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Posts tagged ‘optimism’

Feb 12

Context and Framing

“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”― Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way

“We forget: In life, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or where you came from. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given.”― Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way

Right up the middle.
Of challenge, uncertainty, unknowing.
The detours, the delays, the obstacles.
Head on.
Facing fear with action.|
One step, then the next.
Repetition. Resolve. Momentum.
Learning, relearning, unlearning.
Keep going.
Keep growing.
Keep climbing mountains.
And choose to enjoy the journey daily.

“Perspective has two definitions. Context: a sense of the larger picture of the world, not just what is immediately in front of us Framing: an individual’s unique way of looking at the world, a way that interprets its events.”― Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way

Feb 5

1 Comment

The Right Instructions

“When I rise up
let me rise up joyful
like a bird.
When I fall
let me fall without regret
like a leaf.”
― Wendell Berry, The Mad Farmer Poems

“You mustn’t wish for another life. You mustn’t want to be somebody else. What you must do is this:
“Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks.”
I am not all the way capable of so much, but those are the right instructions.”― Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter

Praise.
Thanksgiving.
Communion.
Gratitude.
Laughter.
Kindness.
Connection.
Generosity.
Enthusiasm.
Delight.
Wonder.
Awe.
Our daily calling to joy.
Though we come up short, we should never ever stop trying.
Joy found not perfect conditions or circumstances but imperfect execution and effort in this place.
Transforming ordinary to extraordinary.

“Be joyful because it is humanly possible.”― Wendell Berry

Feb 3

1 Comment

Defiant Hope

“Again I resume the long
lesson: how small a thing
can be pleasing, how little
in this hard world it takes
to satisfy the mind
and bring it to its rest.”
― Wendell Berry, Sabbaths

“…And we pray, not for new
earth or heaven, but to be quiet
in heart, and in eye clear.
What we need is here.”― Wendell Berry

Five to one, positive to overcome negative.
Watch and guard what you take in.
What you put out.
Thoughts that lead to words to action or inaction.
Vitriol or encouragement?
Enthusiasm or apathy?
Generosity or ego?
Care, optimism, love, gratitude, kindness, peace, joy.
Offer these in abundance, without reserve, overflowing.
Small thoughts, words, acts.
The stuff of transformation and fruition.
A smile, eye to eye contact, reaching out, opening up, letting go.
Hope is strength, not weakness.
It understands reality, the odds, difficulty.
And chooses to respond rather than react.
To give rather than take.
To engage rather than sit idle.
Defiant hope, a powerful act, practice and commitment.
Be defiant daily.

“Hope is not naive, and hope is not an opiate. Hope may be the single greatest act of defiance against a politics of pessimism and against a culture of despair.”― Sharon Brous

Jan 23

1 Comment

Big Sky, Fish Biting

“You can never have too much sky . You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad. Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky. Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things that are beautiful. Still, we take what we can get and make the best of it.”― Sandra Cisneros

“Many of us would probably be better fishermen if we did not spend so much time watching and waiting for the world to become perfect.”― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

Move imperfectly.
Try, take action, a few steps.
Then a few more.
See where they lead.
No precise map but a sense of direction, consistency, momentum.
Wander and wonder.
Off autopilot.
Break stasis.
Invite awe.
Cast your line.
Catch some fish.
Big sky.
The fish are biting.

“Close the gap between yourself and your spirit–the person you know you can be. Let your choices reflect the person you want to become, not just the person you think you are.”― Maggie Smith, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change

Jan 19

A Single Sunbeam

“Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that have received–only what you have given.”― Francis of Assisi

“The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today.”― St. Francis Of Assisi

Preach through simple acts
A smile
Conversation
Questions
Listening
Kindness
Pep in your step
Generosity
Reflection
Gratitude
Connection
Laughter
Fun
Encouragement
Scatter peace, light and joy with a happy heart
The power of a single sunbeam.

“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.”― St. Francis of Assisi

Jan 17

Default Setting

“Grace is a power that comes in and transforms a moment into something better.”― Caroline Myss

“It is as if joy were the default setting of human emotion, not the furtive, fugitive glimpses it becomes in lives compromised by necessity, familiarity, “maturity,” suffering.”― Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer

When you push too many buttons on the car settings or your computer gets jammed up with malware, cookies, temporary files, wiping it clean is often the only option to fix it. Reimaging or resetting to factory settings. Going back to the default, before clutter, noise, junk slowed it down.

Wipe the slate clean each day. Shake off the dust of yesterday and carry forward what matters. Return to default settings of joy, optimism, awe and wonder. That’s where we started then wandered off course. Open and invite ease, expansion, growth, acceptance, exploration, discovery and continuous unfolding rather than perfection, completion, autopilot.

