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Posts tagged ‘optimism’

Aug 20

Summer’s Sunset

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”― Alan Wilson Watts

“Try to imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and never wake up… now try to imagine what it was like to wake up having never gone to sleep.”― Alan Watts

Last weeks of summer.
Soak them in with joy, not lament.
Each season has its gifts and purpose.
Participate and partake in each one with enthusiasm and delight.
Unlearn, plunge in, never going to sleep.
To awe, wonder and beauty woven into each day.
Don’t miss the show.

“A scholar tries to learn something everyday; a student of Buddhism tries to unlearn something daily.”― Alan Watts

Aug 18

To Small Joys

“Many people lose the small joys in the hope for the big happiness.”― Pearl S. Buck

“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.”― Socrates

To small joys
Woven in each day
Before and within us
Beauty
Color
Awe
Wonder
Laughter
Kindness
Presence
Attention
To small joys
The fabric of a good days that make up a full imperfect unfolding life.

“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.”― Martha Washington

Aug 6

Simple Joys, Available Delights

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Do not bypass this day
Succumb to delight, fun, ease
Simple joys
Available delights
Scattered everywhere
Awaiting our noticing, attention, awe
Heart’s eyes, wide open.

“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Jul 28

Summer Canvas

“Certainly work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.”― George Mac Donald, Wilfrid Cumbermede

“A man is as free as he chooses to make himself, never an atom freer.”― George MacDonald, Lilith

Sacred idleness
Stirring up gratitude
Anchoring in the present
Interior life
Shifting exterior perspective
Do your part, the work
Contribute, create, build, rest
Pick up the brush
Swirl color on the canvas
Open the window
Breath in fresh air, absorb light
Carve joy into each day
The chisel is in your hands.

“The great open secret of gratitude is that it is not dependent on external circumstance. It’s like a setting or channel that we can switch to at any moment, no matter what’s going on around us. It helps us connect to our basic right to be here, like the breath does.”― Joanna Macy

Jul 26

Consecration of Light

“What if I’m in charge of my own damn light switch?”― Jandy Nelson, I’ll Give You the Sun

“All this hastening
Will soon be done;
For only lingering
Can consecrate our being”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus

Lingering in light
Seen and unseen
Outside but mostly within
Flip your light switch
Cast light.

“Light
Light
The visible reminder of Invisible Light.”― T.S. Eliot

Jul 21

1 Comment

Throwing Starfish

“the Heavenly Pivot, a turning point in life in which knowledge is worn into knowing, watching into joining, seeking into being, and struggling with truth is worn into inhabiting the truth of struggle.” – Mark Nepo, The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life

“While wandering a deserted beach at dawn, stagnant in my work, I saw a man in the distance bending and throwing as he walked the endless stretch toward me. As he came near, I could see that he was throwing starfish, abandoned on the sand by the tide, back into the sea. When he was close enough I asked him why he was working so hard at this strange task. He said that the sun would dry the starfish and they would die. I said to him that I thought he was foolish. There were thousands of starfish on miles and miles of beach. One man alone could never make a difference. He smiled as he picked up the next starfish. Hurling it far into the sea he said, “It makes a difference for this one.” I abandoned my writing and spent the morning throwing starfish.”― Loren Eiseley

From knowledge to knowing
Watching to joining
Seeking to being
Make a difference today
Be kind, open doors, yield, be present, plant seeds of encouragement, love generously, hope fiercely, laugh heartily, cast light
And know that it’s enough, abundant and overflowing
Start and keep throwing starfish.

“The door is open. Go.”― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence

May 5

Shout of Joy!

“Inside everyone is a great shout of joy waiting to be born.”― David Whyte, River Flow: New & Selected Poems

Everything is Waiting for You by David Whyte

“Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the
conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.” – David Whyte

Poetry of presence, beginnings, spring bloom
Everything is waiting for you to notice
Coming alive
Bursting with color
Dance with wonder, awe and beauty
Woven through this very day

“Colors are the smiles of nature.” – Leigh Hunt

May 1

1 Comment

Doorway to New World, Spring Threshold

“Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.” – John Muir

“No writing on the solitary, meditative dimensions of life can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.” – Thomas Merton

April showers to May threshold to spring
Unfolding and unfurling
The world is greening, budding
Path to full bloom
Transition to transformation
On full display played
Do not miss the show
Get outside
Breath it in with all of your senses
Doorway to a new world, listening heaven
This day is your life
Participate, celebrate, cast light.

“Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.” – Rabindranath Tagore

Apr 10

Defying Gravity

“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

“A bird is safe in its nest – but that is not what its wings are made for.”― Amit Ray, World Peace: The Voice of a Mountain Bird

A shift in attitude
An ounce of gratitude
A cup of encouragement
Putting down my way
For what is
Seeking and finding delight, joy and beauty
On ground of now
In the imperfect, unchosen, unexpected
Abundance in mystery, unknowing, wandering
Some days may be long, but the years are short
Use your wings
Defy gravity
Take flight in the sky of this day.

“The days are long, but the years are short.” – Gretchen Rubin

Apr 2

Hope Beams

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” – Desmond Tutu

“You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.” – Michelle Obama

Beautiful, tangible, tough, gritty hope.
Fight the good fight.
Stay the course.
Stick the landing.
Keep going.
Light breaks through.
Spring never skips its turn.

“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” – Barbara Kingsolver

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