Aug 16
“Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost.”― Erol Ozan
“Walking . . . is how the body measures itself against the earth.”― Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking
Walking and wandering
The path, the destination
Beauty the gift
Lost to be found.
“The magic of the street is the mingling of the errand and the epiphany.”― Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking
“To the dark nights, the relief of the moon. The soft earth that forms to cradle the shape of my foot. To the crickets and the birds who sing our world into harmony. To the flowers that wish to sit on my windowsill, the trees that grow to reach the most sunlight. To the grass that sways and soothes. To the webs the spider tirelessly builds overnight only to be torn down in the daylight. To the life that pulses in exaltation below my feet every day that I am alive. To the portal it offers into a remembrance of our wholeness. To our source of unconditional love.”
― Sarah Blondin, Heart Minded: How to Hold Yourself and Others in Love
“In a world that lives like a fist
mercy is not more than waking
with your hands open.”― Mark Nepo
Open hands
Soft heart
Clear eyes
Attentive ears
Sacred, reverence, awe
Dance and delight
Harmony of presence
Altar of this day.
“Mysteriously, as elusive as it is, this moment–where the eye is what it sees, where the heart is what it feels–this moment shows us that what is real is sacred”― Mark Nepo
“The magic of story. The wonder of words. The fertility of imagination.”― Allen Levi, Theo of Golden
“Sabbath is the time set aside to do nothing so that we can receive everything, to set aside our anxious attempts to make ourselves useful, to set aside our tense restlessness, to set aside our media-satiated boredom. Sabbath is the time to receive silence and let it deepen into gratitude, to receive quiet into which forgotten faces and voices unobtrusively make themselves present, to receive the days of the just completed week and absorb the wonder and miracle still reverberating from each one, to receive our Lord’s amazing grace.”― Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers
Anticipation, hope, enthusiasm
Thoughts, words, actions
Forgiveness, releasing, open heart
Reflection, rest, restoration
Letting the past be done
Allowing the future to unfold
Fertile ground of this day
Planting seeds of attention, gratitude, encouragement, presense, praise.
Amazing amazing grace.
Joy chosen and given in real time.
“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.”― Kahlil Gibran
“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.”― Walt Whitman
“Do anything, but let it produce joy.”― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
Reclaim reverence, awe, wonder.
Keep it close.
Restore delight, frolic, play.
Weave it in the ordinary.
Release all that is not yours to carry.
Walk lightly with the rest.
Awake, aware, tending.
Sacred, holy ground of this day.
“Give me the splendid, silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling.”― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
“Sabbath is the time set aside to do nothing so that we can receive everything, to set aside our anxious attempts to make ourselves useful, to set aside our tense restlessness, to set aside our media-satiated boredom. Sabbath is the time to receive silence and let it deepen into gratitude, to receive quiet into which forgotten faces and voices unobtrusively make themselves present, to receive the days of the just completed week and absorb the wonder and miracle still reverberating from each one, to receive our Lord’s amazing grace.”― Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers
“I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply molding one’s inner life. And that too is a deed.”― Etty Hillesum
Unplug
Shut down
Reboot
Sit in and with silence
Breathe in beauty
Soak up calm
Steep for flavor
Salt and light.
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”― Anne Lamott
“To live is to be slowly born.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.”― Etty Hillesum
Slowly born.
Each new day.
Intentions. Action. Inaction.
Observation and participation.
Deep breath.
Resting in pause.
Tending peace.
“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.”― Etty Hillesum
“Happiness compresses time, makes it dense and bright, pocketsized.”― Ann Patchett
“Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.”― Ann Patchett, State of Wonder
Love well today.
People, place, self.
Thoughts, words, actions.
Beauty, awe, wonder.
Scattered in abundance.
Fresh eyes, open heart, light spirit.
Moments spill into days into years.
Compress time.
Be present.
Love well today.
“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.”― Henry Drummond
“Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.” – Marcus Aurelius
“Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms, is like a sonnet: You’re given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. – Mrs. Whatsit”― Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
Made new each morning.
Minute, hour for the taking.
With a shift in thought.
A tilt of the head.
Listening, abiding, reverence.
Write your sonnet.
Of today.
“Part of doing something is listening. We are listening. To the sun. To the stars. To the wind.”― Madeleine L’Engle, Swiftly Tilting Planet
“Let us live like flowers—wild and beautiful and drenched in sun.” — Ellen Everett
“Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.”― Mary Oliver
Drenched in sun.
Bursting with colors.
Overflowing with amazement.
One with the world.
Bound by beauty.
Woven in simple.
Hidden in ordinary.
Attentiveness the path.
Grounded in gratitude.
Transformation, one bud at a time.
Cast light.
“The spirit of a time is an incredibly subtle, yet hugely powerful force. And it is comprised of the mentality and spirit of all individuals together. Therefore, the way you look at things is not simply a private matter. Your outlook actually and concretely affects what goes on. When you give in to helplessness, you collude with despair and add to it. When you take back your power and choose to see the possibilities for healing and transformation, your creativity awakens and flows to become an active force of renewal and encouragement in the world. In this way, even in your own hidden life, you can become a powerful agent of transformation in a broken, darkened world. There is a huge force field that opens when intention focuses and directs itself toward transformation.” John O’Donohue, Benedictus, To Bless the Space Between Us
“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
