Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I hear many people talk about their longing for a balanced life. What I think they are really expressing is a desire for a life with less pressure.
Protect your vision. Prevail over adversity. Persevere in the midst of turmoil. Passionately act upon your convictions. Purposely walk into the day.
Nurturing is not complex. It's simply being tuned in to the thing or person before you and offering small gestures toward what it needs at that time.
It takes courage to reinvent joys, to reinvent opportunities, to reinvent dreams, to reinvent connections, to reinvent hopes that you have set aside.
Dare to dream of your great success. Become intimate with those things which deeply motivate you and regularly work toward the realization of that mission.
I wrap the potential for bitterness, resentment, martyrdom in the blanket of forgiveness and just set it down. Then it just melts in the warmth. And goes away.
Gardening is all about optimism. I put a seed in the ground. I consistently tend it, confident I will see the results, in time, of the nurture I have provided.
In spite of unseasonable wind, snow and unexpected weather of all sorts - a gardener still plants. And tends what they have planted ... believing that Spring will come.
In all my ways of seeing - may I use new glasses, a telescope and a microscope. And may I always allow myself to see a circumstance through the tender hearts of my friends.
In your days - things like this happen to you... You get a tap, a nudge, a gentle shake, and life whispers to you, "I know you're tired - but I don't want you to miss this."
My biggest dream is that my words will inspire heart, hope and personal responsibility in people around the globe long after my feet in these shoes aren't walking the planet.
Lean forward into your life... catch the best bits and the finest wind. Just tip your feathers in flight a wee bit and see how dramatically that small lean can change your life.
Just stop it. Seriously. Whatever it is. Just stop it. If only for an hour, a day, a week. Stop doing it long enough to get a glimpse of what the change would actually look like.
The most important promises are the ones we make to ourselves. The promises we makes to ourselves are the things that assure us we have the capacity to keep our promises to others.
It is a better thing to weigh and measure priorities in the illuminating light of your own mission than to have your activities formed by the impressions and expectations of others.
What are the proper grounds for joy? Is it circumstance which will determine the stature of my spirit? Ah, no. It is choice. It is always a choice - in the face of any event - for joy.
In my own deepening understanding of myself I find my capacity to serve others is deepened as well. The better I am at self-care the more genuinely nurturing of others I am able to be.
Manage the remarkable balance between acting from your heart and close to your gifts with completing the obligations that your labor and tasks require of you. Leverage opportunity AND seize joy.
Choose the whole of your environment, things and events, based upon the value, meaning and function they hold. Do not allow obligation or immediacy to bind you to physical things or specific actions.
Have your new year's resolutions been a new beginning for you or have they just been different words on the same old beginning? Maybe now's the time to establish a new pattern of viewing your life fresh.
Pick up a stone that feels good to you and is small enough to hold in one hand. Consider how long that stone has been around and what enormous pressure it has experienced. Draw strength from its long history.
In all things and in all ways, choice impacts virtually every element of our life. It bears repeating that even those things which seem out of reach of our choice are governed by how we choose to perceive them.
Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.
Find your balance and stand with it. Find your song and sing it out. Find your cadence and let it appear like a dance. Find the questions that only you know how to ask and The answers that you are content to not know.
BUILD UP YOUR CIRCLE.... A mind that perceives What can rationally be. A spirit that sees Innovative possibility. A heart that is open to Both beginnings and ends. A firm hand that fits readily To the reach of a friend.
Tonight, late, when I'm still not done with the day but must comply with sleep, I can whisper, "There was done a little good today. Today I changed myself and the world, just a little. And yes, I loved." Most days, that is enough.
Be avid. Create apart from perfection. Risk failure. Cover your words with sweat. Run a little Touch excruciatingly. Laugh until you cry. Dance with your eyes closed. Care. Understand you die a little in every moment. Be Enlivened
USE this time of fresh beginnings. Use it as an impetus, the force or energy toward change. Become stronger, a better leader, more focused in your thoughts. Exert more influence over your dreams by bringing them closer to your thoughts, every day.
Ask today as you consider the many choices in your view - what is the highest and best use of your talents, skills and abilities? When you answer that, seize the opportunity to sharpen those qualities even more sharply by applying your focused effort.
We listen. We listen. We move. We sit. It rains. The sun comes out. (there stands a friend) We listen. We laugh. We share. We sit. We dance. It rains. There stands a friend. We listen. We share. We sit. We dance. The sun comes up. There. I stand, a friend.
I rest in the light of forgiveness. I forgive myself and others for that which is done (and better left undone) and also that which is not done (and better if done). I give myself permission to enjoy this moment without guilt. I freely release all uncertainty, regret, and fear.
I will dance a little. I will move with the wind. I will give my body to my love and celebrate that we have substance beyond the idea of ourselves. We can move. We can touch. This is my physical exclamation point. This is how I can awaken my mind to the possibilities in the day.
Manage through the uncertainties. Practice appropriate actions and participate in healthy choices. Value and celebrate the loyalty of the individuals around you: celebrate their competencies and successes, as well as your own. Build up your circle and reinforce it at every opportunity.
