Tag Archives: Uplifting Words

Sweet Breathing

Treasures of the Day – Choices of Focus

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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….

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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

Sweet Breathing

Holding on to Winter

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It snowed all day today, March 10th.

This event was met with dismay by every other human that I know – but not by me!

Why can’t I get enough snow?  I’m not ready for winter to be over…

(I haven’t said this out loud to any other person).

Snow Caps in Pasture, MarchThe writer, Rick Bass
understands what snow can mean, does mean, to this human be-ing (me).  I was reading his Winter (notes from Montana) this afternoon as the big flakes fell steadily and silently down.

Continually. Rhythmically.  Silently. Magically.

Bass writes from his perspective as a native Texan of his first Montana winter and his immersion in snow:

“I’ll never get used to snow – how slowly it comes down, how the world seems to slow down, how time slows…                                       I don’t mind the cold. The beauty is worth it”.

“I watch individual flakes;  I peer up through the snow and see the blank infinity from which it comes;                                                    I listen to the special silence it creates.”

“I stand outside in the snow for long periods of time, in the middle of it, looking out:  I cannot believe I am so rich,              getting all this snow….                                                                        Everything’s so quiet.”

“It’s more like an afterlife.  I never dreamed I would live in a hard country away from people, with such quietness.”

Snow & Deck, March

Re-reading, then typing his words, helps me to understand why I’m hanging on to winter and to snow.  I crave more of that special silence, that feeling of richness, that comes in the sweetness of falling flakes and under the snow blanket they create.  Even with the slowing of time, the season went so quickly, too fast.

Spring will come and I will relish the unearthing and the rebirth all ‘round.  But not yet.  For a few more days let me feel all the depth, serenity and solitude of winter.

Animals, Home, Inspiring Words, Nature, Sweet Breathing

Exuberance (Joie de vivre!)

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This precious life… can we live it with passion, fullness, exuberance, gratitude and grace?

and at transition’s time move forward with that same passion, fullness, exuberance, gratitude and grace?

“Exuberance is beauty.”

                                                                                      -William Blake

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“For all that has been,

Thank you.

For all that is to come,

Yes!”

-Dag Hammarskjold

January 6 Rainbow

“Oh Wow, Oh Wow, Oh Wow!”

-Steve Jobs (his last words)

Full Moon, Venus & Mars

 

Sweet Breathing

Juxtaposition

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“Words are a pretext.

It is the inner bond that draws one person to another,

not words.”

Rumi

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“…as human beings we all need affection. 

Warm-heartedness gives rise to the self-confidence

and inner strength

that supports a calm mind.”

Dalai Lama

The timeless words from Rumi, along with the recent words from the Dalai Lama, create a word tapestry for the photo from Bhutan that is featured at the top of this blog post.  This spontaneous moment was caught in time as the foursome sat on the bench overlooking the peaceful valley below – two travelers and two young monks – not so far distant in heart – drawn to each other by the view and each other.

Ah…Bhutan, where “success” is tracked by virtue of happiness.
In thinking of a simpler life, Bhutan is ever present in memory from travels there.

Young Monks

Since, 1971 the country uses formal principles of GNH – that’s Gross National Happiness!  Encompassing the citizen’s health in spirit, in body, in their communities, in social interactions and in the health of the natural environment, gross national happiness is fundamental and foremost to all decision making – material growth is not the focus.

Well Be-ing.

The sweet embrace of the people, the green verdant valleys, the beautiful carved wood of the homes, the matriarchal way of life, the unabashed celebration of life and fertility, the music and temples, all combined to imbue in me a deep and abiding love for Bhutan that I will hold close forever.DSC_0464

Simple life indeed.

Deeply satisfying.

The gallery below holds a few more photos from Bhutan that I hope will bring you a sense of peace, beauty and simplicity…

*Slideshow will load below. Hover in the black area below the photo to pause, or go forward and back.

Sweet Breathing

Winter Zen

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“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear”

Bare Treesfor Project

“No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place”

These are Zen proverbs that  I could endlessly revisit,  falling ever deeper into meaning.Leaf

 

Meditative absorption.

Direct understanding.

The Zen of Winter.

Branch on the Ground

“To the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders”

Lao Tzu

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe”

Stones

“To attain knowledge,

add things every day. 

To attain wisdom,

remove things every day.” 

Lao Tzu

Wood in Fence

Sweet Breathing

Reflections from the Mirror

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“When you want only love

you will see nothing else”

Perfect Reflection Lake McDonald

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?

Lake-Reflections-Lake-McDonald

 “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

Lake McDonald Reflections, January

Sweet Breathing

As Above So Below

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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.

Sparkly Tree

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

Fence, Snow, Blues, Sunset

 

Are we brave enough to lay bare our souls?

To be authentic, real and raw?

To be open?

Sweet Breathing

Every Time I’m in the Woods

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“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

Every Time I'm in the Woods

Sweet Breathing

Learning to be Astonished – Mary Oliver Poetry…

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“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