Tag Archives: Quotes

Christmas at Midlife

Christmas at Midlife by Mary Anne Perrone

“I am no longer waiting for a special occasion; I burn the best candles on ordinary days.
I am no longer waiting for the house to be clean; I fill it with people who understand that even dust is Sacred.
I am no longer waiting for everyone to understand me; It’s just not their task
I am no longer waiting for the perfect children; my children have their own names that burn as brightly as any star.
I am no longer waiting for the other shoe to drop; It already did, and I survived.
I am no longer waiting for the time to be right; the time is always now.
I am no longer waiting for the mate who will complete me; I am grateful to be so warmly, tenderly held.
I am no longer waiting for a quiet moment; my heart can be stilled whenever it is called.
I am no longer waiting for the world to be at peace; I unclench my grasp and breathe peace in and out.
I am no longer waiting to do something great; being awake to carry my grain of sand is enough.
I am no longer waiting to be recognized; I know that I dance in a holy circle.
I am no longer waiting for Forgiveness. I believe, I Believe.

-Mary Anne Perrone

A Great Presence Stirring Beside Me

In honor of this Winter Solstice… homage to the darkest of our days, as we welcome back the sun’s increased presence.

This Rilke poem and the beautiful art below by Sha’an d’Anthes were originally paired on Dreamwork with Toko-pa’s website.  Check out her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DreamworkWithTokopa/?hc_ref=ARTk9RUC0IRzfTgBfv6vMarLzO_YzVEPNZm3SHBE-xpONW_Y3tI7c-rh69H92c2fCEo&fref=nf&pnref=story

“You, darkness, of whom I am born —

I love you more than the flame
that limits the world
to the circle it illumines
and excludes all the rest.

But the darkness embraces everything:
shapes and shadows, creatures and me,
people, nations — just as they are.

It lets me imagine
a great presence stirring beside me.

I believe in the night.”

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Artwork below by Sha’an d’Anthes

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Yellowstone – A Gallery of Photos

Yellowstone.  Majestic earth workings of every sort.  Power.  Everlasting change and evolution. Steaming water, geysers, grand waterfalls, canyons, a deep and wide lake, fumaroles, mud pots, elk, bighorn sheep, grizzlies, black bear, cats, moose, and wolves!!  Nine packs of wolves vying for dominance and survival, taking care of their families, broadening their empires.  What a vision of nature’s overwhelming diversity and drive for balance.  Life continuing in all its exuberance.  There is never enough time to take it all in.  I want to return and spend weeks in the Lamar Valley, getting to know the wolves and the landscapes.  To become part of it, to know it.  Undiminished by the island it has become, it is still becoming.  So alive, so magnificent.  Mysterious and overwhelmingly powerful.

“A thousand Yellowstone wonders are calling, ‘Look up and down and round about you.”

-John Muir, 1898

“There is nothing so American as our national parks…. The fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”

– President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Click onto any image below to view a full size version – click arrows on full size to view all in full size

 

 

Walking the Mind Into Stillness

“Every day, I walk myself into a state of well-being & walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, & the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”

-Soren Kierkegaard

“We should take wandering outdoor walks, so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing.”

-Seneca

“It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth.”

-Nietzsche

“It is a paradox that perhaps the single best way to still one’s mind is to put the body in motion.”

-Ryan Holiday

Snowshoes

Our Sacred Animals

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

 

“Don’t kill animals for glory, that makes you the worst kind of bully.”                                                                                                                     -Seth Kantner

A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.  -Albert Schweitzer

“Our treatment of animals will one day be considered barbarous. There cannot be a perfect civilization until man realizes that the rights of every living creature are as sacred as his own.”                                                                                                                      -David Jordon

 

 

With Love and Reverence

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.”

-Henry David Thoreau

“Love they said burns you and builds you!

But with you, there is no ash,

Just Light.

-Kamand Kojouni

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.”

-John Milton

 

 

 

 

 

Song of the Trees

“Trees are poems that Earth writes upon the sky.”

-Kahlil Gibran

“Go outside and don’t go to a special place. Just go into your neighborhood and repeatedly, over and over again, open your ears and harvest the sounds all around you. Whether those are tree sounds or car sounds or bird sounds. Without judgment, just be present for the physical experience of sounds flowing into our consciousness. Do that over and over again and the trees will befriend you — or come into your consciousness and teach you some of what they’re saying.”

-David George Haskell

“Come to the woods, for here is rest.”                                                                                                                                                                                                   -John Muir