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Posts tagged ‘Transformation’

The Promise of March

“Spring drew on…and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.”― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“March came in that winter like the meekest and mildest of lambs, bringing days that were crisp and golden and tingling, each followed by a frosty pink twilight which gradually lost itself in an elfland of moonshine.”― L.M. Montgomery

March 1st.
The snow is softly falling.
And it’s March,
Threshold month.
One foot in winter.
One foot tipping into spring.
Not before.
Not after.
In between but tilting to the promise of spring.
The harvest of wintering, of preparation to fruition.
Bloom coming soon.
Colors to burst.
Sun to linger longer.
The power of transformation, and of seeing it unfold.

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”― Rainer Maria Rilke

The Lens of the Heart

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. So medicine, law, business, engineering… these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love… these are what we stay alive for.”― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”― William James

We are clear on what we are against, murky on what we are for.
It’s easier to criticize than create.
To “other” and “them,” to disregard, disconnect, dismiss.
The world is flat.
God is small.
Being “right” is enough.

May we have the fortitude to question, reframe, rethink and reshape our perspective.
To go beneath the surface of self to the root, to the core.
To see shapes, shadows, nuance, complexity, commonality, diversity, patterns, connection.
Weeding out the old, dry and stale.
Tilling the soil, planting newness, color and hue.
Unknowing, unlearning to expand, invite and open to depth and dimension.
Growth, change, transition, transformation.
Nurturing beauty, understanding, goodness, awe and wonder.
Widen the aperture to let in more light.
See through the lens of your heart.

“Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, ‘This is the real me,’ and when you have found that attitude, follow it.”― William James

Enduring

“The insight and wisdom we gain in our journey through love and suffering is transformational and enduring.” Mark Nepo, Surviving Storms

“You may not control life’s circumstances, but getting to be the author of your life means getting to control what you do with them.”― Atul Gawande, Being Mortal

On the path.
Curves, hills, detours.
May you look up, around, ahead.
Wander off trail.
Slowing to see and absorb the full rich view, scenery and beauty.
Seeking and finding joy and delight in ordinary days.
Peace and endurance in struggle.
Blessings in the burdens.
Gratitude and patience in the mystery and unknowing.
Awe and wonder to author your life well.

“The battle of being mortal is the battle to maintain the integrity of one’s life—to avoid becoming so diminished or dissipated or subjugated that who you are becomes disconnected from who you were or who you want to be.”― Atul Gawande, Being Mortal

Hues of Change

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

“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.” – Henry David Thoreau

Hues of change, unfolding
Rainbow of colors melting one into the next
A kaleidoscope of artistry in a leaf amidst transition
Slowly, surely, and unseen if we bypass the pause, the gaze
Second spring where nature shows off, seasons dance
A masterclass in transformation, beauty the professor.

“Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our Yearning

“As we enter the path of transformation, the most valuable thing we have working in our favor is our yearning.”― Cynthia Bourgeault

Follow the call, not the noise
The soft whisper that says there is something more, deeper, filled with meaning, home
Yearning, expansion, widening
Self, others, the world
The landscape is wide and beautiful
The path is often unclear, a mystery, it unfolds as we move into it
Settling dries up bones
Continue, climb, move, trip, get up, keep going
Listen, trust, be transformed
To live, to be lived.

“The highest and most beautiful things in life are not to be heard about, nor read about, nor seen but, if one will, are to be lived.” – Soren Kierkegaard

Buds and Caterpillars

“The butterfly is a flying flower. The flower is a tethered butterfly.” — Ponce Denis

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” — Maya Angelou

Bud to bloom.
Chrysalis to butterfly.
Winter to spring.
Middle time.
Endings to new beginnings.
Enter it all.
Be still.
Peace. Grace. Joy.
Transformation in play.

“You do not just wake up and become the butterfly. Growth is a process.” — Rupi Kaur

Openings

“Such lovely warmth of thought and delicacy of colour are beyond all praise, and equally beyond all thanks!” – Marie Corelli

“No water, no life. No blue, no green.” – Sylvia Earle

The ice melts from the edges to the center, slowly and with certainty;
With warmth and light, the hardness dissipates into its natural fluid state;
In seasons, cycles and transitions, the hard center holds on longer;
Softening with patience, the edges move to the center bit by bit to break the full surface into the shape of water;

We break open from cracks that allow light in to soften the hardness borne of experience and time;
Allow the cracks to become openings to transform ice to water, rocks to sand;
Soften your heart, uncover your soul and release your spirit;
In the midst of the moment and depths of being, breaking becomes transformation, blessings bloom along side burdens;

We are not our burdens or blessings, we are vessels that carry them;
Separate being from doing;
Detach from effort and outcomes;
Let go of hardness and allow softening;
Let the melt of seasons happen;
Embrace, integrate and continue on;
Openings that transform ice into water.

“Change, when it comes, cracks everything open.” – Dorothy Allison

Sweet Nectar

“We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.” – Marcus Aurelius

“No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.” – Epictetus

We’re on the cusp of fall now as summer wanes. Warm during the day, cool nights and mornings. Not quite before, not quite after, in between on the edge. Through seasons and transitions, we make our decision how we will go through. Some will choose to fall backward into the past, comforted with familiarity and false certainty. Others will trip forward still hanging on to pieces of the past, begrudgingly moving into the future. And then there are those brave few who hurl themselves forward into the unknown with certainty that action and momentum will do their job of revealing what’s next and our role in it.

Be that brave soul and launch into the unknown, allowing transformation and fruition.

“Transformation literally means going beyond your form.” – Wayne Dyer

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