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Posts tagged ‘Miscellaneous’

May 24

11 Comments

When We Are Still

“So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.” – T. S. Eliot

When we are still . . . our senses awaken to the beauty that remains even when we can’t see, hear, feel, taste and breath through the noise and distractions that can overcome and distort the truth.

We hear the birds singing in harmony;
We feel the soft breeze of a Spring morn;
We see the hues in the sky;
We breath in and absorb the fragrance of flowers bloom;
We empathize instead of judge others because we realize we are in this life together and merely want to be seen, accepted and loved;
Time stands still because we live and appreciate the depth and brevity of each moment.

Be still.

“I drank the silence of God from a spring in the woods.” – Georg Trakl

“I drank the silence of God from a spring in the woods.” – Georg Trakl

May 7

8 Comments

Remember Happy, Visit Often

“I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.” – Groucho Marx

“Smile, it's free therapy.” – Douglas Horton

“Smile, it’s free therapy.” – Douglas Horton

Ridiculously busy days filled nonstop meetings, hundreds of emails and unreasonable people can throw you for a loop, off your game and out of whack. In the midst of the chaos, which is actually the illusion, we need to remember happy and visit often.

It’s right there next to you, holding your hand. Stop, leave the “emergency” rooms of life and take in what’s good, really good. Memories made, memories in process and memories to come – make them happen. Friends, family, a broad smile and a lick on the forehead cures all.

May 4

10 Comments

Know Better

“Once you’ve lived enough, once you’re cried enough tears, you know how blessed it is to have something to smile about. People who are passionate about life don’t have a positive attitude because they don’t know any better. They’re often positive because they do know better. They know that heartbreak could happen any day. If it’s not happening today, let’s give thanks.” – Marianne Williamson, The Age of Miracles

How often we know better but we still question or forget how blessed we truly are. Looking outward instead of in, to the distance instead of the foreground, the past instead of now, the future instead of now. Be grateful for this very moment, this day.

As my 50 year anniversary of living approaches in October, I feel like I’m in my 30s, perhaps a bit smarter and caring much less about what others think or may think. I am starting my training for my third marathon in the Fall. Not to win, but to stay in the game and enjoy the rhythm of training. To start. To finish. To start again and finish again. I still get excited about learning something new each day, but more importantly, sharing the discovery. I remain passionate about my career, but not interested in the positioning, chattering and chirping. Although I still let myself get sucked in when I lose perspective – that “knowing better but not doing better” thing again.

So as we know better, we need to be, think, thank, feel, breathe, give and love better and deeper. Let the light in and cast it back out again.

“When you wake up each morning, you can choose to be happy or choose to be sad. Unless some terrible catastrophe has occurred the night before, it is pretty much up to you. Tomorrow morning, when the sun shines through your window, choose to make it a happy day.” – Lynda Resnick

“When you wake up each morning, you can choose to be happy or choose to be sad. Unless some terrible catastrophe has occurred the night before, it is pretty much up to you. Tomorrow morning, when the sun shines through your window, choose to make it a happy day.” – Lynda Resnick

May 3

18 Comments

Clear Your Cache

“People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives.” – J. Michael Straczynski

My team at work just finished a major project – converting 42 websites/databases to another platform in 11 months due to a merger – over 3000 hours of additional work. We celebrated this tremendous team effort and accomplishment this week.

During the conversion process, we often had to “clear our cache” or tell others to do so to see the website updates. The cache stores images, files and web pages to reduce load time when downloading. If you don’t clear it, you can’t see the latest version because it’s storing “the past.” We are going to order t-shirts with “clear your cache” imprinted on them to commemorate this often used phrase.

It’s actually pretty good advice for daily living too. By clearing our “mental cache” – assumptions, judgments, biases, stereotypes, cynicism, foregone conclusions, filters – we can see a new world – the latest version that’s unedited, uninhibited and in vivid, brilliant color.

Clear your cache!

