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Posts tagged ‘Summer’

Sep 11

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

Sep 7

Summer Fall Dance

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” — Albert Camus

“Make your learning abundant and speak of it with precision, then you will speak of essentials.”― Mencius, Mencius

The in between of seasons changing.
Hot then cool.
Back to school.
Schedules and busy replace slow and wide-open spaces.
Hold onto the slow and create space in all seasons.
The color of flowers in bloom cascades to leaves ablaze.
Find the beauty in harvest time.

“Be gentle. Pay attention. Offer purposeful healing. Seek Equilibrium. Unfreeze, slowly. Stretch yourself out into the world. Let your eyes calibrate to this new light and notice how it caresses the lines and curves and soft and hard of you. Allow your mouth to twist and stumble around new shapes. Be so very sensory. Notice everything. From every angle. The way your bones feel. The way you orient to space and time. Invite your whole being into this new way of living, into the totality and wholeness of it. Let it be strange and uncomfortable and painful and stiff. Let it be magical and novel and unfamiliar and entirely wonderful. Follow the whispers where they lead.”― Jeanette LeBlanc

Sep 6

The Sun Remains

“Let the sun set, let the darkness fall, do not be afraid, as long as the sun does not set in your mind!”― Mehmet Murat ildan

“In a world where everything comes at a price, if you’re choosing to stay kind, if you’re choosing to value your dignity and your integrity, if your choosing to understand and embrace the smile of Solitude, if you’re choosing to employ your faculties to understand the real questions of Life, then you’re alive, much more alive than your human dreams could have made you feel. Because no matter what, when sunset hits the night, and the day comes to a close you know you’ve done your part, you know you have embraced one more day with gratitude and grace, with a formidable zeal for Life and an invincible spirit of human understanding that stands firm pillared with Hope and Faith. And then no matter how many voices shrill your mind, the echo of your soul would pierce through your heart and enlighten every inch of your mind, body and soul, and you would know how proud the Universe must be to see the faithfulness, the strength and resilience in your soul, the very mould that was shaped in the fire of the Stardust that shines upon the sky, sometimes becoming a beacon to others while sometimes lying beautifully hidden but always there, always alive.” ― Debatrayee Banerjee

As summer tumbles into fall slowly but surely.
As seasons change without fail.
The sun remains.
Rising and falling.
Inviting us to find and make meaning in each day.
Beginnings and endings again and again.
The middle, the makings of our life.
Stay kind, gentle, curious, and alive through it all.
A beacon, a light.

“The sun’s descent marks not just the end of another day, but a symbolic passage—a reminder that life, like the sun, moves in cycles, each ending giving birth to a new beginning.”― Ryan Gelpke, Peruvian Day

Sep 1

Propelled to the Present

“to follow God does not often mean traveling with certainty about where God will lead us. Rather, following God propels us to be present to the place where we are, for this is the very place where God shows up.”― Jan L. Richardson

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”― Rumi

The first day of September.
Labor Day weekend.
The mark of summer coming to a close soon.
Back to school.
Schedules filled with activity.
Keep the slowness of summer woven into the days ahead.
Create spaces, pockets of beauty, ease, joy.
Lessons in each season.
The classroom of life well lived.
Awake, aware, in the present moment, the flow.

“Everybody needs beauty…places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike.”― John Muir

Aug 21

Ordinary Days Ablaze

“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.”― Henry David Thoreau

“For this,
let gardens grow, where beelines end,
sighing in roses, saffron blooms, buddleia;
where bees pray on their knees, sing, praise
in pear trees, plum trees; bees
are the batteries of orchards, gardens, guard them.”
― Carol Ann Duffy, The Bees

Savor these last weeks of August.
Summer will spill into September.
Fall harvest soon.
The dance of seasons.
Get out in nature and commune.
Let it feed and fill you up with hope, joy, delight.
Deer, butterflies and bees abound.
Pulling us out of self into the world, expanse and beauty.
It is enough, overflowing, and abundant.
Ordinary days ablaze.
Inviting witnessing and participation.

“…and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”― Vincent Willem van Gogh

Aug 7

August Float

“Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.”― Mary Oliver

“August of another summer, and once again
I am drinking the sun
and the lilies again are spread across the water.
I know now what they want is to touch each other.” – Mary Oliver

Drink in these last days of summer.
Soak in the sun.
Build your wonder muscles.
Strengthen your awe senses.
These days are to be held.
And then released.
To open arms for what is next in due time.
Do not bypass these days.
Looking behind or ahead.
Float here.

“But just now it is summer again
and I am watching the lilies bow to each other,
then slide on the wind and the tug of desire,
close, close to one another,
Soon now, I’ll turn and start for home.
And who knows, maybe I’ll be singing.”― Mary Oliver

Jul 17

Timeless As Bird’s Wings

“Timelessness is an art.”― Richie Norton

“Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralysed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds’ wings.”― Jelaluddin Rumi , The Essential Rumi

I forgot the charger for my watch this weekend on a mini-escape up north.
My “smart” watch that tracks time, my steps, progress to goal.
Entering timelessness for two days.
No place to be at a certain time.
No tracking of steps or progress.
Suspended and steeped in now-ness.
Lose track of time now and then.
Enter simple moments.
Open to beauty that is all around.
Nothing to track but the present.
Contracting and expanding.
Breathing.

“The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness. And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.”― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

Jul 10

3 Comments

Open Window Day

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

“What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?” – E. M. Forster

Open the windows.
Put your head out.
Feel the wind on your face, flowing through your hair.
Seize joy at every turn.
Pursue delight in simple acts.
Breath in the fresh air.
Clear the clutter from your thoughts.
Enjoy this day and all that is offers.
There’s wonder, awe and frolic in reach.
Partake.

“I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things… I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.” – Leo Buscaglia

Jul 4

The Experiment Continues

“It was by one Union that we achieved our independence and liberties, and by it alone can they be maintained.” – James Monroe

“The Declaration of Independence was always our vision of who we wanted to be, our ideal of freedom and justice, how we were going to be different, and what the American experiment was going to be about.” – Marian Wright Edelman

Beyond the picnics, a day off and fireworks, may we grasp and appreciate the meaning of this day.
Live it out in thoughts, words and actions.
Of independence, of freedom, of an experiment that continues still.
Diversity of thought, ability to speak up, to be different.
Let freedom ring along side peace.
Let us return again and again to the foundation, threads and colors that bind us together, especially in our differences.
Independence and interdependence for all.
Happy 4th of July.

“Independence Day is not just a date on the calendar; it is a flame that ignites the spirit of every individual, reminding us that freedom is our birthright and courage is our strength. This day reminds us that true independence is not merely the absence of external control, but the resolute presence of self-determination. As we commemorate the valor of our fathers who valiantly fought for our freedom, let us honor their sacrifices by cultivating a society that values diversity, upholds justice, and champions the well-being of all. Our actions today will lay the foundation for a prosperous and harmonious nation.”― Aloo Denish

Jul 2

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

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