The Experience of a Moment
July 11, 2010
the simple magic of insignificant details
http://blog..com/
Inspired
June 18, 2010
What is it about women? Those who see hurt and lend a hand…those who see pain and lend a shoulder, those who see possibility and commit to a cherished outcome? Where do they come from? How do they know that there is enough for everyone and thrive in generosity?I am surrounded by those women and inspired.
Grace: The choice to extend goodness
April 19, 2010
Long ago, we decided that when we saw beauty in anyone or anything we would notice it and appreciate it. Every time we see a woman with lovely eyes, beautiful skin, a kind heart or gentle spirit shared with the world, we speak our appreciation to that person.
Those few words of goodness can change the course of the day for the waitress serving us breakfast, the grocery clerk packing our bags or the exhausted receptionist checking us in for our doctor’s appointment. We have come to understand that everyone is blessed with their own unique kind of beauty, and once we make the choice to not only see it, but appreciate it, we find ourselves surrounded by the miraculous in the midst of the ordinary. And, the most astounding insight has been that when we choose to extend goodness in the midst of this imperfect world, we receive that goodness back in abundance.
Where might you see beauty in the midst of your day? To whom could you extend goodness, and in the extending, receive in abundance?
The Essence of Understanding
April 14, 2010
“When we are mindful, we notice that another person suffers. The other person may be a husband, a wife, or a child. If one person suffers, that person needs to talk to someone in order to get relief. We have to offer our presence, and we have to listen deeply to the other person who is suffering. That is the practice of love–deep listening. But if we are full of anger, irritation, and prejudices, we don’t have the capacity to listen deeply to the people we love. If people we love cannot communicate with us, then they will suffer more. Learning how to listen deeply is our responsibility. We are motivated by the desire to relieve suffering. That is why we listen. We need to listen with all our heart, without intention to judge, condemn, or criticize. And if we listen in that way for one hour, we are practicing true love. We don’t have to say anything; we just need to listen. “The essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability to recognize the physical, material, and psychological suffering of others, to put ourselves “inside the skin” of the other. When we are in contact with another’s suffering, a feeling of compassion is born in us. Compassion means literally “to suffer with.” –Thich Nhat Hanh
T
hank you Quma Learning & Dennis Deaton
Morning Offering
April 14, 2010
And waste my heart on fear no more.”
poem by John O’Donohue
BEE, JUST BE…It’s spring again
March 29, 2010
THE BEE.
Like trains of cars on tracks of plush
I hear the level bee:
A jar across the flowers goes,
Their velvet masonry
Withstands until the sweet assault
Their chivalry consumes,
While he, victorious, tilts away
To vanquish other blooms.
His feet are shod with gauze,
His helmet is of gold;
His breast, a single onyx
With chrysoprase, inlaid.
His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee’s experience
Of clovers and of noon!
by Emily Dickenson
The Elk Ate My Ivy
March 25, 2010
It was a full moon…so much moon light that night looked like day.
We were watching some horror(ish) thing on t.v. , so my skin was crawling a bit anyway. Out of the corner of my eye, just beyond the window, I saw movement. Holy Creepers! First reaction to fear?…punch the husband. He hadn’t noticed, but agreed to take a look.
There were at least 100! The size of horses on steroids. They moved out from the shadows of the pine forest towards the house; like The Bloods moving in on The Crips. Step by step, without a sound, they surrounded the house. LITERALLY.
We turned off all the lights to get a better view…eventually daring to open a window so we could listen to the power of the masses destroying our yard, garden, hedges of ivy…the occasional slurp from the pond. Massive beasts daring to dine on the hours and hours of our gardening labor.
IT WAS MORE THAN WORTH IT…I can’t begin to tell you the power that these animals have. They stayed for several hours, munching their way through acres of new spring growth. This morning, it looks like a thousand tiny bombs went off in the yard. Not a green sprig in sight. The hub and I decided that it was like a free pruning service and that everything will probably come back bigger and stronger…thanks in addition to all that free fertilizer they left behind.
They came, they ate, they pooped!…Kind of like a family Thanksgiving.
The moral of the story? Sometimes the things we cultivate serve a completely different purpose than what we intended. Let go and look for the gift.
YOU BRING TO THE WORLD WHAT NO ONE ELSE CAN
March 18, 2010
LOOK TODAY FOR THE SMILES REFLECTED BACK AT YOU…LISTEN TODAY FOR THE MUSIC THAT DELIGHTS YOU…GIVE TODAY TO SOMEONE IN NEED…LOVE TODAY EXPECTING NOTHING IN RETURN…
PROOF THAT NO ONE LOOKS, LISTENS, GIVES OR LOVES AS YOU DO IN THE MOMENTS OF YOUR VERY UNIQUE LIFE.
OPEN YOUR EYES
March 16, 2010
matters that matter women’s retreat
March 15, 2010
Linda and Jack...the perfect man!
Home-made apple pie and lots of smiles
Molly and Jack...the perfect man!
Judy of Guler and Linda of the Harbor
Our own Volcanologist...the handsome Tom of the Mountains
Jean and Candy in the SUNSHINE
Linda and Judy, sisters
Cindy at Peace
who is that woman hugging my husband?
Gathered Our Courage Together
Anna: light and spirt
The girls mixing glue stick and soup...huh oh!
Speed scrabble...endless possibilities
The MATTERS THAT MATTER W OMEN’S RETREAT. A room filled with courageous, bright, authentic women. We ate, we danced, we drank good wine & coffee (as promised), we laughed, we cried, we drummed, we napped, we created, we learned from one another, we loved with all of our hearts and souls. Women gloriously being women. Could it get any better? Well maybe if Amy Ferris (Marrying George Clooney) could have been there!
What If We Were “PERFECT”
February 26, 2010
I recently read a book by Geneen Roth, Feeding the Hungry Heart. She is amazing and every person should read her. She speaks to the human condition regardless of the condition a human is in. She dares to suggest that we might consider that we are ENOUGH just the way we are. That if we accept where we have been, what we have accomplished or not, the insecurities we carry, what we weight, the mistakes we’ve made; all contribute to exactly where we are supposed to be and who we are supposed to be. By accepting our very flawed selves as ADEQUATE, we could possibly eliminate the ever-present whispering voice of anxiety. The voice that requires so much attention trying to figure out how to create something different from what we really are. MISTAKES and IMPERFECTIONS are abundant. But there isn’t one that doesn’t offer the opportunity to move ahead. If we worried less about what should have been, or how we should be different, we might just find the brain cells to be more content with all the amazing things we truly are. Imagine replacing the voice that says you are inadequate with the voice that says I AM ENOUGH!
Artist Lynn Hoppe http://lynnehoppe.blogspot.com/
Define Courage For Yourself
February 24, 2010
Mother (in the) Hood
February 23, 2010
We are a tribe, a community, a ferocious pack of heart and soul. We are hope and heartache and a source of endless possibilities. There is nothing in the world that is worth protecting as much as our children. Our children are a reflection of our own past…the good, the bad, the ugly. By nurturing them, we are able to nurture our childlike selves. They are the essence of our present, guiding and determining almost every breath we take. Without question they are our future. We see and anticipate through our own thoughts and actions the lives that they will lead when they are standing alone. We are surrounded by “our children”. We are their parents, their mentors, their neighbors, their friends. Their future is our future. The investment offers a priceless return.
Next time you pass an infant, make eye contact. Hold its’ gaze. You will see the true source of all the world can be.
Matters That Matter ® 