Clear your cache, hit the reset button, start fresh. Each day, imperfectly, with intention followed by action, stitching the fabric of life and self together with grace, enthusiasm, delight and love.

“We all come into the world unfinished, still stitching ourselves together.”― Maggie Smith, You Could Make This Place Beautiful

Jan 16

Keep Moving

“Stop calling your heart broken; your heart works just fine. If you are feeling–love, anger, gratitude, grief–it is because your heart is doing its work. Let it.”― Maggie Smith, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change

“Commit yourself to the present. Loosen your grip on the life you had before—before a loss, an upheaval, a change that called everything into question—so that you can be here, where you’re needed, right now. KEEP MOVING. Do something today that will bring you joy even if you know you will not do it well.”― Maggie Smith, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change

We don’t make our life out of perfect circumstances, conditions, relationships.
Stop waiting to move for the timing of “someday when.”
That place is fictional and delays us from doing the daily work, reflection and rest.
Start wherever you are today.
The uneven ground you stand on now.
Move out from there – consistency, stumble, practice, mistakes, repetition, breakthrough, growth, repeat. Better than the day before.
Don’t allow a bad moment or hour to take a foothold.
Footholds become strongholds.
Let it be and let it pass. Like a river flowing.
Few days are end-to-end harmonious.
A shift in perspective can increase the volume.
Gratitude, hope, optimism, enthusiasm are powerful daily practices not platitudes.
Tough, resilient, grit to keep moving imperfectly.
They pull us through everyday frustration, struggle, grief, difficult, loss, dry seasons.
Not to deny them but to acknowledge and not become them.
Our emotions are telling us something more than the obvious.
Anger is fear.
Grief is love.
Keep making your life each ordinary day, weaving joy into the mundane, laughter into the chaos, gratitude amidst loss and change.
Perpetual becoming, transformation is hard work.
Get to it.

“Don’t wait for your life to magically come together–it’s your work to do. Every day, every moment, you are making your life from scratch. Today, take one step, however small, toward creating a life you can be proud of.”― Maggie Smith, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change

Jan 15

2 Comments

Why Shouldn’t We?

“Why shouldn’t we, so generally addicted to the gigantic, at last have some small works of art, some short poems, short pieces of music […], some intimate, low-voiced, and delicate things in our mostly huge and roaring, glaring world?”― Elizabeth Bishop

“Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it?” – Caroline Myss

The day calls.
To not only get thing done.
But to discovery of what lies before us.
Pausing to notice.
Loving without expectation.
Wonder in awareness of beauty.
A song. A poem. A flower.
Fullness in the ordinary, simple and imperfect now.
Awe in possibilities overflowing.
Expand your thinking, open your heart and hope with great abandon.
Bask in details.
Delight in immensity.
Start where you are this moment and move out from there.
See what happens when we look with fresh eyes, awakened senses.
Why shouldn’t we?

“Just let go. Let go of how you thought your life should be, and embrace the life that is trying to work its way into your consciousness.”― Caroline Myss

Jan 10

Enthusiasm Habit

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” – William Arthur Ward

“SUCCESS TONIC

  • 1 tsp confidence
  • 1 tsp courage
  • 2 tsp patience
  • 4 tsp prayer
  • 4 tsp perseverance
  • 4 tsp joy
  • 6 tsp enthusiasm

Take one teaspoonful of this tonic three times daily.”― Sivananda Saraswati

Enthusiasm, encouragement, hope, joy, optimism are multipliers, catalysts, expanders.
Expend and extend, daily.
A practice, a habit, a commitment.
An energy that creates and outlasts rather than contracts and fizzles.
Filling the well of others and self too.
Found in loving without conditions.
Love in action.
Start with a smile.

“Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.”― Gordon Parks

Jan 3

3 Comments

Lionheartedness

“And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far into the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

“Don’t crave immediate results. Take the difficult route which puts your patience under fire and upgrades your lionheartedness.”― Hiral Nagda

With the year fresh and intentions at peak, remember what’s good already.
What doesn’t need to changed or fixed.
Our math is bad – counting only what is missing and not what is overflowing.
Growth and change keep us engaged in life.
We are a work in progress, a painting never complete.
Starts, middles, ends. Start again.
Giving and receiving.
There are hard paths but not everything needs to be hard.
Remember to rest, reflect, rejuvenate regularly.
Be kind to yourself and to others. Be kind!
Relax and find wonder in each day.
Slow down and pause to let joy in.
Long paths, ordinary days, doing the work and the play all make up the journey and the destination.
You have arrived and are not done.
Keep going and growing.
Move out into each day with grace, lightness, hope and lots of humor.
Lionheartedness in bloom.

“Everyone is flailing through this life without an owner’s manual, with whatever modicum of grace and good humor we can manage.” – Anne Lamott

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