Category Archives: Inspiring Words

Home, Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Sweet Breathing

Dawn

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“dawn peeks her head
over the horizon softly sweetly
like a child playing peek-a-boo
her smile shimmers warmly
all across the land, cascading
through the branches of trees
across the lakes and streams
glittering like jewels on the petals
of flowers as dew drops cling
to the coming of yet another chance
to embrace one another, love
one another, be kind to yet
another person who longs
for a smile, a hug, a willing ear,
someone dear
yes, dawn is smiling on us
from up above, loving us
with kindness and warmth
giving us this day to
work and play
oh what a beautiful way
to greet the new day ❤“
-Michael Traveler from “morning song”
Glacier National Park, Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Sweet Breathing

The Wisest Balm

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“When the mind is festering with trouble or the heart torn, we can find healing among the silence of mountains or fields, or listen to the simple, steadying rhythm of waves. The slowness and stillness gradually takes us over. Our breathing deepens and our hearts calm and our hungers relent. When serenity is restored, new perspectives open to us and difficulty can begin to seem like an invitation to new growth.
This invitation to friendship with nature does of course entail a willingness to be alone out there. Yet this aloneness is anything but lonely. Solitude gradually clarifies the heart until a true tranquility is reached. The irony is that at the heart of that aloneness you feel intimately connected with the world. Indeed, the beauty of nature is often the wisest balm for it gently relieves and releases the caged mind.”
-John O’Donohue
(from Beauty: The Invisible Embrace)
Home, Inspiring Words, Photography, Sweet Breathing

Where the Forest Dances with the Moon

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“the forest calls to me
the moon whispers softly
its light streaming gently through
the trees glimmering off the water
talking just to me
there’s a stillness in the air
a sort of anticipation of
what’s to come
i can feel it
a kind of
magic
and as i’m sitting here
by the water’s edge
i can feel how i need this
how
the noise
the chaos
the stress
of daily life
has taken its
toll on me
i can feel your spirit
in the trees the moon
the water all around me
and the harmony of it all
how it comes together as
One
and i feel you flowing
over me and through me
and a wondrous peace
comes over me
restores me
revives me
renews me
here where the forest
dances with the moon “
-Michael Traveler

 

Home, Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Sweet Breathing

Let Go

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2021 has dawned bright with wonder and hope.
The teaching of 2020 has closed its last chapter, a year of learning and of letting go.  Letting go of plans, expectations, attachments, jobs, in person visits…
But too, a letting go of busyness, of being over-scheduled, of consuming and shopping, of scrolling, and of not being able to say no…
And That Allowed Room for:
Reflection
Deep Sleep
Writing
Contemplating
Time by the Fire
Meditation
Walks in Nature
Long Zoom Chats Across Many Miles
Old Fashioned Letters and Cards
Chats by Text
Photography
Baths with Sumptuous Salts
Communing with Little Bear
A Long Book List to Savor
Healthy Cooking
Growing Herbs
Awareness
Ingesting Positive Media
Editing Photos
Shedding Excess Everything
Finding Value in the Simple
Learning About Trees
Time Spent in Silence with Craig (and in meaningful conversations)
Working Toward Optimal Well Being
And that evolved into:
A Deepening of Being
and
of
Peace
Happy New Year to All!
“She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of fear. She let go of judgments.
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
She let go of all the “right” reasons. Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.
She didn’t ask anyone for advice. She didn’t read a book on how to let go….She didn’t search the scriptures.
She just let go.
She let go of all the memories that held her back.
She let go of all the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.
She let go of all the planning and all the calculations about how to do it just right.
She didn’t promise to let go.
She didn’t journal about it.
She didn’t write the projected date in her day-timer.
She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.
She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
She just let go.
She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.
She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.
She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.
She didn’t call the prayer line.
She didn’t utter one word. She just let go.
No one was around when it happened.

There was no applause or congratulations

No one thanked her or praised her.
No one noticed a thing.
Like a leaf falling from a tree, she let go.
There was no effort. There was no struggle.
It wasn’t good, and it wasn’t bad.
In the space of letting go, she let it be.
A small smile came over her face.
A light breeze blew through her.
And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.
Here’s to giving ourselves the gift of letting go….
There’s only one Guru – you.”
-Rev. Safire Rose
Glacier National Park, Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Sweet Breathing

Know Your Essence

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“Know your essence.

As you move through your life, you will claim many identities and belong to many tribes.

At some point, however, you realize this is not you being authentic, this is you being confused.

When you begin the process of dropping all identities, one after another, you reveal your true essence, which is you as a soul.

Let the rest go.”

-Sara Wiseman

Fall, Inspiring Words, Photography, Sweet Breathing

A Borrowed Constellation

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“…In the century-some since, scientists have begun uncovering what poets have always known — that spirit is woven of sinew and mind of marrow. The body is the place, the only place, where we live — it is where we experience time, it is where we heal from emotional trauma, it is the seat of consciousness, without which there is nothing. And yet we spend our lives turning away from this elemental fact — with distraction, with addiction, with the trance of busyness — until suddenly something beyond our control — a diagnosis, a heartbreak, a pandemic — staggers us awake. We remember the body, this sole and solitary arena of being. The instant we remember to reverence it we also remember to mourn it, for we remember that this living miracle is a temporary miracle — a borrowed constellation of atoms bound to return to the stardust that made it.”

-Maria Popova

 

 

Glacier National Park, Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Sweet Breathing, Travel Adventure

Doors

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“The doors to the world of the wild Self are few
but precious.

If you have a deep scar, that is a door.

If you have an old, old story,
that is a door.

If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it,
that is a door.

If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life,                       that is a door.”

-Clarissa Pinkola Estés

 

Fall, Glacier National Park, Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Sweet Breathing

New Beginnings

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And we always in all ways start anew.  In each breath, each moment, in our choices to be present and to be kind, we create the world. Last night felt like New Year’s Eve and this morning like a new dawn – but each day is that – has the potential for that – regardless the angst outside ourselves.  This I learn again and again…

“A new beginning! We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live each day as a day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the new year always listening to a voice saying to us: ‘I have a gift for you and can’t wait for you to see it! Imagine!”

-Henri J.M. Nouwen

“There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power. We seek to awaken in ourselves a force which really changes our lives from within. And yet the same instinct tells us that this change is a recovery of that which is deepest, most original, most personal in ourselves. To be born again is not to become somebody else, but to become ourselves.”

-Thomas Merton

Both quotes were found in the first chapter of the Artist’s Rule by Christine Valters Painter, a Benedictine oblate and artist. This book provides a twelve week journey of contemplation and creative expression that I’m just embarking on.  It is a deep dive.  This book is on our Sapphire Girl’s book list if you’re interested – seems a good journey to delve into just now with new beginnings inherent and the quiet of winter about to unfold to express them in.