Tag Archives: Sweet Breathing

Sweet Breathing

Grace

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May we be unified in Grace…

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”
-Anne Lamott
“Grace is not part of consciousness; it is the amount of light in our souls, not knowledge nor reason.”
-Pope Francis
“For me, every hour is grace.”

-Elie Wiesel

“Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request, and everything your heart desires must come to you.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

Sweet Breathing

To Be Found

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“The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the center of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,

is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can’t breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.”

-Margaret Atwood

Sweet Breathing

You Are This Flower

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“The breath is coming in and out now, whether you believe you are worthy of it or not.

The earth is unconditionally supporting you. She is holding you whether you believe you deserve to be held or not. Rest in her presence.

The breath will be gone at some point, usually much sooner than we’d all like. Breathe deeply now. Breathing is only now. There is no “breathing in the future.”

“No matter what is happening in your life – maybe you have lost hope, you’re confused, your heart is broken, or an old dream has died. Or even if you’re experiencing some joy, some peace, if things are going okay. It is not an ordinary moment. It is never ordinary inside your heart.

The only thing we know for sure is that we will be returned to the vastness soon. Let us not forget what is most important, never apologize for the yearning in our hearts, and not wait any longer to be fully here.

Let us renew the vow we once made to not abandon ourselves, our emotions, our vulnerability, our bodies, our sensitivity. With the sun, the moon, and the stars as our witness, we will no longer pathologize pure feeling and the longing that has been placed inside us.

Let us take a risk on this new day, like a flower who cannot hold back any longer from erupting with color, with fragrance, with life, with her song. You are this flower. Attune to what is truly happening here. This world needs you now more than ever. Please don’t forget what you are.”

-Matt Licata

Sweet Breathing

Luminosity

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“Look carefully around you and recognize the luminosity of souls. Sit beside those who draw you to that.”

-Rumi

“…with thankful attention… looking back…I can always tell which moments had taken on the restful luminosity.  There is a certain stillness, or completion, about them.”

-Hannah Hinchman

“The perceptions of middle age have their own luminosity.”

-Gail Sheehy

“I try to live in the luminosity of things.”

-Meia Geddes

Sweet Breathing

The Door

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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

Sweet Breathing

This Is What You Shall Do

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Oh Walt Whitman!!

Timeless words that inspire me daily….

“This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”

-Walt Whitman

Sweet Breathing

These Trees

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Carmel at the Santa Lucia Preserve, an idyllic retreat among lichen dripping oaks, green slopes, vistas, birds, deer, and coyote. The alive ecosystem of the coastal environment is present in a vital way to this tired body.  Yesterday’s wedding already a fading memory. The Barn, the view of the mountains for the ceremony, the relaxed vibe, all a part of me now, but I’m present in this moment without reflection on yesterday.

It’s all about the trees here. The way they stand in artistic poses and profound presence. They are peace and calm.

And the quiet! It seems they are thinking deep thoughts, still becoming more. It is a vital pervading mood that permeates – introspective and wise.

I am out with the trees now. Sweet soft breeze. They receive what’s offered with such grace. Later there will be a wild wind and a hot sun, and they will provide respite for some winged ones. They will shelter dozing deer, and yawning coyotes. They will talk to their brethren and commune with the others. Later still they will enjoy a moon bath and stellar sparkling light on their leaves. Their roots will reach deeper into the earth and their crown to the heavens with their hearts wide open to all that is. These trees.