I take every opportunity to articulate to others the ways that they have blessed and influenced me. I hold sweet memories of making the opportunity to thank teachers who have influenced me. I encourage everyone to seize opportunities to tell people who have made a gift of knowledge or influence.
Living in the present moment requires discretion toward memory. Without memory we'd have amnesia. What good would there be in that? Offer discretion and discernment for our past with a broad spectrum of forgiveness. As for our present moment, delight. And dedication to remain fully present to all the possibility.
I like to talk about a thing I call a "practiced pause." Just a few moments of pausing allows me to consider a circumstance and take stock of what the best direction might be. Reactions tend to rise from habit and unconsidered action. A Response is considered and thoughtful. My actions are my own and I am, singularly, responsible for what I see, say, feel and exert.
I recognize this in my writing process. A consistent writing structure opens the door to amazing insights. I recognize the truth of this in my daily habits. When I set my keys in the place I, with practice, always set my keys... I do not lose them. In many instances an ordered external structure can be an invitation for an extraordinarily unfettered, creative and unbounded inner structure.
I offer gentle understanding to myself. I position myself in love, not fear. I look behind me with forgiveness. I look forward with festive anticipation. I embrace this holy moment and assert, "Now. This moment is the moment to love, the moment to serve, the moment to seize the legacy instead of the small. Now. Now I will live large, love boldly, reach to the edges of my unfurled heart and fully enrolled hope."
I think one of the finest gifts I can give my friends in the holiday season is to pause with a long enough quality to actually SEE them. My calm, unhurried presence communicates this gift of a message, "I see you. I recognize you. I remember our times of together and am contributing right now to another quality memory. I value you and honor and take the time, right this moment to pause long enough to truly notice you."
Intentions are a lot like seeds. You shove them into the ground, and every once in awhile, you water them. Largely, the seed does most of the work on its own. If, on one hand, you were digging the seed up several times a day to see what progress was being made, the seed would not take purchase in the soil. On the other hand, if you completely ignored it, giving no water or nourishment to the soil, the seed might not thrive.
LOVE LETTERS TO YOURSELF This is taken from a love letter (a gentle reminder) I wrote to myself recently. Live in your joy today. Be authentic. Love yourself. First. Love others from your own abundance. Life Changes. Circumstances change. Sometimes you try to fit your old way of being into new circumstances rather than becoming new yourself. Embrace transformation as an opportunity. And keep on writing love letters to yourself.
I am the owner of my choices. I am the source for the perspectives I choose to hold regardless of how aware I am of why or how I come to possess that particular perspective. It takes courage to look into the mirror of our souls, absent excuses. I will look into that mirror little bits at a time. SEE and ACT. SEE what I can bear to see and ACT upon what I am able. This is the heart of a gentle invitation to personal responsibility.
See beauty in those unexpected places. (she asked herself how people could let Bach be background noise.) See the opportunity in what looks like inconvenience. (she steered clear of the traffic jam and went to the bakery she's been meaning to stop at.) She embraces the undeclared possibility in what seems like just another ordinary day. (her friend is scheduled for cancer surgery and suddenly everything around her seems so very precious.)
Pain is a difficult companion. There's no getting around that. But, if pain is to be a companion, searching and discovering your own best ways to travel with that pain will lead you to the joy that you long to have. They are your paths, your ways and while my experience and the experiences of others may inspire you, ultimately it will be the choices you discover and make for yourself that lead you to certain joy in the midst of your challenges.
The holiday season promotes a heightened sense of community. It draws our chins up and helps us look above and over the limiting fence of our own events, activities and preoccupations. The opportunity for a heroic gesture can tap you quietly on the shoulder in the midst of a holiday bustle. If you are attentive, you will notice the gentle touch and will be able to respond. Remember... There are no small acts of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.
Speak quietly to yourself and promise there will be better days. Whisper gently to yourself and provide assurance that you really are extending your best effort. Console your bruised and tender spirit with reminders of many other successes. Offer comfort in practical and tangible ways - as if you were encouraging your dearest friend. Recognize that on certain days the greatest grace is that the day is over and you get to close your eyes. Tomorrow comes more brightly.
My key to living an inspired life involves Embracing my history, Understanding the function of expectations and gently learning to have none; Recognizing the power of attentive and conscious choices. In all circumstances I acknowledge this, IN ALL THINGS AND ALL WAYS, I HAVE CHOICE. My choice resides in my perspective. While I certainly do not control climate and markets and roadways and others, I do control myself and my response to all those circumstances. I do indeed.
Making promises to myself, in my personal writing practice, has been important to me all my life. In practical application it is so much easier for me to make promises to others, and keep them, than it is to make promises to myself. "Why is that?" and the answer I gave myself is that in making promises to others I create a model of accountability and reinforcement. I duplicate that in my writing and have grown increasingly better at making and keeping promises to myself.
I confessed recently to an old friend, "I realized I was looking at you, in your visit, through old glasses. Speaking old words. Telling old stories. I realize that in my life I've made so many physical changes and I need to give my spirit time to catch up." Time for my spirit to look at my friend through the new glasses of current life experiences. Old friends are precious. They become even more treasured when they are wrapped in the currentness of life experiences and not relegated to the past in which they once lived.