“Here is calm so deep, grasses cease waving. . . .
Wonderful how completely everything in wild nature
fits into us, as if truly part and parent of us.
The sun shines not on us but in us.
The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling,
vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies,
making them glide and sing.
The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as
our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous
storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our
song, our very own, and sings our love.”
John Muir
Category Archives: Sweet Breathing
Winter Zen
“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear”
“No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place”
These are Zen proverbs that I could endlessly revisit, falling ever deeper into meaning.
Meditative absorption.
Direct understanding.
The Zen of Winter.
“To the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders”
Lao Tzu
“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe”
“To attain knowledge,
add things every day.
To attain wisdom,
remove things every day.”
Lao Tzu
Reflections from the Mirror
“When you want only love
you will see nothing else”
I have this quote by my bedside (from A Course in Miracles). When I use the love eyes this quote evokes my day is transformed – my eyes are seeing from my heart…
How much of what we “see” is a reflection of ourselves?
“There are two ways of spreading light … To be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.”
Edith Wharton
“The experience of bliss will give you an insight into the very phenomenon of beauty. Not only does it make you beautiful, it suddenly transforms the whole world. The whole world becomes beautiful because the world reflects you, it is a mirror.”
-osho
…”beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror”
Kahlil Gibran
As Above So Below
Winter’s way has laid the outside world bare. The bareness of winter, the quiet serenity, and the snow blanket, can lay bare our inner world too – if we let it.
As above so below.
An unsealed inner universe is open for marvelous reflection and deepening. So much going on while the world sleeps.
Bare, defined, disclosed, discovered, naked, resolved, solved, uncovered, unprotected, clear, debunked, denuded, divulged, exhibited, manifest, open, peeled, revealed, shown, stripped, unmasked, unsealed, unveiled, apparent, brought to light, evident, dug up, on view, unconcealed, unhidden, unsheltered…
“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”
-Joseph Campbell
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
-Joseph Campbell
Are we brave enough to lay bare our souls?
To be authentic, real and raw?
To be open?
The Gift of the Trees
Out here in the woods, the tree dance brings a welcome, hearty, and ever changing song.
Season to season they stand in place and in witness of all of life’s wonder – a constant teaching.
“A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. -John Muir
“Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When men reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Whitefish Train Depot – A Gallery of Photos
Trains, train depots, and train travel speak to me of slowing down, of 
the journey being the destination, of savoring long conversations and of the gentle unfolding of time. Adventure, travel, new experiences – all good things! There is time on a train trip to absorb the beauty as it passes by.
My cross country train trip was a quiet and reflective journey and I’m looking forward to more train travel. In the meantime I love going to our Whitefish Train Depot to feel the energy of adventure and anticipation, and to get some photos…
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
― Ernest Hemingway
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
*Slideshows will load below
First slideshow contains images by day,
The second slideshow are by night
Celebrate What’s Right With the World
http://www.celebratewhatsright.com/images
Dewitt Jones is a talented, creative photographer who lives on the sweet island of Molokai. He spent 20 years working and photographing the wonders of the world for National Geographic. I’ve had his book What the Road Passes By for years and go to it often for uplifting words and to get absorbed in his photography.
I love his concept and website, “Celebrate What’s Right with the World”. I think you will too. He posts a weekly photo and it’s all about what’s good and beautiful and uplifting.
The link to his website is at the top of this post and you can sign up for his weekly photo posts.
There is so much that is right with the world.
Enjoy the celebration!
Every Time I’m in the Woods
“You do not 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
200 Words for Love
These are my first two hundred words for love…
Craig, Little Bear (Bob Barker), Halle Blue Berry, Mom, My Brothers, David, Greg, Steve, Sisters-in-Law, Laura, Patricia, Shelly, Nieces & Nephews, Ashley, Sarah, Keelan, Rachel, Julia, Andrew, Friends, Pamela, Katherine, Betsy, Jane, Gloria, Anne, Elisheva, Tony, Mountains, Montana, My Home, Fires in the Hearth, Fire in the Heart, Smores, Music, Bonnie Riatt, Leonard Cohen, James Taylor, The Beatles, Books, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Essential Rumi, The Essential Ghandi, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Rainbows, Snowbows, Clouds, Sweet Breathing, Soft Breezes, Long Baths, Long Showers, Long Walks, Long Talks, French Fries, Pizza, Grilled Salmon, Robert Craig Cabernet, Robert Redford, Snow, Rain, Sunrise, Fawns, Wolves, Ravens, Yoga, Listening, Cross Country Drives, San Francisco, Seattle, Maui, Key West, Orcas Island, Molokai, Havasu Canyon, Boynton Canyon Vortex, Travel, Bhutan, Samoa, The Amalfi Coast, Paris, Crepes, Coffee, Chocolate, Bananas, Reading, Solitude, Candlelight, Gatherings, Drumming, Tibetan Singing Bowls, Raging Rivers, Soft Streams, Rhythmic Oceans, A Child’s Laughter, Craig’s Laughter, Tall Trees, Wind in the Trees Song, Hiking, Snowshoeing, My Jeep, Love, Sensuality, Kindness, Thoughtfulness, Gratitude, Humble Offerings, Sage, Rocks, The Seahawks, Tampa Bay Rays, March Madness.
Learning to be Astonished – Mary Oliver Poetry…
“My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.”
Mary Oliver