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Posts tagged ‘optimism’

Nov 16

Brilliant Beams

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

“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.” – Alexander Hamilton

Enter nature.
Let it enter you as well.
To spark awe.
Invite wonder.
Bask in delight.
Beams of light.
Breaking, weaving through.
Cracks and crevices.
The power of a single sunbeam.
The strength of stubborn shining.
Burning off the fog.
Cast light.

“Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.” – Lord Byron

Nov 5

Shovel Ready

“When we ask God to move a mountain, God may give us a shovel.”― Shane Claiborne

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”― Frank Herbert, Dune

Love over fear.
Hope over despair.
Kindness, joy, light.
Build, create, contribute, invite, welcome, connect, understand, inquire, transform.
To choose daily, consistently, no matter the “facts.”
Keep digging, climbing, going.

“I made a decision a long time ago that I was going to choose joy. I even painted a big rectangle on my wall and printed it in big letters so I wouldn’t forget to make that choice every day. The major word in that rectangle isn’t joy, it’s CHOOSE. It’s looking around me when life is difficult and trading every complaint I have for something beautiful in my life that far outweighs it. I know, it’s that Pollyanna personified thing again, but living joyful beats being cynical any day of the week.”― Jessica N. Turner, The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You

Nov 4

Too High a Spirit

“Joy is the noblest human act. — St. Thomas Aquinas

“Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day
in the year.
He is rich who owns the day,
and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded
with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day
and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities,
no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can,
tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely,
with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your
old nonsense.
This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

To look fear in the face
Stare it down
Never succumb to despair
Fight the good fight daily
To carry on vigorously and confidently
Rooted in love, kindness, generosity
Hopes and invitations aplenty
Extend and accept
Choose well
Cast light

“Love won’t be tampered with, love won’t go away. Push it to one side and it creeps to the other.”― Louise Erdrich

Oct 29

Shrink or Expand

“He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch.” ― Jean-Luc Godard

“From caring comes courage.” — Lao Tzu

Courage to not…

Chase empty
Go faster
Bypass the present
Get stuck in the past
Cement the future with limits, mere repetition of the same
Justify the means for the end
Search for the shortcut
Pursue easy
Numb to incivility and vitriol
Succumb to cynicism
Merely sit on the sidelines and criticize

Courage to…

Be kind and generous
Listen with rapt attention, seek understanding
Seek with curiosity and interest
Be open to change, transformation
Ask good questions
Challenge assumptions, opinions and othering
Yield to hope
Try new things, daily
Go off trail of the beaten path
Invite discernment and clarity
Make mistakes and keep going
Do the hard work
Grow, deepen and expand
Have faith, accept grace
To keep climbing mountains, leaping into the unknown
To love, without condition, the only way to really love
One step, one day at a time.

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” ― Anais Nin

Oct 27

1 Comment

Everblooming and Bursting

“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.” – Søren Kierkegaard

“Don’t just resist cynicism — fight it actively. Fight it in yourself, for this ungainly beast lies dormant in each of us, and counter it in those you love and engage with, by modeling its opposite. Cynicism often masquerades as nobler faculties and dispositions, but is categorically inferior.”- Maria Popova

Do not succumb.
To the loud empty voices of fear, cynicism, division, discontent.
Build up rather than tear down.
Create rather than criticize.
Fight the good fight.
The sturdy boots of optimism, kindness, hope and most of all love.
To walk in this world with light and joy, ready to do the daily work.
A decision to be made each day of scarcity or abundance, stagnation or growth, fear or love.
The world awaits your full participation.
Overflowing with beauty, abundance and possibilities.
Choose well.

“The world will tell you how to live, if you let it. Don’t let it. Take up your space. Raise your voice. Sing your song. This is your chance to make or remake a life that thrills you.”― Shauna Niequist, Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living

Oct 15

Joy in the JOurneY

“To walk quietly until the miracle in everything speaks is poetry, whether we write it down or not.”― Mark Nepo

“Let’s be in awe
which doesn’t mean
anything but the courage
to gape like fish at the surface
breaking around our mouths
as we meet the air.”― Mark Nepo

To surface.
To wake up.
To fly the plane without autopilot.
To be present in this very very moment.
Our daily call.
To not miss the journey for the idea of the destination.
Irreplaceable aliveness, rapt attention, deep gratitude.
May all of these be yours on this leg of your journey today.
Peace in chaos.
Calm in storms.
JOY in and on the JOurneY.

“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

Oct 8

1 Comment

Komorebi

Komorebi – Japanese for “sunlight leaking through trees”

“The luminous and shocking beauty of the everyday is something I try to remain alert to, if only as an antidote to the chronic cynicism and disenchantment that seems to surround everything, these days. It tells me that, despite how debased or corrupt we are told humanity is and how degraded the world has become, it just keeps on being beautiful. It can’t help it.”― Nick Cave, Faith, Hope and Carnage

Sunlight leaking through.
Luminous, brilliant.
To have eyes to see anew.
Curiosity to question.
Moxie to demand more.
To go deeper.
Hard-earned hope.
Warrior.
Resilience and grit.
Hope is a muscle.
Flex it daily.

“Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth.
Hopefulness is not a neutral position.
It’s adversarial.
It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.” – Nick Cave

Sep 29

Graced with Wonder

“When our eyes are graced with wonder, the world reveals its wonders to us. There are people who see only dullness in the world and that is because their eyes have already been dulled. So much depends on how we look at things. The quality of our looking determines what we come to see. Too often we squander the invitations extended to us because our looking has become repetitive and blind. The mystery and beauty is all around us but we never manage to see it. When the imagination awakens, the inner world illuminates. We begin to glimpse things that no-one speaks about, that the outer world seems to ignore.” – John O’Donohue

May your inner world illuminate each day.
Awakened and in awe.
Wonder and reverence.
Squandering nothing.
Casting bright light.

Sep 27

Four Good Agreements

“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

“1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.”― Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

Change your thoughts, change your life.
Optimism, hope, laughter, kindness, generosity, compassion, love.
These are what last after you pass through and by.
Intention, attention, action.
Plant seeds, scatter love, harvest joy.

“Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.”― Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

Sep 24

1 Comment

Always a New Beginning, Always

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“And what, exactly, is that metaphorical thorn for you?”
“It’s madness
to hate all roses
because you got scratched with one thorn,
to give up all dreams
because one of them didn’t come true,
to give up all attempts
because one of them failed.
It’s folly to condemn all your friends
because one has betrayed you,
to no longer believe in love
just because someone was unfaithful
or didn’t love you back,
to throw away all your chances to be happy
because something went wrong.
There will always be another opportunity,
another friend,
another love,
a new strength.
For every end,
there is always a new beginning
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.”

A warm fall has triggered the lilacs to bloom again.
Spring in Fall, Fall in Spring
Seasons woven together.
Beauty and fragrance.
Hope and joy.
Rooted within.
These are what last.
New beginnings.
Growth.
Ever becoming and unfolding, not done or over.
Never, ever, ever, ever, give up on second, third, fourth bloom.
Born again and again.
Time and timing.
The course of a lifetime.

“All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.”― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

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