Category Archives: Sweet Breathing

Destroy It With Kindness

“I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, other-centered men can build up.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“IN THE HANDS OF MAN

He who creates a poison, also has the cure.
He who creates a virus, also has the antidote.
He who creates chaos, also has the ability to create peace.
He who sparks hate, also has the ability to transform it to love.
He who creates misery, also has the ability to destroy it with kindness.
He who creates sadness, also has the ability to to covert it to happiness.
He who creates darkness, can also be awakened to produce illumination.
He who spreads fear, can also be shaken to spread comfort.
Any problems created by the left hand of man,
Can also be solved with the right,
For he who manifests anything,
Also has the ability to
Destroy it.”

-Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun:                                    The Writings of Suzy Kassem

 

Solace

There is solace to be found, always.

May you find your solace even amidst chaos and uncertainty, at the abiding center of yourself, deep inside.

My solace is found in silence, writing, books, animals, simplicity, music, friendship, laughter and nature, yes, these are my places.  Those sweet things that resonate to the core of being.

Yes, there is solace to be found.

“..i spill into
the kind of silence
only Khalil Gibran would understand.”

-Sanober Khan

“Writing is the supreme solace.”

-W. Somerset Maugham

“Find joy and solace in the simple, and cultivate your utopia by felling the Tao in every cubic inch of space.”

-Wayne Dyer

“Books can be a source of solace…”

-Michael Dirda

“I find solace in animals. I have a stray dog at home called Candy. I picked it up while I w as waiting at the airport one day. I always wanted to have a “macho” dog but got this sweet little thing instead.”

-Randeep Hooda

 

“Music has always been a great solace for me. It’s still something that gives me far more joy than movies, I must say. I love movies too.  But somehow, music can transport you. There are so many different kinds of experiences you can have with music.”

-Allison Anders

“Is solace anywhere more comforting than in the arms of a sister?”

-Alice Walker

“Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember,  source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion.

-Lorraine Anderson

“I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”

-Anne Frank

“Laughter heals, gives solace, and is life enhancing.”

-Liz Carpenter

How lovely to find quotes for each and every one of my special solaces….

Justice Everywhere

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
 * * * * *
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”
 * * * * *
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
* * * * *
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
* * * * *
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
-Martin Luther King

Same As It Ever Was…

“Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.All is well.
Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!”

-Henry Scott-Holland

Remembering Samantha, Ben, Stephanie, Nancy, and two of my friend’s Dads (Heidi and Judi)…. until me meet again!

Sweet Solstice

Ahhh… Winter.

Now the sweet season of introspection, quiet, peaceful snowscapes, good books, long nights, welcoming fires, warm hearths, cozy afternoons, wanderings, deepening, dreaming, awakening…

We celebrate this longest night with a glad heart, knowing that with each subsequent day, the sun will grace us with ever more moments of light.  Each day more light.

May our lives, our very souls know this too;  each day more light!

O Winter ruler of the inverted year… I crown thee king of intimate delights, fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, and all the comforts that the lowly roof of undisturbed retirement, and the hours of long uninterrupted evening, know.”

-William Cowper

 

“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.”

– Pietro Aretino

“Winter is not a season, it’s a celebration.”

– Anamika Mishra

 

Your Place in the Family

Wild Geese, Mary Oliver

“You do have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.”

 

Mary Oliver reads “Wild Geese”

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-mozilla-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&p=you+tube+wild+geese+mary+oliver#id=3&vid=afb25b9ce445c4e85ca9f8849cdd980a&action=click

 

 

Your Own Wild Life

This Thing In You

will not take no for an answer.
This that somehow
shines strong
beneath the heavy hard hurry
of your conveniently
noisy life. This shapeless

something that shows up
everywhere –
even when you forget
to notice.

It does not
understand safe
or sensible, will not let you
get away with half
hearted, lifeless
lies.

It’s that wordless
something
that does not know how
to be quiet. It will continue knocking
until you throw open
the door. Until you become –

Ablaze. Awake. Madly in love.

The dazzling artist
of your own
wild life.

-Julia Fehrenbacher

February 27