Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘Reflection’

Sep 17

Slowing to a New World

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” – John Lubbock

“As you slow down, you instantly enter into a brand new world.”― Hiral Nagda

Slow down to see the immensity of the sky.
The endless colors of nature.
The soft whisper of your own voice awaiting to be heard and heeded.
In the slowing, we witness and partake.
The immediate satisfaction of checking transactions off the list is fleeting and hollow.
That longing that remains is an invitation to slownness, pause, and reflection.
Gratitude and awe foster wonder and praise.
It’s a big world in and out.
Slow down and enter a brand new place right in front of you.

“Drink life one sip at a time. This moment is brand new. Let it pour its newness into you.”― Hiral Nagda

Sep 5

Soft and Gentle

“the voice of beauty speaks softly; it creeps only into the most fully awakened souls”― Nietzsche

“Тhe gentle overcomes the rigid.
The slow overcomes the fast.
The weak overcomes the strong.”
…
“Everyone knows that the yielding overcomes the stiff,
and the soft overcomes the hard.
Yet no one applies this knowledge.”― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Like the petal of a flower.
The dance of a butterfly.
The hovering of a bee.
The gaze of a deer.
Soft and gentle.
Easy and slow.
Inquire, observe, wait for the answers to flow.
A river, always in motion beneath the surface.
Moving and swirling.
A current smoothing the rocks.
Awakening the soul.
Be soft, kind, gentle.
To self and others.
All just learning to fly.

“Be gentle,
Be compassionate,
Play nice,
Just remember that All
of us are learning how to fly.”― Charmaine J. Forde

Jun 11

Slow Down, Repeat

“As you slow down, you instantly enter into a brand new world.”― Hiral Nagda

“Strange, what being forced to slow down could do to a person.”― Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song

In the hustle
In the hurry
The blur and flurry
Surface and skimming by
We miss the essence of life
Slow down
The nuance
The beauty
The depth and expanse
Slow down
Pause
Take a deep breath
More often than not
Each day, each hour, this moment
Slow down
Exhale, inhale, sit still
In the softness of a long glance
In the margins
Slow down
Gentle pace
Lovely place and space
Stay here awhile, be made new
The magnitude of quietude
Slow down…repeat.

“Sometimes I think there are only two instructions we need to follow to develop and deepen our spiritual life: slow down and let go.”― Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Dance: Moving To the Rhythms of Your True Self

May 17

Explore and Discover

“There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.” – Lord Byron

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.” – Carl Jung

So many answers reside beneath the surface.
In arms reach, but unseen until we are quiet enough to let them rise up.
To see the light of day.
If we dare.
Often choosing busy over clarity.
Denial over discernment.
Running over facing fear.
Of the unknown, of change, of transformation, of growth, of loss, of gain.
Slow down.
Reflect, inquire, listen.
Writing, reading, nature.
It’s in you.
To find, to face, to put down, to carry on.
Going through is the only real path that moves us out of cul-de-sacs and dead ends.
New mountains and journeys.
Break trail.

“The best doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet, and Doctor Merryman.”― Jonathan Swift

May 10

Refrains of Nature

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”― Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”― Albert Einstein

Heed the call of nature.
Get out in it.
To stop overthinking.
To listen.
To observe.
To inquire.
To breathe deeply.
Watch quietly.
When your world gets too small, get out into the world of nature.

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.” ― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Apr 3

When to Stop

“Blessed are we who are learning to hope. And how to let go. When to act. And when to stop.” — Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie, The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days

“Things have changed. And it would be silly to imagine you haven’t been altered along with them. You are not who you once were. Bless that old self. They did such a great job with what they knew. They made you who you were—all the mistakes and heartbreak and naivety and courage. And blessed are you who you are now. You who aren’t pretending things are the same. You who continue to grow and stretch and show up to your life as it really is—wholehearted, vulnerable, maybe a tiny bit afraid. Blessed are you the changed.”— Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie, The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days

This week is a week to not merely pause, but to stop.
No doing. No rushing. No fear.
Hope. Let go. Act. Stop.
Framework and foundation.
In the process, unfolding of change, of a new day.
May each of us be blessed, present, wholehearted today, this week.
To keep trying, coming up short, starting again and again.
A resolve, a promise kept.
Winter lingers longer, spring, resurrection coming soon.
Love, trust and faith to you in this moment and each step on the journey ahead.

