“I’m busy;but not in the waymost people accept.I’m busy calming my fearand finding my courage.I’m busy listening to my kids.I’m busy getting in touchwith what is real.I’m busy growing things andconnecting with the natural world.I’m busy questioning my answers.I’m busy being present in my life.”— Brooke Hampton
“Ten times a day something happens to me like this –
some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell.
This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know:
that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.”
-Mary Oliver
Own It~
“Own the fact that you are different
Own that you are a deep feeler and thinker
Own that you’re tuned into a different frequency
Own the fact that you sense things others don’t
Own the fact that you want to talk about angels,
energy, miracles and spirituality
Own that you’re done having meaningless conversations
Own that you’re done holding yourself back
Own that you crave freedom to feel the now
It’s ok if your family don’t get you.
It’s ok if your friends don’t join you
It’s ok if the world judges you
It’s ok that you want to dance barefoot upon the earth
and endlessly gaze at the stars
It’s ok that you cry over sunsets and chase moonbeams
It’s wonderful in fact. It’s beautiful
You have come a long way to be who you are
So own it. Own all of it. Love all of you
The world needs you to be exactly as you are
You hold the balance in this crazy world”– Eryka Stanton
Sunsets
& Moonbeams
“I didn’t need to understand the hypostatic unity of the Trinity; I just needed to turn my life over to whoever came up with redwood trees.”
-Anne Lamott
there are placesplaces on earththat are magical.that no words canhope to describe.where your soulempty and drainedis restored.where the whispers of angelsshimmer through the treesas if on a mist.perfectly and peacefully.and gently floatingon the warm spring breeze.drifting weaving.falling on my facefilling me with grace.-Michael Traveler, from “Places”
“Stillness is vital to the world of the soul. If as you age you become more still, you will discover that stillness can be a great companion. The fragments of your life will have time to unify, and the places where your soul-shelter is wounded or broken will have time to knit and heal. You will be able to return to yourself. In this stillness, you will engage your soul. Many people miss out on themselves completely as they journey through life. They know others, they know places, they know skills, they know their work, but tragically, they do not know themselves at all. Aging can be a lovely time of ripening when you actually meet yourself, indeed maybe for the first time. There are beautiful lines from T. S. Eliot that say:
‘And the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time.”
-John O’Donohue
Excerpt from the book, Anam Cara
“You carry Mother Earth within you, She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer. In that kind of relationship you have enough love, strength and awakening in order to change your life.”
–Thich Nhat Hanh
“The dream of my life is to lie down by a slow river and stare at the light in the trees—to learn something by being nothing a little while but the rich lens of attention.”—Mary Oliver, excerpt from Entering the Kingdom
“Out here, no one is talking. Peace of mind is tangible.
A place you can feel your heart take each beat.
A place you can hear your soul sing your song.Sometimes in the absence of noise, we find answers.
In solitude there is healing.”-Paula Krugerud
“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 toAnd all beauty drawn to the eye.May my mind come alive todayTo the invisible geographyThat invites me to new frontiers,To break the dead shell of yesterdays,To risk being disturbed and changed.May I have the courage todayTo live the life that I would love,To postpone my dream no longerBut do at last what I came here forAnd waste my heart on fear no more.”-John O’Donohue