Apr 13

3 Comments

Do

“It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.” – Moliere

Words unsaid. Deeds undone. Forgiveness held back. Talents buried. Regret is most often found in the midst of what we choose not to do. As this week leads to Easter, to redemption and the gift of grace, we can be jolted out of our complacency to live better, more deeply and with great joy.

Say more, do more, forgive more and become who you are meant to be.

Feb 8

4 Comments

Imagine

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” – Dr. Seuss

Combine imagination with a pair of sunglasses and the six foot wave of snow in my front yard transforms into waves rolling in on the beach in Malibu, Kona, Monterey Bay, Cancun (insert your favorite beach here). Surfs up.

When we are not overcome by the trivial, each day becomes “show and tell.”  A simple shift and we’re laying on a beach, warm sun on our face, relaxing to the music of the ocean waves dancing on the beach. Imagine. Delight. Lighten Up.

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Jan 25

6 Comments

Be Still

“Watch out for the joy-stealers: gossip, criticism, complaining, faultfinding, and a negative, judgmental attitude.” – Joyce Meyer

It seems innocent enough. A little complaining, talking about someone else, thinking everyone has it better than us – they’re “lucky.” Feeling justified, we think that letting it out again and again somehow will make it better. And it doesn’t, it makes it worse. What we focus on is what we become, who we are. These seemingly little things chip away at our capacity for joy. These joy-stealers are contagious if we don’t keep our guard up. Complaining is one of my triggers. I’ve been hearing a lot of it lately and instead of letting others chirp and let it go, I complain about their complaining. I fall into these traps when I’m tired, working too many hours and when I don’t get to run outside due to the “polar vortex” winter with 20 below temps.

We need to be still and look for the good in others without question or delay. Naïve? Maybe, but what and who will we miss by jumping to conclusions, judgments and criticism? Are we willing to risk joy and delight in exchange for “being right” in our own mind, whether we are or not. And we not only need to remove the joy-stealers, we need to replace them with gratitude, appreciation and awe for the many blessings to be found when we take off our blinders and filters. The light shines in replacing the dark. Be still and cast light.

“So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.” – T. S. Eliot

“So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.” – T. S. Eliot

Oct 19

5 Comments

Sacred

“Life is precious. Life is sacred. And it ought so to be observed.” – Gordon B. Hinckley

The sacred quiet of the morning. Time to reflect, restore and simply be.

I have been pulled a hundred directions this week, starting projects and getting pulled to something else. Bouncing from one thing to the next. Each day, I had the intention of writing an article that’s due next week, to get ahead and meet the deadline. Everytime I started, I got interrupted by an email popping up, the phone or someone coming in my office. And spending five to ten minutes isn’t enough to allow ideas and thoughts that connect to unfold. This morning, I have gotten more done in the past thirty minutes than the last thirty hours.

We need to weave “the sacred” through each day. To quietly be in awe, floating in gratitude and connected to our life. To objectively observe instead of emotionally react. Mindfully and with heart defining our day, instead of our day defining us.

Find your sacred today and listen. It’s amazing what you’ll hear in the silence.

Jun 15

2 Comments

Stand Out

“No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it.” – George Washington Carver

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2

Do not merely blend in, go along to get along, fit into the pack. Conformity dulls and mutes beautiful color. Define yourself and live it without hesitation, leaving more behind because you passed by. We are here to be salt and light, to stand out. Be bold and transform yourself and in turn the world.

Mar 17

12 Comments

Open Window

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” – Diane Ackerman

“In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us.” - Virginia Woolf

“In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us.” – Virginia Woolf

Like a window open for the first time as winter comes to a close, we can open up to fresh breezes of clarity and warm sunshine of hope. It’s never too late and we’re never too old to learn, discover, transform, to become new.

Our days are often about speed, velocity and distance. When we quietly and slowly go deeper and reach wider, our world expands to new dimensions and possibilities right where we are, no need to travel afar. As the fresh air comes in the window, the weight of the past and the burden of others defining us can drift out the window too. Our story is still being written and it need not be based on history.

Open the window wide, releasing the old to make room for the new.

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