My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
I want to be part of a system in which wealth means having enough to share, and where the gratification of meeting your family needs is not poisoned by destroying that possibility for someone else. I want to live in a society where the currency of exchange is gratitude and the infinitely renewable resource of kindness, which multiplies every time it is shared rather than depreciating with use….
Robin Wall Kimmerer
It is a beautiful October day here in Colorado. It was a much warmer morning on my bicycle ride to coffee than yesterday. I was grateful to see the waning gibbous moon watching over me on my ride to coffee. When I saw its reflection in Spring Creek on my ride home I had to stop, take some breaths and receive the gift. Yes, it’s a beautiful fall day in Colorado! And, it has been a nice slow day that has included getting my hair cut and then stopping at the Bread Chic bakery on the way home and buying a loaf of their sourdough bread for toast in the mornings. It is still early in the day so I just may get in another bicycle ride before this day ends.
I recently read where Martin Luther King defined agape love as the willingness to serve without the desire for reciprocation, willingness to suffer without the desire for retaliation, and willingness to reconcile without the desire for domination. There are people in this country, and the world, who won’t agree with his definition. Many cling to the ideologies of supremacy and the delusion that violence is a solution. Those are not in alignment with his definition, nor have they ever brought peace. I also noticed he uses the phrase without the desire three times in his definition. After contemplating his definition I am in agreement with him. But until I can live his definition of agape love and nonviolence in my life, the words written in this blog post are just fluff. Many will doubt there can be such a change in people’s beliefs and thinking? However, I’ve seen such changes in people’s lives. And, then what would our world be like it people lived a life of agape love?💙 Going to post this and ride to the coffee shop. Enjoy your Monday!!
Let my gift to the world be
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer from The Unfolding
my constancy, a devotion to openness,
my willingness to be with what is.
Let my gift to myself be patience
as I tend to what is dense and dark.
In order for the world to become peaceful, people must become more peaceful. Among mature people war would not be a problem – it would be impossible. In their immaturity people want, at the same time, peace and the things which make war. However, people can mature just as children grow up. Yes, our institutions and our leaders reflect our immaturity, but as we mature we will elect better leaders and set up better institutions. It always comes back to the thing so many of us wish to avoid: working to improve ourselves.
Peace Pilgrim
It’s going to be in the high 90’s today. May you have a wonderful day!
God speaks out of the inner-most being of the mystics while they are silent.
Al-Junayd
When we surround ourselves with people who are committed to understanding and loving, we’re nourished by their presence and our own seeds of understanding and love are watered. When we surround ourselves with people who gossip, complain, and are constantly critical, we absorb their toxins.
from Silence by Thich Nhat Hanh
It is hard to imagine we are halfway through the month of August. For sure time moves much faster on this downhill side of life. I have had a quiet day, surrounded by the presence of nature. It has been calm like the waters of this pond. I hope you experienced a similar calm, also!!
Only through responsible choice can you choose consciously to cultivate and nourish the needs of your soul, to challenge and release the wants of your personality. This is the choice of clarity and wisdom, the choice of conscious transformation. It is the choice of the higher-frequency energy currents of love, forgiveness and compassion. It is the choice to follow the voice of your higher self, your soul. It is the decision to open yourself to the guidance and assistance of Love. It is the path that leads consciously to authentic power.
Gary Zukav
I found I had less and less to say,
Soren Kierkegaard
until finally, I became silent,
and began to listen.
I discovered in the silence,
the voice of God.
Without some sense of awe, there is little basis for meaning.
Ann W. Young