“But bring me back to this moment, God. The gratitude that rises up within me lifts my eyes and settles my soul. Resurrection has happened again today—you made the sun rise, and brought love to the world already, in the shape of a cross. The hardest work is already done. The work that remains is simply more of it: more love, more trust, more faith in the unseen pleasure you take just gazing at us, sitting here.”— Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie, The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days

Mar 27

Planting Trees You’ll Never See

“Wonder is the heaviest element on the periodic table. Even a tiny fleck of it stops time.” – Diane Ackerman

“First day of spring
The whole world’s wakin’ up and turnin’ green
And everything connects to everything

It’s a beautiful design
It just takes love and faith and grace, a little time

We’re all sons and daughters, just ripples on the water
Trying to make it matter until our time to leave
One day, they’ll carve your name in stone
And send your soul on home

‘Til then it’s prayin’ for rain and pullin’ up the weeds
Plantin’ trees we’ll never see”
– Lyrics to Amy Grant’s newly released song Planting Trees We’ll Never See

A drive, music turned up high.
Windows open to let spring air in, stale air out.
New music and familiar too.
A fresh playlist to enter a new season.
Winding roads to take.
Twists and turns.
Trees lining the path.
Small and big.
Scatter seeds. Pull weeds.
Planting trees you’ll never see.
Leave a legacy of love wherever you go.

Jan 22

What to Leave Out

“In music, silence is more important than sound.” – Miles Davis

“Some day I’m gonna call me up on the phone, so when I answer, I can tell myself to shut up.”― Miles Davis

Our innate reaction to challenges is to figure out what to do.
Action is important to trigger change, shift behavior, make progress.
Often, the right action is not in doing and adding but in silence and subtracting.
Creating space to hear anew, see with fresh eyes.
To see what’s in right in front of us that we keep stepping over, going around, avoiding, bypassing.
In search of the “answer,” the “easy button,” that’s out there somewhere, in some day if and when this and that happens.
Many answers lie within, most require time and all require quiet to rise to the surface. Some never come at all, remaining a mystery, an unknowing.
Discerning what is in my control (me), what is not (others) and what just is.
We can then respond insightfully rather than react habitually.
Quiet your internal chatter, tune out external noise, inquire and observe, listen with an open heart and arms.
The sound of silence at work.

“I always listen to what I can leave out.”― Miles Davis

Jan 10

Continual Arriving

“Silence is a source of Great Strength.”― Lao Tzu

“To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”― Lao Tzu

When the water pools, find the passage to the river.
Flowing and free.
Static to dynamic.
Separate to connection, belonging.
Real time awareness.
Reflection for witnessing.
Intuition and experience.
Beginner and wanderer.
Mystery and meaning.
Hold patterns and landings.
Beginnings and endings. Repeat.
Before, after and the in between where we reside the most.
Create the space and grace for the mix of it all.
The cycle of continual arriving.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”― Lao Tzu

Jan 6

Seeing the Light

“I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking”― Albert Einstein

“Today the Magi gaze in deep wonder at what they see: heaven on earth, earth in heaven, man in God, God in man, one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body.

As they look, they believe and do not question, as their symbolic gifts bear witness: incense for God, gold for a king, myrrh for one who is to die.” — Peter Chrysologus

On this day commemorating the Epiphany, may you open to wonder, discovery, and awe.
This world so easily hardens us but we are called to be softened, to love without measure, to be kind first.
May peace, joy and hope be stoked and awakened within so you can recognize your own epiphanies.
Followed by sharing your light with the world.

“Truth, by which the world is held together, has sprung from the earth, in order to be carried in a woman’s arms.” — St Augustine

« Older Entries
%d bloggers like this: