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Posts tagged ‘Samoyed’

Yeah, It was Fun!

“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” – Dr. Seuss

“As you proceed through life, following your own path, birds will shit on you. Don’t bother to brush it off.
Getting a comedic view of your situation gives you spiritual distance.
Having a sense of humor saves you.”― Joseph Campbell

Off leash.
Open field.
Two deer in the distance.
Chase ensues.
Deer escape.
Pursuit the point.
Fun had, a face full.
In all of the doing.
The checklists and chores.
Obligations and adulting.
Stop.
Go off trail.
Have fun.
Weave frolic, laughter and joy into each day without fail.
May humor, adventure and awe be the mud you roll in today.

 The Sweetness of Dogs by Mary Oliver

“What do you say, Percy? I am thinking
of sitting out on the sand to watch
the moon rise. It’s full tonight.
So we go

and the moon rises, so beautiful it
makes me shudder, makes me think about
time and space, makes me take
measure of myself: one iota
pondering heaven. Thus we sit, myself

thinking how grateful I am for the moon’s
perfect beauty and also, oh! How rich
it is to love the world. Percy, meanwhile,
leans against me and gazes up into
my face. As though I were just as wonderful
as the perfect moon.”

The Steps Along the Way

“…there are no wrong turns, only unexpected paths.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

“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

The alluring promise of someday.
The comfort of remembering when.
The hot pursuit of the finish line.
The satisfaction in the completion of our “to do” list.
In the midst of our striving, figuring, pursuing, the present sits quietly awaiting to be seen and entered into.
The path beneath our feet.
Sacred ground.
Root in today.
Witness and partake.
Simple joys in the steps along the way.

“Rest is not for weaklings. Hollowing out space for rest is work. Finding time for rest is the hands and feet of the promises we long to claim. It means saying no. It means having limits with ourselves. It means having limits with others. It takes courage to rest in the midst of an outcome-driven society. It takes strength to walk away from good in the pursuit of better.”― Saundra Dalton-Smith, Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity

Adventures in the Ordinary

“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.”― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

“What day is it?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favorite day,” said Pooh.”― A.A. Milne

Do what you must and more.
“To Do” list, commitments, one thing to the next.
Being present should be at the top of the list.
Pause in between.
Look up and around.
Witness and notice the day.
Partake.
Enjoyment is a worthy pursuit.
Play, have fun, tennis ball fur on your lip kind.
Delight in this day.
Adventures ahead in an ordinary day made extraordinary.

“Never, ever underestimate the importance of having fun.” – Randy Pausch

The Wonderful Things

“What would the world be like without music or rivers or the green and tender grass? What would this would be like without dogs?”― Mary Oliver, Dog Songs: Poems

“Or maybe it’s about the wonderful things that may happen if you break the ropes that are holding you.”― Mary Oliver, Dog Songs

Look, look again.
See what is before you.
Pull it to the forefront.
Main stage.
Sweep aside somedays, perfection, shoulds, weren’ts, messy, busy.
The ropes that hold you.
Wonderful things in reach, in view, in abundance.
Woven in the ordinary, daily, presence.
Gratitude bears joy, delight and contentment.
Smiles. Laughter. Light.
Let them in.
Wonderful things off leash.

“Come with me into the woods where spring is
advancing, as it does, no matter what,
not being singular or particular, but one
of the forever gifts, and certainly visible.”
― Mary Oliver, Dog Songs: Poems

“A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.” – William Hazlitt

Bright Eyes, New Day

“Enthusiasm is a supernatural serenity.”― Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

“to leap into it and hold on, connecting everything,”― Mary Oliver, House of Light

Regret looking backward.
Worry looking forward.
Sacrificing today.
Be present and steeped in today.
Get the full flavor.
Soak in beauty.
Be a blessing.
Take the “Do Not Disturb” sign off and be interrupted.
Wander off trail.
Take the detours.
Slow down.
Enjoy the scenery.
Play and have fun.
Put on enthusiasm, joy and delight.
It looks good on you.

“Today is life – the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto”― Dale Carnegie

Imperfect Present

“Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are ‘patches of Godlight’ in the woods of our experience.”― C.S. Lewis

“We spend most of our lives striving so hard
to earn our own permission to be at rest
where we are— when we could have done it all along.”― Ivan M. Granger

We keep hunting.
Fishing for one more thing.
For some fictional state called “when.”
“When” is now.
Not in the past or in some distant future.
It is right in the middle of the imperfect present.
In unexpected places.
In the midst of difficulties and frustrations.
Woven in moments through the day.
At rest where we are.
Overflowing in abundance.
We just need to put on new glasses.
Look closer.
Different expectations, different outcomes.
Not our definitions, rules or confinements.
Bigger, broader, deeper.
Ordinary days. Beauty abounds. Hidden right in front of you.

“What the heart recognizes
as liberation,
the ego sees
as theft.”― Ivan M. Granger

Last for Now

“The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.”― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

The water is colder within a week.
Leaves are starting to change.
Chrysalis time.
Cool mornings. Warm days with an edge. Cool evenings.
Last swim for the girls.
Topping off a summer filled with swims, play, delight.
Last for now.
Fresh delight to partake in.
Seasons meld from one to the next.
Returning again and again.
Same and different.
We change from one season to the next.
Sometimes we choose, sometimes we are forced.
Growth and transformation if we allow and receive.
Remain in the present season, knowing the next will surely come.
In due time without fail.
Last for now, making way for next and new.

“One of the more delicate gifts of soul that can come from the chrysalis is a refined attunement to the here-and-now. We learn how to be genuinely present to life.”— Sue Monk Kidd, When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions

Slow and Easy

“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going to fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” – Eddie Cantor

“It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when they have lost their way.”― Rollo May

Slow down.
Let your imagination saunter and wander.
Allow quiet spaces to hear your own voice.
Anchor in today.
See beauty and light.
There’s fun to be had.
Play to partake in.
Slow and easy.

“What if imagination and art are not frosting at all, but the fountainhead of human experience?”― Rollo May

Dog Days

“Summer has filled her veins with light and her heart is washed with noon.” – C. Day Lewis

“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”― Jack London

Summer.
An invitation daily to delight, play and wonder.
Dive in.
Accept the invitation.
Let these days in.
Live not merely exist.
The proper function of man and dog.
Hear and dance to the song of summer.

“Every day has a story to tell.
Can you hear it?”― Emmanuel Onimisi

“In summer, the song sings itself.” – William Carlos Williams

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