Tag Archives: simple life

Two Breaths

From the introduction page to Mark Nepo’s Seven Thousand Ways to Listen:

“At a gathering in San Francisco, I met Marco, a careful and patient photographer from Santa Clara. When asked what surprised him during the last year, his voice began to quiver. He’d witnessed two breaths that had changed his life. His daughter’s first breath. Then his mother’s last breath. As his daughter inhaled the world, it seemed to awaken her soul on Earth. As his mother exhaled her years, it seemed to free her soul of the world. These two breaths jarred Marco to live more openly and honestly. He took these two breaths into his own daily breathing and quickly saw their common presence in everyone’s breathing. Is it possible that, with each inhalation, we take in the world and awaken our soul? And with each exhalation, do we free ourselves of the world, which inevitably entangles us? Is this how we fill up and empty a hundred times a day, always seeking the gift of the two breaths? Perhaps this is the work of being.”

 

Our Rarest Commodity

“As our world becomes increasingly polluted with noise, silence is becoming our rarest commodity. Through all the madness, how can we possibly hear what the Earth is so patiently trying to tell us? Wilderness is our only hope. The one place we can always come back to.”

-Scott Stillman

In Gratitude for the Rain

Ecstatic in the bounty of the rain today.

Its waters slow sinking into our earth,

A deep and boundless love offering,

A joyful pour of life.

Today, I am in gratitude for the rain.

Rain Drops, Pine

 

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head

with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.”

-Langston Hughes

“How quick we are to find the rainbow,

before being thankful for the rain.”

-Dieter Uchtdorf

The Untrimmable Light of the World

“Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for –
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world –
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant –
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these –
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?”

-Mary Oliver

Life’s Energy

Deepening into a simple life can help expand the complexity of the inner world exponentially.  Creative juices flow freely.  Self dialogue is more limited and the experience of life’s energy more pronounced.  Frequency and vibration are elevated. A quiet, calm, attentive, absorptive state of being prevails.

Peaceful. Connected.Avalanche Boardwalk, Ferns

Take a moment, a long sweet breathing moment, and feel the energy moving and becoming, spreading beyond all boundaries.  Feel the interplay.  Divine!

Stalks

“Love the moment and the energy of the moment will spread beyond all boundaries.”

-Sister Corita Kent

 

“And what is man without energy?  Nothing – nothing at all.”

-Mark Twain

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”

-Nikola Tesla

 

May Day!

Singing with the flowers, feeling the forest’s music, listening for raven song.  Seeing connections large and small. May is sure to be filled with simple pleasures that are deeply fulfilling.

Unfolding, evolving, expanding, deep breathing earth mirrors our own journey through the season.

A “cross-quarter day” of importance in Celtic festivals this day was also the first day of Summer in early European history.  An important marking of time is this day!

Pike's Market, Flowers

Dances, singing and cake are part of the official celebration of this first day of May, May Day, across our planet – a spring holiday for many, I hope you too will celebrate Spring, flowers, nature, life and connections with cake, singing and dancing!

Red Flowers, Big Sur

 “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things”

-Robert Brault  Yellow Flowers Luminance

Tulips, Market

“May you live all the days of your life.”

Yellow Flowers in Spring-Jonathan Swift

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whitefish at Night – A Gallery of Photos

Living in the woods, our little town proves itself a nearby haven of good food, community, gatherings, parades, celebrations, galleries, farmer’s markets, the Depot, and even night life!  It is a sweet, rustic, western, town that provides a warm, lively, hub of activity for locals and visitors alike.  For me, the simple life is tremendously enhanced by this small town, so full of unique personality.

A few black and white photographs of Whitefish at night are in the gallery below (slideshow will load below).

“In the great cities we see so little of the world, we drift into our minority. In the little towns and villages there are no minorities; people are not numerous enough. You must see the world there, perforce. Every man is himself a class; every hour carries its new challenge. When you pass the inn at the end of the village you leave your favourite whimsy behind you; for you will meet no one who can share it. We listen to eloquent speaking, read books and write them, settle all the affairs of the universe…..
W.B. Yeats, The Celtic Twilight: Faerie and Folklore

 

Treasures of the Day – Choices of Focus

Blue Spot in Dark Sky with Dark TreesEach day has its treasures, each hour its wonders.  When I find myself in the mind swirl of things to do and stuff to worry about, I am choosing more often to find something wondrous to put into focus instead.

That wondrous thing/person/feeling is always there.

Always.

Refocusing is possible with….

-a long, sweet breath of thanks-giving, of gratitude for being here, alive, at this moment;

-absorption in naRaventure while saying thank you out loud.  Wait for it… The raven will grace you with a low fly-by, the trees will rustle and sing in the breeze, the sound of silence will illuminate the moment;

-a peek into a treasured book while watching for the uplifting words that will shine forward and then into your be-ing….

DSC_0077

These are tiny movements that create immersion into a calm and gratitude filled space.

Each day brings more learning in taking an active role in moment to moment happiness.

Deepening into the simple life.

 “In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.”

-Mohandas K. Gandhi


“Smile, breathe and go slowly”

-Thich Nhat Hanh


Time out is a good thing. You can shift to Paradise in the next breath, and a sense of wellness and timelessness will be the wonderful result.

Cheryl Melody

Prism Over Trees