Tag Archives: Travel Adventure

Sweet Breathing

I Say Yes

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An ancient voice, always there, unearthed and unleashed, surrounded and supported by yesterday’s strangers who are now forever friends,  deeply embedded in my heart. Witnessing Love and Self through another’s eyes. Walking the earth wide open and singing.  Sitting in wonder.  Absorbing the resonances of the sounds brought as a gift by candlelight.  The gong filled with whale song. The mornings fresh, the nights pod like, nestled among my fellow travelers, yet in dark personal silence.  Full to brimming. Rain in the valley, snow on the mountain tops, hail and sunshine glowing through the trees, five white swans to grace us, a gaggle of geese landing in stunning symmetry on the pond….

There is bravery here, there is innocence, there is vulnerability, and there is power.  It is good. And so it is.

I say YES!

Yes to:

Surrender & Trust & Allowing & Receiving & Acceptance

Yes to:

The Grandmother & The Mother & to Gratitude and to Holiness

Yes to:

Deepening and Listening & Witnessing the Love & Radiance in the Eyes & Heart of Each Soul

Yes to:

The Earth, The Sun, The Stars, The Light, The Ancestors & to Spirit

Yes to Life in all her Guises, Learnings and Transformations

(with honor and love to Katherine, Wil, Debbie, Lynn, Lori, Red Star & Justin)

 

 

Sweet Breathing

Promise Yourself

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“Promise Yourself…

To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.”

~ Christian D. Larson

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What If?

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“What if our religion was each other.
If our practice was our life.
If prayer, our words.
What if the temple was the Earth.
If forests were our church.
If holy water the rivers, lakes, and ocean.
And what if meditation was our relationships.
If the teacher was life.
If wisdom was self-knowledge.
If love was the center of our being.”

-Ganga White

 

Sweet Breathing

Take the High Road

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“To every man there openeth a way, and ways, and a way. And the high soul climbs the high way, and the low soul gropes the low. And in between, on the misty flats, the rest drift to and fro. But to every man there openeth a high way and a low, and every man decideth the way his soul shall go.”

-Mehmet Murat Ildan

“If you can live the beauty of the misty mornings, you are the king, you are the queen!”

-Mehmet Murat Ildan

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Magnificent Refuge

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“This magnificent refuge is inside you. Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway. Be bold. Be humble. Put away the incense and forget the incantations they taught you. Ask no permission from the authorities. Close your eyes and follow your breath to the still place that leads to the invisible path that leads you home.”

-St. Teresa of Avila

 

 

Sweet Breathing

Someone

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“Right now there are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.

Someone you haven’t met yet is already dreaming of adoring you.

Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life.

Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God’s children.

A farmer is looking at his organic crops and whispering, “nourish them.”

Someone wants to kiss you, to hold you, to make tea for you.

Someone is willing to lend you money, wants to know what your favorite food is, and treat you to a movie.
Someone in your orbit has something immensely valuable to give you — for free.

Something is being invented this year that will change how your generation lives, communicates, heals and passes on.

The next great song is being rehearsed.

Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.

Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.

Someone is in profound pain, and a few months from now, they’ll be thriving like never before. From where they are, they just can’t see it .

Someone who is craving to be partnered, to be acknowledged, to arrive, will get precisely what they want — and even more. And because that gift will be so fantastical in it’s reach and sweetness, it will quite magically alter their memory of angsty longing and render it all “So worth the wait.”

Someone has recently cracked open their joyous, genuine nature because they did the hard work of hauling years of oppression off of their psyche — this luminous juju is floating in the ether, and is accessible to you.

Someone just this second wished for world peace, in earnest.

Some civil servant is making sure that you get your mail, and your garbage is picked up, that the trains are running on time, and that you are generally safe.

Someone is dedicating their days to protecting your civil liberties and clean drinking water.

Someone is regaining their sanity.
Someone is coming back from the dead.
Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable.
Someone is curing the incurable.

You. Me. Some. One. Now.”

-Danielle LaPorte via Mary Standing Otter

 

Sweet Breathing

Thailand – A Gallery of Photos

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Thailand, land of multiple layers, cultures, and religions…colors, textures, chaos, spirituality, water taxis, tuk tuks, politics, the juxtaposition of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and Islamic faiths coexisting in close proximity.  Jarring disparity between extreme wealth and extreme poverty.  Grand palace grounds, the Gold Buddha, the Emerald Buddha, Thai food and massage, the river… so much to take in and absorb.  Such a richness to the experience, piercing intensity, followed by sublime relaxation…memories to savor again and again…

*Click on to any image for a full sized version, then use arrows right to look at all in full size.

 

Flowers, Nature, Photo Gallery, Photography, Sweet Breathing, Travel Adventure

Columbia River Gorge – A Gallery of Photos

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The Columbia River Gorge, bonds Washington and Oregon, and has draped them both with overwhelming power and beauty.  And the Gorge and its waters have touched my soul.

I long to spend more time here.  There is a depth to be penetrated over time, in the inner and the outer realms. Rich tapestries of greens, radiance of waterfalls, myriad wildflowers, mysterious forests, sumptuous grand canyons, all endlessly beautiful. They touch the deepest part of me.

Every turn holds a wonder – a sometimes quiet and often times shuddering exuberance of majesty.  Hidden wonders everywhere waiting to be explored.

Yes, I need more time here.

“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: What is soft is strong.”

-Lao-Tzu

“Water is the one substance from which the earth can conceal nothing; it sucks out its innermost secrets and brings them to our very lips.”

-Jean Giraudoux

A few facts about the Columbia River Gorge (from the website for Foundation for Water & Energy Education; http://fwee.org/environment/what-makes-the-columbia-river-basin-unique-and-how-we-benefit/):

  • Within the Basin, there are 2,500 square miles of waterways and lakes.
  • The Columbia River and its tributaries account for about 219,000 square miles of drainage in seven western states.
  • The Basin consists of the Rocky Mountains to the east and north, the Cascade Range on the west, and the Great Basin to the south.
  • The Columbia River is the fourth largest river in North America.
  • The Columbia River originates in British Columbia and flows 1,214 miles to the Pacific Ocean near Astoria, Oregon.
  • The Columbia is fed by a number of major tributaries including the three largest, the Kootenai, the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille and the Snake rivers along with the Payette, the Sultan, the Cowlitz, the Santiam and the Willamette.
  • The Columbia River is second only to the Missouri-Mississippi River System in terms of annual run-off as the water flows to the Pacific Ocean.