Things that make me think or simply smile

Passion and purpose

"Traveling from the known to the unknown requires crossing an abyss of emptiness.
We first experience disorientation and confusion. Then, if we are willing to cross in wonder, we enter an expansive and untamed country that has it's own rhythm.
Time melts.
Thoughts become stories, music, poems, images, ideas.
This is the intelligence of the heart.
-a vast range of receptive and connective abilities: intuition, wisdom, meaning making,.
It is aesthetic, qualitative, creative, sensitive, innovative.
And it is here that we uncover our purpose and passion.
The future exists only in our imaginations."

-Dawna Markova
fr: Wide Open

The first step to uncovering purpose and passion is paying attention to what your heart is gently telling you. You know, that rhythmic beat beat beat that starts to move a little faster when you've seen or done something that just feels right? That elation you feel when your knee deep in a moment that makes you so very happy? A memory created that you take with you always, recalling every single little detail that always brings a smile to your face? Time melts.

I have felt the abyss of emptiness, I have felt the disorientation and confusion.

This is know: when I follow the yearnings of my heart, when I listen to the small voice within that quietly leads me down my life path, I am fulfilling my passion and purpose. The emptiness is filled, the disorientation falls away, the confusion becomes clarity.

It's been there all the time.

The process

"It's only when you make
process your goal that the
big dream can follow."

-Oprah

 

Her own beauty

".....when she walks into the room,
everybody turns:

Some kind of light is coming from her head.
Even the geraniums look curious,
and the bees, if they were here, would buzz
suspiciously around her hair, looking
for the door in her corona.
We're all attracted to the perfume of fermenting joy.

We've all tried to start a fire,
and one day, maybe it will blaze upon it's own.
In the meantime, she is the one today among us

most able to bear the idea of her own beauty,
and when we see it, what we do is natural;
we take our burned hands
out of our pockets,
and clap."

-fr: "Grammar"
by Tony Hoagland

 

Wholeness

"Whatever wholeness we
achieve requires enormous
work, which is the effort
of life; and that work
is never complete."

-Unknown

I love this quote. I really love this picture, it evokes a feeling that would be too hard for me to put into words. The minute I snapped the picture, I had a little lump in my throat, I knew that I had captured something very meaningful. I also knew I would include this exact quote to go along with the picture. What I didn't realize until a little later was this picture also defined what wholeness means to me; a place of peace.

I'm grateful for the immense power of words and images, the ability they have to be a guiding force in my life. If you have a chance, read Amanda's beautiful thoughts on words. Just lovely.

Walking with my girl

"All nature is alive, awake and
aware with the Divine Presence,
and everything in life responds
to the song of the heart."

-Ernest Holmes

A walk with Skylar outside our back door earlier this week. A few hours filled with the warmth of the sunshine on our backs, chatter of birds welcoming the warm day, the scent of freshly mown grass, flowers blooming, such beauty to behold. After these winter months, it was welcome with open arms.

Good days ahead, I can feel it.

The beauty we love

"Let the beauty we love
be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to
kneel and kiss the ground."

-Rumi

 

Capturing the rays of sunlight this morning, deeply thankful for those moments of gratitude for the life I live. Gratitude for the many ways of loving this life. 

We are the authors of our own story.
We can choose the ending every day of our lives.
With pen in hand, we go forth.

Living in the moment

"but the one mistake I made is the one that most
of us make while doing this.
I did not live in the moment enough.
I wish I had not been in a hurry to get on
to the next things: dinner, bath, bed.
I wish I had treasured the doing a little more
and the getting it done a little less."

-Anna Quindlen

Mindfulness in the moment, a mindset I aim to live my life by yet fall short so very often. I'm slowly learning. I thank my children for the many lessons they provide me to help guide the way to living more in the moment. I can say with utmost confidence that so far on my path of motherhood I have no regrets, I have made choices that I feel have been the best for my children, the ones that matter the most. Forgetting to live in the moment with my children is a regret I do not want to look back on my life as having. I remember this when I feel the "mommy mode" kicking in..."hurry up", "just let me do this so I can move on to the next thing", "no, we don't have time for that right now", it happens, those sentences are uttered yet I am aware of them, always hoping to catch myself the next time before they are spoken. I'm always a work in progress with no aim to be perfect. Just a desire to treasure the small moments that make a life.

Time, the most precious gift we have. A present I want to cherish with my whole being.
There is always enough time.

Wishing you a happy weekend full of treasured moments.

Excellence

"Strive to be your best each and everyday.
The chance to be excellent-to push from
adequate to extraordinary-begins with aligning
your thoughts and words with intention
to require more of yourself.
Start speaking the language of
Excellence."

-unknown

 

Your heart

"Give voice to your
heart."

-Unknown

This is what blogging is for me, the voice of my heart. I'm thankful to have this place to share the words, thoughts and images that truly come from my heart. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of Skylar, it captures the essence of her soul perfectly. It makes my heart swell everytime I see it. The perfect moment captured.

Choose the way

"Everyone should carefully observe
which way his heart draws him,
and then choose that way with
all his strength."

-Hasidic saying