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Posts tagged ‘Nature’

Jan 15

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Let the Sun In

“Everything is created twice. First in the mind and then in reality.”— Robin Sharma

“We are sitting under the tree of our thinking minds, wondering why we’re not getting any sunshine.” – Ram Dass

Some things do not need to be done.
Less production.
More being present in the day.
Be kind to yourself.
Deep breath.
Go with the flow for bit.
Let the sun in.

“Happiness is a state of inner fulfillment, not the gratification of inexhaustible desires for outward things.”― Matthieu Ricard, Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill

Jan 7

Slow the Pace, Ascend

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”― William Blake

“I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst it’s perils.”― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

Fresh year
Blank canvas
Broad horizon
Take in the view
Set the course
Slow the pace
Do the work
Small steps not big leaps
It need not all be done in January
Slow the pace
Direct energy, attention, effort
Detours, delays, resistance, friction guaranteed
Muscle, strength building for the long game
Consistency, discipline, mindset
Adds up, sticks, delivers
Slow the pace
Principles, perspectives, approaches
Rather than schemes, shortcuts, bursts
Real, meaningful change
Into the beautiful expanse
Keep climbing, slow the pace, enjoy the view.

“We become what we behold.”― William Blake, Jerusalem

Jan 6

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That We Might See

“Art is life seeking itself. It is our intractable expressions of love for the beauties, ideas, and epiphanies we regularly find.” — Vincent Van Gogh

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies.” — John Milton

Laughter
Nature
Movement
Children
Dogs
Art
Music
Reading
Writing
Reflection
Pause
Stillness

Intersections
Pivot points
Bridges
Thresholds
Thin spaces
Where heaven meets earth

To wonder, awe, reverence, attention, joy, gratitude
The sacred ordinary brimming with daily epiphanies
To a soft heart, curious mind, clear eyes
Oh, that we might see.

“There’s nothing better when something comes and hits you, and you think ‘YES’!” — J. K. Rowling

Jan 3

Walk the Path

“That’s because love is never stationary. In the end, love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put: love does.”― Bob Goff, Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World

Life Is by Mother Theresa

“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.”

All the above.
And more.
Twists, turns.
Detours, delays.
Light, shadow.
Nuance, depth.
Beauty, joy.
Walk the path.
Wherever it leads.
Stay engaged and awake.
Fight the good fight.
Of attention, awe, gratitude, grief, healing, delight, presence, mystery, wonder.
Be kind.
Love well.
Keep walking.

“We shake with joy, we shake with grief.
What a time they have, these two
housed as they are in the same body.”
― Mary Oliver, Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

Dec 28

Firing Up the Landscape

“Prayer is a small fire lit to keep cold hands warm. Prayer is a practice that flourishes both with faith and doubt. Prayer is asking, and prayer is sitting. Prayer is the breath. Prayer is not an answer, always, because not all questions can be answered.”― Pádraig Ó Tuama, Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community

Red Bird by Mary Oliver

“Red bird came all winter
Firing up the landscape
As nothing else could.
Of course I love the sparrows,
Those dun-colored darlings,
So hungry and so many.
I am a God-fearing feeder of birds,
I know he has many children,
Not all of them bold in spirit.
Still, for whatever reason-
Perhaps because the winter is so long
And the sky so black-blue,
Or perhaps because the heart narrows
As often as it opens-
I am grateful
That red bird comes all winter
Firing up the landscape
As nothing else can do.”

On the way but not arrived
Space between ending and beginning
Hallway between rooms
In this quiet space between the end of the year and the beginning of the new
Holiday hurrying to winter slowing
Reflect and frame
Slow and discard
Plan and allow
Gratitude and grace
Color brighter on the backdrop of the season
Red birds pause
Firing up the landscape
Look around.

“The only place to begin is where I am, and whether by desire or disaster, I am here. My being here is not dependent on my recognition of the fact. I am here anyway. But it might help if I could learn to look around.”― Pádraig Ó Tuama, In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World

Dec 26

Joy Before You

“We are never far from wonders.” – John Green

“May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.”— Mary Anne Radmacher

Weave slow into this day.
Wander too.
For reflection, laughter, joy.
In being, not mere doing.
To be present, we deepen time, bloom gratitude.
Remember how to live.

“Practicing presence is remembering how to live.”― Heidi Barr, 12 Tiny Things: Simple Ways to Live a More Intentional Life

Dec 23

Earth and Sky Collide

“each morning,
the sun reminds us:
with the darkest
moment comes
a restoration
of the light.”
― Heidi Barr, Cold Spring Hallelujah

“When earth and sky collide, it’s a dance older than time.”― Heidi Barr, Collisions of Earth and Sky

A right turn off a familiar path
Leading into unknown territory
Beauty, light, stillness
Amidst the ordinary
Astonishment and delight
Restoration and reset
Wander, wonder, awe
The gifts of nature
Stray off path, get lost to be found
Nature calls
Run, join the dance

“What i want in life
is an aptitude for astonishment
room for unanticipated delight.”― Heidi Barr, Cold Spring Hallelujah

Dec 22

2 Comments

Room at the Inn

“An artist’s concern is to capture beauty wherever he finds it.”― Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World

“At Christmas, time deepens. The Celtic imagination knew that time is eternity in disguise. They embraced the day as a sacred space. Christmas reminds us to glory in the simplicity and wonder of one day; it unveils the extraordinary that our hurried lives conceal and neglect. We have been given such immense possibilities. We desperately need to make clearances in our entangled lives to let our souls breathe. We must take care of ourselves and especially of our suffering brothers and sisters.” – John O’Donohue

To make clearances.
Sacred space, brilliant sky, wide-open fields.
Time still, steeping, deepening.
To witness and partake.
Awe, wonder, beauty woven in this very day.
Make room at the inn of your heart.
Invite, open, welcome.
Let it find you.

“Our task is not to somehow inject God into our work but to join God in the work he is already doing in and through our vocational lives.”― Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

Dec 21

Inflection Point

“I need rituals that encourage me to embrace what is repetitive, ancient, and quiet. But what I crave is novelty and stimulation.”― Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

“The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.” – Gary Zukav

Longest day of darkness.
Tipping point.
The start of light returning slowly.
Wintering to prepare for spring.
Do not bypass, resist, reject the gift of winter.
To pause, to slow, to rest.
Depth of time.
Gravity of presence.
Seasons, cycles, circles.
Cocoon to butterfly.
Seed to bloom.
Sun rise, sun set.
Inflection point.
The word solstice comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).
Stand still, new life unfolding.

“Both the Winter and the Summer Solstices are expressions of love. They show us the opposition of light and dark, expansion and contraction, that characterize our experiences in the Earth school so that we can recognize our options as we move through our lives.” – Gary Zukav

Dec 19

Find and Become

“poetry is motion graceful
as a fawn
gentle as a teardrop
strong like the eye
finding peace in a crowded room”
― Nikki Giovanni

“By all means use sometimes to be alone.
Salute thyself: see what thy soul doth wear.
Dare to look in thy chest; for ’tis thine own:
And tumble up and down what thou find’st there.
Who cannot rest till he good fellows find,
He breaks up house, turns out of doors his mind.”
― George Herbert, The Temple: The Poetry of George Herbert

Hush over rush.
Pause over speed.
Quiet over noise.
Attention held.
Patterns weaving.
Connections creating.
From chaos to order and beauty.
Renewal and nourishment.
In reflection, gratitude.
In today, treasure.
To find, and become peace.

“In the creation story, God entered chaos and made order and beauty. In making my bed I reflected that creative act in the tiniest, most ordinary way. In my small chaos, I made small order.”― Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

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