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Posts tagged ‘Stillness’

a place of encounter

“Any place is sacred ground, for it can become a place of encounter with the divine Presence.”
― David Steindl-Rast, A Listening Heart: The Spirituality of Sacred Sensuousness

“Try pausing right before and right after undertaking a new action, even something simple like putting a key in a lock to open a door. Such pauses take a brief moment, yet they have the effect of decompressing time and centering you.”― David Steindl-Rast

There’s a difference between pausing and delay.
Pausing marks time, widens the view, abundance overflows, gratitude ensues.
Delaying too long, narrows the view, scarcity overflows, options few.
Pause, center, come alive, deep breath, re-enter made new, create, contribute, give, receive.
The dance of pause and movement.
Sacred ground.

“Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of existence. But rightly understood, it is a vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being… Wherever we may come alive, that is the area in which we are spiritual.”― David Steindl-Rast

Clear Joy

“For we live in the kingdom of joy.
Do not give your heart to anything else
But to the love of those who are clear joy,
Do not stray into the neighborhood of despair.” – Rumi

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.”― Rumi

In the crack and crevices.
Thin spaces.
Wide places.
At your feet.
In between.
Beginnings, ends.
Fits and starts.
Amidst the ordinary.
Slivers and whole.
Beauty, light, color, brilliance.
Pause to anchor, root, prepare for flight.
Clear joy.

“Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others’ faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear.”― Rumi

Calm and Grace

“Words are small shapes in the gorgeous chaos of the world.”― Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses

Although life is hard in pace
Lose not thy calm and grace.
If thee are not tender
Vow not to surrender
Eternity lies right before thy face.”
― Ana Claudia Antunes, ACross Tic

 Words soft, kind.
Ears open, attune.
Slowing to notice, awake.
Create calm in chaos.
Grace in this place.
Observe. Listen. Wonder.
Awe in thin places, still points.

“Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don’t have to do anything else. We don’t have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen.”― Margaret J. Wheatley

Anchored in Stillness

“In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.” – Deepak Chopra

“The life that I could still live, I should live, and the thoughts that I could still think, I should think.” – C.G. Jung, The Red Book

We relive more than live. Repeating our days over and over by looking back in post-game analysis and pre-living the future with worry and little imagination. The present moment is rarely lived while its happening. Yet it is the only real thing in our realm of control.

Participate in this day. Release moments that have been or will be to make space for now. Live moments while they are happening. Enter today, held in gratitude, anchored in stillness.

Today
by Mary Oliver

“Today I am flying low and I’m not saying a word.
I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep.
The world goes on as it must,
The bees in the garden rumbling a little,
The fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten.

But I’m taking the day off.
Quiet as a feather
I hardly move though really I’m traveling a terrific distance.

Stillness. One of the doors into the temple.”