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Posts tagged ‘Simplicity’

May 22

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Arrive

“Life is lived on levels and arrived at in stages.” – Edwin Louis Cole

It’s a good place to be, right in the moment. No regrets of what’s been or not been, only lessons, memories, stories and blessings (some disguised as burdens) that sustain us. No worries of what’s to come, only faith that we will arrive where and when we need to, with confidence that it is our place and our time.

Moments by themselves often don’t make sense, but in their entirety make up the notes in our symphony. Looking back, we can see the series of pivot points, challenges, victories and arrivals and the path is complete. So moving forward, knowing that it really does all tie together, we can appreciate and enjoy the moment knowing that we are where we need to be.

Gratitude and awareness of the present cultivates a deep, lasting joy. While we may not arrive to our many destinations in our time, it’s always the right time. Keep showing up. You are arriving everyday.

May 2

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Travel Light

“A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed… It feels an impulsion… this is the place to go now.  But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.” – Richard Bach

“Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God.”- St. Hildegard von Bingen

“Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God.”- St. Hildegard von Bingen

Gaze up and float on the clouds. Break free from the gravity of a world that yells faster, more, not enough, more. Release your spirit, it’s wrestling to break free. We carry and cling to a heaviness that holds us back from our best self.  With ease and grace, travel light and inhale the immense beauty of now. Put your seat belt on, the sky’s the limit. “a feather on the breath of God” – imagine that.

Apr 19

11 Comments

Delightful Discovery

“Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.” -Joseph Addison

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” - e. e. cummings

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” – e. e. cummings

Discover what’s new and delightful today. Not in searching in far off places, but in opening your eyes with curiosity, awe and innocence. Choose wonder over worldly, joy over jaded, delight over despair, light over dark. Look, breathe, hear anew, right where you are now in this very moment.

Apr 7

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Leave the Behind Behind

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror” - Byrd Baggett

“Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror” – Byrd Baggett

No more neutral, shifting into the low gear of the past. We drive through too much of our life looking through the rearview mirror, missing what’s right in front of us. Leave the behind behind and discover the joy of now, this very moment. Full speed ahead.

Mar 30

2 Comments

Melt

“I will greet this day with love in my heart. For this is the greatest secret of success in all ventures. Muscles can split a shield and even destroy life itself but only the unseen power of love can open the hearts of man. And until I master this act I will remain no more than a peddler in the marketplace. I will make love my greatest weapon and none on who I call can defend upon its force… my love will melt all hearts liken to the sun whose rays soften the coldest day.” – Og Mandino

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” – George Washington Carver

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” – George Washington Carver

Even as winter lingers into the dawn of April, the sun’s strength melts away the past, the ice, the cold. Transforming the winter into nurturing water to awaken the ground, turning the brown to green. Nature teaches us to melt, to soften, to wash away the sand and awaken to the newness of the day with gratitude and joy. Easter and Spring partner to renew and refresh. Melt.

Mar 19

8 Comments

Found

We spend a lot of our time in the “hunt” – money, attention, advancement, approval – all passing, temporary. When we search deeper and through the lens of our heart, we discover that the real search centers on pursuit of purpose, happiness, contentment, peace, joy. All found in relationship and on the path of kindness, generosity, gratitude, faith and love, not defined by or in worldly transactions.

We have the capacity to have a tremendous impact on others and our own life in very simple and lasting ways. In the easy search for “more and quick”, the journey is never finished or fulfilling. The journey unfolds, transforms and is finished when we allow others to see us as we see them, to be found. The game of “hide and seek” becomes “seek and find”, “give and take” becomes “give and receive” without keeping score, being even or fair.

Travel well, risk completing the journey – search, find, give, receive, be found. Repeat.

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence . . . We need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Mother Teresa

Mar 17

12 Comments

Open Window

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” – Diane Ackerman

“In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us.” - Virginia Woolf

“In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us.” – Virginia Woolf

Like a window open for the first time as winter comes to a close, we can open up to fresh breezes of clarity and warm sunshine of hope. It’s never too late and we’re never too old to learn, discover, transform, to become new.

Our days are often about speed, velocity and distance. When we quietly and slowly go deeper and reach wider, our world expands to new dimensions and possibilities right where we are, no need to travel afar. As the fresh air comes in the window, the weight of the past and the burden of others defining us can drift out the window too. Our story is still being written and it need not be based on history.

Open the window wide, releasing the old to make room for the new.

Mar 13

5 Comments

Live it

“Preach always. If necessary use words.” – St. Francis of Assisi

Seems appropriate for today and this Easter season – living out a good and fruitful life. Not talking about it but living it out. What did you model today? What will you model tomorrow?

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23

Fruit indeed.

Mar 5

11 Comments

Ice Cream in Winter

“The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds.” – William James

“People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.” - Anton Chekhov

“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.” – Anton Chekhov

Ice cream in winter? Why not? Let go of the “rules” and “I’ll be happy when” and start living today. True contentment is not moved by circumstances, negative people or a foot of snow. Get out of your comfort zone which really isn’t that comfortable. Climb the snow bank and get that ice cream cone, with sprinkles on top of course.

Feb 17

Old Things New

“Living is the constant adjustment of thought to life and life to thought in such a way that we are always growing, always experiencing new things in the old and old things in the new. Thus life is always new.” – Thomas Merton

Actively seek to give and receive joy each day, each moment. Do not get distracted by the mediocrity of complaint and apathy. New eyes, ears, thoughts, transforming the mundane. Rising above the fray, old things are new.

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