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Posts tagged ‘Summer’

Jun 9

Singleness of Eye

“Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day- like writing a poem or saying a prayer.”― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

“…I want first of all – in fact, as an end to these other desires – to be at peace with myself. I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities as well as I can. I want, in fact – to borrow from the language of the saints -to live ‘in grace’ as much of the time as possible. I am not using this term in a strictly theological sense. By grace I mean an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be translated into outward harmony…”― Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Summer
Sea
Sun
Slowing
Savoring
Softening
Witnessing
Entering
Deepening
Widening
Rising
Releasing
Still points
Pathways to peace, awe, wonder, joy
Take the journey.

“This is what one thirsts for, I realize, after the smallness of the day, of work, of details, of intimacy – even of communication, one thirsts for the magnitude and universality of a night full of stars, pouring into one like a fresh tide.”― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

May 27

Chasing Slow

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”― Simone Weil

“there isn’t enough of anything
as long as we live. But at intervals
a sweetness appears and, given a chance
prevails.”― Raymond Carver, Ultramarine: Poems

Summer unfolding.
A bloom with color.
Light lingering, sauntering.
A sweetness appears.
Let it prevail.
Chase slow.
Capture savor.
Embrace delight.

“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.”― Simone Weil

May 23

Summer Being

“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair…”― susan polis schutz

June by John Updike

“The sun is rich
And gladly pays
In golden hours,
Silver days,

And long green weeks
That never end.
School’s out.
The time Is ours to spend.

There’s Little League,
Hopscotch, the creek,
And, after supper,
Hide-and-seek.

The live-long light
Is like a dream,
and freckles come
Like flies to cream.”

Memorial Day weekend.
Threshold to summer.
Invitation to slow, savor, saunter.
Each season brimming with possibility.
Overflowing with delight.
More being, less doing.
Heed the call.
Join the dance.

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

May 15

The Work of Summer

“How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its Being.
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened”
― Hafez

“When all your desires are distilled
You will cast just two votes:
To love more,
And be happy.”
― Hafez

Time and timing.
Slow and steady.
Steep and savor.
Summer’s invitation, call, purpose.
The work of summer.
More being, less doing.
The world ablaze with color, fragrance, light.
Rooted on sacred ground.
Reaching for the sky.

“Now that your worry has proved such an unlucrative business,
Why not find a better job?”― Hafez

Aug 29

Wade and Leap

“I will wade out till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air” – e.e. cummings

“Settle in the here and now.
Reach down into the center
where the world is not spinning
and drink this holy peace.

Feel relief flood into every
cell. Nothing to do. Nothing
to be but what you are already.
Nothing to receive but what
flows effortlessly from the
mystery into form.

Nothing to run from or run
toward. Just this breath,
Awareness knowing itself as
embodiment. Just this breath,
awareness waking up to truth.”
― Danna Faulds

Breathe in the last days of summer.
Drink in the beauty of burning flowers, sun ablaze.
Fall harvest soon, but not yet.
Cusp of transition.
Summer still leading the dance.
Remain in this moment, aware and awake.
Steeped in gratitude.
Overflowing with ease.
Soft whisper of “Yes!”

“All you ever longed for is Before you in this moment If you dare draw in a Breath and whisper “Yes.”― Danna Faulds

Jul 18

1 Comment

All the Colors Ablaze

“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Life is a painting, and you are the artist. You have on your palette all the colors in the spectrum – the same ones available to Michaelangelo and DaVinci.” – Paul J. Meyer

“Colors are the smiles of nature.” – Leigh Hunt

Summer is ablaze with color, growth, beauty.
Bursting with life and vibrancy.
Be interrupted.
Wake up.
Pay rapt attention.
Slow down, really, slow down.
Look up and around.
Steep in the pause.
Turtle pace.
Soak it all in, all of it.
Long summer days overflowing.
Float.
Awe, wonder, joy woven in all days.

“There are infinite shadings of light and shadows and colors… it’s an extraordinarily subtle language. Figuring out how to speak that language is a lifetime job.” – Conrad Hall

“Nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”― Georgia O’Keeffe

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

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