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Posts tagged ‘wonder’

Jul 23

Quiet Mystery Calling

“An awe so quiet I don’t know when it began.
A gratitude had begun to sing in me.
Was there some moment dividing song from no song?
When does dewfall begin?
When does night fold its arms over our hearts to cherish them?
When is daybreak?”― Denise Levertov

“Days pass when I forget the mystery.
Problems insoluble and problems offering
their own ignored solutions
jostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber
along with a host of diversions, my courtiers, wearing
their colored clothes; caps and bells.
And then
once more the quiet mystery
is present to me, the throng’s clamor
recedes: the mystery
that there is anything, anything at all,
let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything,
rather than void: and that, 0 Lord,
Creator, Hallowed one, You still,
hour by hour sustain it.”
― Denise Levertov, Sands of the Well

Gratitude
Not built on platitude
Sewn on pillows
Signs hung on walls
Deeper, wider, dense
Resilient, transcendent, grace
Woven in ordinary, trust, delight
In the letting go, letting it be, letting it become
In the mess, detours, delays
Remember the mystery
Partake in wonder, awe, laughter
Daily practice, habit, commitment
Capture and cast light.

“Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation.”― John Ortberg, When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box

Jul 13

Endless Proper Work

“The beauty and mystery of this world only emerges through affection, attention, interest and compassion . . . open your eyes wide and actually see this world by attending to its colors, details and irony.”― Orhan Pamuk, My Name Is Red

“Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.”― Susan Sontag

It’s Monday.
Stay here.
Not skipping to Friday.
To tasks.
To busy.
To rushing.
To the next thing.
Bypassing this thing, this day.
Abide and invite.
Be present and participate.
Inquire and listen.
There’s more.
So much more.
Right here.
Right now.
Endless and proper work.

“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”― Mary Oliver

Jun 20

Joy Ethic

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”― Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

“I have drunken deep of joy,
And I will taste no other wine tonight.”
― Percy Bysshe Shelley

Work ethic.
Got it.
Yet only a sliver of life.
Joy.
Love.
Enthusiasm.
Kindness.
Faith.
Resilience.
Grit.
Generosity.
Delight.
Fidelity.
Laughter.
Awe.
Wonder.
Reverence.
Play.
Do not bypass, forego, dismiss.
The fabric of a good life.
Woven together daily.

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”― Nicolas Chamfort

Mar 29

Perpetual Revival

“Each of us experiences the perpetual revival of the self. We constantly recast our connate emotional index by perceiving each encounter in life as a marvel, impedance, problem, disaster, or nothing at all. Living in the moment allows us to escape the lonely landscape of self-interest and be part of a larger world filled with beauty, reverence, and adoration.”― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

Volume low.
Brilliant color.
Light bright.
Anchor and attune.
In the ordinary and small.
Transformed by attention and reverence.

“Mind the little things.
Appreciate them.
Revere them, too.”― Shellen Lubin

Jan 8

Rituals of Approach

“When one flower blooms spring awakens everywhere.”― John O’Donohue

“What you encounter, recognize or discover depends to a large degree on the quality of your approach. Many of the ancient cultures practiced careful rituals of approach. An encounter of depth and spirit was preceded by careful preparation.

When we approach with reverence, great things decide to approach us. Our real life comes to the surface and its light awakens the concealed beauty in things. When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. The rushed heart and arrogant mind lack the gentleness and patience to enter that embrace.”― John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace – A Spiritual Homecoming Through Celtic Traditions, Art, Music, and Divine Grace

Morning, stepping off point
Slow entry
Reflection, meditation, prayer
Call it what you will
Getting out of your own way
Soft whisper
Discernment and clarity
Setting the tone
Framing the door
Crossing the threshold
Anticipation, reverence, curiosity
Spilling into awe, wonder, delight
Spring smack dab in winter
Ordinary days, sacred gifts woven throughout
Concealed beauty surfaces
Blooming joy in noticing, partaking, generosity
Enter the embrace of a new day.

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”― John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong

Jan 4

Multitude of Delights

“A multitude of small delights constitute happiness”― Charles Baudelaire

“Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recaptured at will.”― Charles Baudelaire, The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays

May wonder tug at your sleeve
Interrupt your trance
Awaken your senses
Spark a smile, spilling into laughter
Call you to play
Follow without delay
Multitude of small delights
Present in this very day.

“The present is the only things that has no end.”― Erwin Schrödinger

Dec 18

Shore of this Day

“This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“All that is eternal in me
Welcomes the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.

I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.

May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.” – John O’Donohue

Blank canvas of a new day
Fresh beginning
Joy to be had
White space and margin for slowing
Color, shape, hue for meaning
Beauty unfolding into gratitude, grace, beholding
Invitation, welcoming, belonging
May we see the gifts on the shore of each new day.

“The chief beauty about time
is that you cannot waste it in advance.
The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you,
as perfect, as unspoiled,
as if you had never wasted or misapplied
a single moment in all your life.
You can turn over a new leaf every hour
if you choose.”― Arnold Bennett

Dec 6

2 Comments

Daily Radical Amazement

“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing”― Camille Pissarro

“Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ….get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”― Abraham Joshua Heschel

Struck by…
Wonder
Beauty
Awe
Kindness
Reverence
Laughter
Gratitude
Delight
Frolic
Grace
Radical amazement woven into ordinary days.

“People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state–it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle…. Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions.”― Abraham Joshua Heschel

Oct 21

2 Comments

World in a Leaf

“It’s possible to understand the world from studying a leaf. You can comprehend the laws of aerodynamics, mathematics, poetry and biology through the complex beauty of such a perfect structure.
It’s also possible to travel the whole globe and learn nothing.”
― Joy Harjo, The Woman Who Fell from The Sky: Poems

“Bless the poets, the workers for justice,
the dancers of ceremony, the singers of heartache,
the visionaries, all makers and carriers of fresh
meaning—We will all make it through,
despite politics and wars, despite failures
and misunderstandings. There is only love.”
― Joy Harjo, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems

Proximity and attention
Inquiry and perusal
Curiosity and imagination
Awe and wonder
Finding the world in a leave rippling with color
A flower breaking earth
The pulse of a poem
With enthusiasm, anticipation, hope, delight
Fresh morning, new meaning.

“Gather strength, pull it in
Be right where you are.”
― Joy Harjo, An American Sunrise

Aug 31

For the Beauty of the Earth

“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”― Alan Watts

“For the beauty of the earth
For the beauty of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.” – Folliott S. Pierpoint

Earth, skies, all around us that lies
For the beauty of it
Calm the waters
Pause, look, reflect
Move softly and lightly, with reverence
Sacred ground of the present, of full presence in it
Drink in every ounce of beauty, wonder and awe
Abundant and overflowing.

“For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light.”– Folliott S. Pierpoint

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