 27
“Everything has seasons, and we have to be able to recognize when something’s time has passed and be able to move into the next season. Everything that is alive requires pruning as well, which is a great metaphor for endings.” – Henry Cloud
I was about to throw out the dried up flower basket yesterday. It had its season. Instead, I removed the dead flowers and leaves to see if it would come back. Sure enough, new buds suddenly appeared overnight. Its season wasn’t quite over yet.
We delay making changes thinking that they must be big and drastic. Often times, it merely takes a bit of pruning to clear enough space for new beginnings to unfold. And there are times when a season really has passed and pruning won’t be enough.
Either way, we need only cut away the dried foliage of assumption, judgment, expectation, indecision and fear and watch love, joy, hope, delight and purpose bloom.
Prune.
“The gracious, eternal God permits the spirit to green and bloom and to bring forth the most marvelous fruit, surpassing anything a tongue can express and a heart conceive.” – Johannes Tauler
Aug 3
“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.” – John Jakes
“The soul can split the sky in two and let the face of God shine through.” – Edna St. Vincent Millay
A wish, a meditation, a prayer that we all, each and every one of us, responds to the still small voice whispering in our heart to become what we have been created to be. Like none other before or none after. You.
To do what we are here to do. To make a difference by our presence. To say “yes” to the journey from potential to fruition, with exuberance, without delay. You are called. Heed the call. Shine your light. Finish your story, every sentence, paragraph, chapter.
Jul 13
“We were born whole, and yet most of us are living as partial human beings. We each have the capacity to leave the world a better place than we found it. We are meant to discover our authentic nature – the state of being in which we are inspired by ourselves, turned on, lit up, and excited about who we are.” – Debbie Ford, The Shadow Effect
Whether in career or in relationships, transitions make us choose a path among many. During many transitions, I’ve often moved to get away from what’s behind rather than moving forward to what’s ahead. Instead of lunging head first into the future with anticipation and excitement, we drag our feet with one eye fixed in the rear view mirror with trepidation. Choosing the path of seemingly least resistance, we surrender to less than what we are called to do and be, in reality choosing more resistance.
We give up and away too much of ourselves to doubt, fueled by our own thoughts and others uninformed opinions. Instead of sabotaging ourselves, we can openly and confidently receive the plan that was written for us and get out of our own way. Not only fanning the flames, but stoking the fire. Burning every inch of the wick in the candle until the wax is melted completely. To cast our full light, with no apologies or apprehension.
Living to our full capacity is a full time job. So live each day with enthusiasm, hope and faith that we are moving deeper into ourselves when we move beyond the easy and obvious. We are becoming who we are meant to be step by step, transition to transition. No more part-time, half hearted living. Full time while we have the time.
