Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘optimism’

Jun 30

Plain Common Work

“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.”― Robert Louis Stevenson

“The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain common work as it comes certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.”― Robert Louis Stevenson

May you look forward to each day with enthusiasm and zest.
Clean slate, fresh start.
Renewed by the sunrise, fresh air, flowers on fire.
Captured by ordinary moments.
Beauty in nature.
Flow in common work.
Daily joy not hinged on circumstances.
Equanimity and ease.
Gratitude, grace, gladness.

“Don’t pass it by–the immediate, the real, the only, the yours.”― Henry James

Jun 28

Greet with Joy

“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”― Henry David Thoreau

“If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal- that is your success. All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. We soon forget them. They are the highest reality. Perhaps the facts most astounding and most real are never communicated by man to man. The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little star-dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.”― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Greet this day with joy.
Go first, don’t wait to see what this day brings.
A change in perspective.
A current of enthusiasm.
A smile and nod.
An opening and embrace.
What comes will come but it will be different if we are different.
Common hours transformed into extraordinary experiences.
What do you see?

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

Jun 22

Summer Fun

“Listen, whatever you see and love-that’s where you are.”― Mary Oliver, Dog Songs: Poems

“The little cares that fretted me,
I lost them yesterday
Among the fields above the sea,
Among the winds at play.”
― Unknown

The gifts of summer.
Long days.
Soft breeze as the sun sets, warmth lingering.
Sun blooming flowers and food.
Farmers markets soon to be brimming with variety, flavor and harvest.
Swimming, fishing, floating.
Slowness and frolic.
Fourth of July.
Long weekends.
Play, relaxation, respite.
Open the gifts of summer each day.
Sacred, holy space of color, calm and ease.

“To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance and Other Essays

Jun 6

Children of Your Soul

“Cherish your vision and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.”― Napoleon Hill

“Life reflects your own thoughts back to you.” – Napoleon Hill

What we see is filtered through our experiences, disposition, limiting beliefs.
Influenced by others, what we consume and let in.
Attitude to  thoughts to words to actions.
All in your control.
Shift focus, attention and effort.
One filled with hope, awe, and wonder.
Rooted in beauty, goodness and light.
Optimism more than pessimism.
Expanse more than narrowness.
Today rather than someday when.
Mindfulness over autopilot.
Change your thoughts, change your life.
Choose well.

“Do not wait: the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.”― Napoleon Hill

Jun 5

Drink in Beauty

“Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity.” – Oscar Wilde

“Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.”― Edith Wharton, Artemis to Actaeon and Other Verses

Enter this day.
Fresh and new.
Blank canvas.
Empty cup.
Ready to be filled with shape, color and hue.
In the details, in the ordinary, in the moment.
Rid yourself of old and sameness.
Empty your cup to be filled again and again.
Hope, enthusiasm, joy, delight.
Ours for the taking, receiving, and sharing.
Enter this day new and come out changed.
Drink in the beauty.
Spill out awe.

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” – Ray Bradbury

Jun 4

Gladness

“Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”― Samuel Johnson, The Idler; Poems

“For so, surely you will cast a light of gladness upon his onward journey, and contribute your part towards the building of that kingdom of love which links our earth to heaven.” – Edward Carpenter

May gladness overflow from your heart.
To your words.
To your actions.
In each moment, or even just a few.
Moving through this day.
Grace. Gratitude. Gladness.
Linking earth to heaven.

“May your heart be filled with gladness.”― Lailah Gifty Akita

May 25

Small Bits

“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

“The new life into which we are baptized is lived out in days, hours, and minutes. God is forming us into a new people. And the place of that formation is in the small moments of today.”― Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

Feeling flat?
In a rut?
Is there more?
Someday when.
Remember when.
When, when, when.
Turn off auto-pilot.
Wake up and dive in.
Beneath the surface, more than skimming.
Participate and play.
Ordinary days.
We are steeped in beauty.
Overflowing in possibilities.
Pay attention, notice, enter the grace of small bits, sacred ground.

“…small bits of our day are profoundly meaningful because they are the site of our worship. The crucible of our formation is in the monotony of our daily routines.”― Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

May 24

The Connections We Make

“The connections we make in the course of a life–maybe that’s what heaven is.”― Fred Rogers

“There are three ways to ultimate success:
The first way is to be kind.
The second way is to be kind.
The third way is to be kind.”― Fred Rogers

May kindness be the path you walk today.
With enthusiasm, with anticipation, with appreciation.
Saying “hi” to a neighbor.
Stopping to share a moment or two of connection.
The holy, sacred ground of love.
Give and receive, like breathing.
In and out.
Ebb and flow.
Yin and yang.
And all of it inbetween.

“I believe that appreciation is a holy thing–that when we look for what’s best in a person we happen to be with at the moment, we’re doing what God does all the time. So in loving and appreciating our neighbor, we’re participating in something sacred.”― Fred Rogers

May 7

Spring Springing

“The soul is the greening life force of the flesh, for the body grows and prospers through her, just as the earth becomes fruitful when it is moistened. The soul humidifies the body so it does not dry out, just like the rain which soaks into the earth.”― Hildegard of Bingen

“O most honored Greening Force, You who roots in the Sun;
You who lights up, in shining serenity, within a wheel
that earthly excellence fails to comprehend.
You are enfolded
in the weaving of divine mysteries.
You redden like the dawn
and you burn: flame of the Sun.”
― Hildegard von Bingen, Holistic Healing

Rain yesterday.
Overnight, the leaves broke open in unison on my front tree.
Sun this morning.
Blue skies.
Fresh air.
Dew on the grass.
Spring unfolding, noticeably.
Gestation, bloom, formation.
The breath and brush of God.
The earth, the canvas.
Spring springing.

“Underneath all the texts, all the sacred psalms and canticles, these watery varieties of sounds and silences, terrifying, mysterious, whirling and sometimes gestating and gentle must somehow be felt in the pulse, ebb, and flow of the music that sings in me. My new song must float like a feather on the breath of God.”― Hildegard of Bingen

May 4

Know Joy

“The key to knowing joy is being easily pleased.”― Mark Nepo

“The further I wake into this life, the more I realize that God is everywhere and the extraordinary is waiting quietly beneath the skin of all that is ordinary. Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond, and music is in both the flowing violin and the water dripping from the drainage pipe. Yes, God is under the porch as well as on top of the mountain, and joy is in both the front row and the bleachers, if we are willing to be where we are.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have

As you walk and wake into this day, feel your feet touch the earth.
Pause and be still.
Look around.
A new angle and perspective.
See in new ways.
Listen and observe.
Praise and sing.
Present on all levels – physical, cognitive and spiritual.
Be where you are fully, easily pleased to know joy.
In each step along the way.

“We work so hard to get somewhere, to realize a dream, to arrive at some destination, that we often forget that though some satisfaction may be waiting at the end of our endurance and effort, there is great and irreplaceable aliveness in the steps along the way.”― Mark Nepo

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »