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Posts tagged ‘Transformation’

Mar 26

Benediction of Spring

“After the wet spring, everything that could turn green had outdone itself in greenness and everything that could even dream of blooming or blossoming was in bloom and blossom. The sunlight was a benediction.” ― Dan Simmons, Drood

“And over walls and earth and trees and swinging sprays and tendrils the fair green veil of tender little leaves had crept, and in the grass under the trees and the gray urns in the alcoves and here and there everywhere were touches or splashes of gold and purple and white and the trees were showing pink and snow above his head and there were fluttering of wings and faint sweet pipes and humming and scents and scents.”― Frances Hodgson Burnett, Secret Garden

Cusp of spring.
Slivers and beams of things to come.
Of things already here.
Transition into transformation.
Close but not yet.
Bloom under construction.
Time and timing.
Confetti of color.
Souls of beautiful things.

“Surely the flowers of a hundred spring are simply the souls of beautiful things!”― L.M. Montgomery, The Watchman and Other Poems

Mar 21

Drawing the Luminous

as architect of choosing, I choose…
to disrupt the energy of the status quo,
to eclipse the realms of ordinary,
& to live–a life-well lived.
w/ spirit, substance & style.”
― LaShaun Middlebrooks Collier

The People Who Keep Lamps Lit by Jen Shoop

“There are those people who draw light to themselves, and almost can’t help it.
They just stand still and keep the lamps lit.

These are the people who pull out a chair for you when you approach the table: “please,” they say, gesturing you into it, earnest and unaware of their outsized generosity. It is instinctive, their pre-disposition to include.

These are also the people who say “atta girl!” to strangers who have just ridden a big wave, or run the bases, and they fill the hungry heart with pride, and they do it with such ease, and egolessness, having learned some time ago that there is no economy of compliments.

These, too, are the people who say “my pleasure” and mean it, who gamely forebear conversations with the lonely or unhappy, who are practiced in the art of “yes, and–” thinking. They teach us that a rising tide lifts all ships, and that there is enough good in the world to go around, and then some.

What made them this way?

Not the absence of pain, no. More often than not, heartbreak is the holy ground that anoints them.

The more of these light-gatherers I meet, the more I believe it’s will, and will forged anew each day. They wake up and they call forth an adamantine determination to resist the ease of despair, and to believe that reality is mainly possibility — even when the wicked comes knocking.

I would like to learn from them how to draw the luminous, too,
how to stand still and shine,
how to turn on every last light in the city,
flame to flame,
unbound luminescence.”

Light
In all forms
Soak in
Sop up
Take in
Inquire
Observe
Steep
Create
Beauty
Nature
Play
Flowers
Music
Art
Joy
Untethered
Pourous
Light
Luminescence
Fill up
To cast light back out

“The daily routine of most adults is so heavy and artificial that we are closed off to much of the world. We have to do this in order to get our work done. I think one purpose of art is to get us out of those routines. When we hear music or poetry or stories, the world opens up again. We’re drawn in — or out — and the windows of our perception are cleansed, as William Blake said. The same thing can happen when we’re around young children or adults who have unlearned those habits of shutting the world out.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

 

Mar 19

Cardinal Points

“If self is a location, so is love:
Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points,
Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance,
Here and there and now and then, a stance.”― Seamus Heaney, District and Circle

“Awake! arise! the hour is late!
Angels are knocking at thy door!
They are in haste and cannot wait,
And once departed come no more.
Awake! arise! the athlete’s arm
Loses its strength by too much rest;
The fallow land, the untilled farm
Produces only weeds at best.”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Complete Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Winter, spring
Spring, winter
Wintering rest
Spring rising
Fallow to fertile
Cardinal points
New creation unfolding
Within first, moving out anew.

“If you feel like you don’t fit into the world you inherited it is because you were born to help create a new one.”― Ross Caligiuri, Dreaming in the Shadows

Mar 17

Spring Swinging

“Only those with tenacity can march forward in March.”― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

“The stormy March has come at last,
With winds and clouds and changing skies;
I hear the rushing of the blast
That through the snowy valley flies.”
― William C. Bryant

March push and pull.
50-degree temperature swings.
Softening earth.
Followed by 10 inches of snow.
Transformation under construction.
Preparing spring to burst with brilliant colors.
Join the dance.
Winter always yields to spring.
Time and timing.
Joy in the waiting, on each step of the journey.
Gratitude in, for, through all seasons.

“In March winter is holding back and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and something pulls inside of us too.”― Jean Hersey

Mar 14

Threshold of Threshold

“Often when something is ending we discover within it the spore of new beginning, and a whole new train of possibility is in motion before we even realize it. When the heart is ready for a fresh beginning, unforeseen things can emerge. And in a sense, this is exactly what a beginning does. It is an opening for surprises.” – John O’Donohue

“When we choose indifference, we betray our world. Yet the world is not decided by action alone. It is decided more by consciousness and spirit; they are the secret sources of all action and behavior. The spirit of a time is an incredibly subtle, yet hugely powerful force. And it is comprised of the mentality and spirit of all individuals together. Therefore, the way you look at things is not simply a private matter. Your outlook actually and concretely affects what goes on. When you give in to helplessness, you collude with despair and add to it. When you take back your power and choose to see the possibilities for healing and transformation, your creativity awakens and flows to become an active force of renewal and encouragement in the world. In this way, even in your own hidden life, you can become a powerful agent of transformation in a broken, darkened world. There is a huge force field that opens when intention focuses and directs itself toward transformation.” – John O’Donohue

Transitions to transformation
On display
Nature shows the dance and delay
Late winter sun
Ice moving to water
Crisp air
Ice lingers longer
In between time
Threshold of threshold
Winter is not done yet
Spring hokey pokey
One foot in, one foot out
Tide and breathing
Cusp of emergence.

“Part of the art of living wisely is to learn to recognize and attend to such profound openings in one’s life.” – John O’Donohue

Mar 10

Circles of Nature

“The universe is transformation: life is opinion.” – Marcus Aurelius

“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” – May Sarton

Tilling soil
Planting seeds
Wait and weight
Time and timing
Anticipating and abiding
The work of seasons
Transitions
Transformation
Spring.

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” – Margaret Atwood

Mar 4

2 Comments

Kiss the Joy

“Kiss the joy as it flies.” – William Blake

“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”― Alan Alda

A slight adjustment
Break in routine
Intentional interruption
Play hooky
No grand gestures, perfect circumstances
Putting aside “should” and “someday when”
Releasing false sense of control and order
No fixing, just allowing, inviting
Get out of your head, to do list, expectations, demands
Into play, wandering, inquiry, blank canvas
To immerse self into this day, each day
Slivers of 10 minutes scattered throughout will do
On the hunt for beauty, delight, wonder
Opening the door, cross the threshold into awe
Clean and clear windows into the world to see the same anew
Let surprise, serendipity, light in
Kiss joy, embrace presence, sit a while.

“To insist on a certain outcome–one outcome–is to deny yourself the surprise experiences life was going to give you–the things you didn’t know you wanted until they came knocking and you were daring enough to let them in. By tying yourself to an ending, you’re making arrangements to be miserable if you don’t get exactly what you want. Or worse, you get exactly what you want and it doesn’t make you as supremely happy as you thought it was going to.”― Samara O’Shea

Mar 2

Fresh Heart, Filled with Hope

“As the seasons shift, remember that just as winter surrenders to spring, so too can your heart transform in time.”― An Marke

“We live in cycles. Cycles, how simple is that? It’s just like the tug and pull of the tides, the inhale and exhale of the wind, the ease of the trees letting loose their leaves, knowing full well they’ll regrow next spring.”― Kassandra Dick

Summer brisk then light shortens
Fall colors blaze in harvest abundance
Giving way to wintering, rest if we allow
The place where spring prepares, plans, plots
To burst and break out in brilliant color, fragrance, confetti
Seasons, cycles, rhythms
The poetry of ordinary days, thresholds to cross, and transformation unfolding.
Join the dance of bloom and fresh hope.

“As the seasons change, so do the rhythms of our lives; may we learn to flow with grace through every cycle.”― An Marke

Feb 22

Lighting Dim Places

“Our role in life is to bring the light of our own souls to the dim places around us.”— Sister Joan Chittister

“But grace tiptoed in, and I remembered that the meaning of the day is about as plain as it gets — we come from ashes and return to ashes, but when we stop our chaotic activity for awhile, and experience this, there is something that remains, deep and true, quiet and sweet.

Ashes can definitely be scary to confront, the dark night of the soul stuff that John the Divine writes about: we may fall into an abyss that we have been trying to outrun since we were little children. The American way is to trick out the abyss so it’s a little bit nicer. Maybe go to Ikea and get a more festive throw rug, right? But if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten, which may leave you empty and afraid. Spring is the offer of new life.” – Anne Lamott

Wintering, rest and slow.
On the road to spring.
Attune and awake for the whole journey.
New life unfolding quietly.
Spring never skips its turn.
Winter neither.
Threshold of transformation.
Seasons. Cycles. Rituals.
Beauty of enough.
Lighting dim places.

“Never let the quest for more distract you from the beauty of enough.”― Sahil Bloom, The 5 Types of Wealth

Jan 5

To Be Wild

“I no longer want more. I want to be wild.” – Emma Tynan

“May you find the singular pathway within—the one that leads you back to the places that never asked you to strive.

And when the world asks you to chase, when it tells you that “more” is the answer, may you remember there is another way. A way to root deeply. A way to belong to yourself. A way to listen for the answers buried in the clay of your own heart.

May you come to know yourself in all the wild places, and may they guide you home.” – Emma Tynan

Slow entry
Soft step
Senses atune
Rooted and reaching
Anchored and in flight
Deeper, mattering, emergence
Clay of your own heart
Whisper of soul
Listen, explore the wilderness within
Welcome home.

“This wildness is not “more.” It’s not another ladder, another stretch, another version of self-betterment. It’s remembered. It’s a movement toward what remembers you: ancestry, instinct, soul, native language, the wisdom carried quietly in your bones.

Wildness doesn’t ask for performance or destruction. It invites you deeper, beneath the polished edges and the well-rehearsed roles, into the place where your truest nature lives. It asks you to let yourself be held by the places your soul recognizes. It is the feeling of being met by a landscape and knowing, in some wordless way, that you are not separate from it.” – Emma Tynan

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