My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
It is a wonderful day in our life
John O’Donohue
when one is finally able to stand
before the long, deep mirror of one’s own reflection
and view oneself
with appreciation, acceptance and forgiveness.
On that day
one breaks through the falsity of images and expectations
which have blinded one’s spirit.
One can only learn to see who one is
when one learns to view oneself
with the most intimate and forgiving
compassion.
Compassion means to come close to the one who suffers… A compassionate person says I am your brother, I am your sister, I am human, fragile, and mortal, just like you… We can be with the other only when the other ceases to be other and becomes like us.
Henri Nouwen
We all suffer. Even those with money, food, good health, a job, nice home with two cars and money in savings. I would venture to say most people hide their suffering, maybe even denying it. We can easily believe that because we have stuff we are not suffering and therefore different than others. We can even feel that even when we only have one car. Accumulating stuff can lead to a lack of compassion.
I would love to see more compassion in our world. Maybe take it one step further and make it empathy not just compassion. And to have compassion and empathy, we must cease to see others as different from us and see them to be just like us. We are, at the core, all the same. I think the above quote is spot on.
I am sharing this nice photo of Kelsey’s latte art. I enjoy ordering a cappuccino or mocha just so I can see what kind of artwork they will produce. It is a beautiful summer morning, clear skies and sunshine. May you have a wonderful Friday.
Real security can only be found, if at all, in a world without the injustices that now exist, and without arms.
Kathleen Lonsdale
It was 19 degrees with clear skies and sunshine when I left the condo this morning, our first day of 2024. However, we are expecting to reach 50 degrees later. Kathleen Lonsdale’s quote stirs my hopes for this coming year. So I would like to share my prayers and hopes for the coming year. May our troubled and broken world embrace a year filled with peace, love, compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness, love, mercy, kindness, justice, love, and healing. May we respect and protect all human lives, their rights as equals, never less or greater than, always discovering our common ground. May we let go of the heavy chains of anger, hate, fear, judgements, prejudice, resentments that weigh us down, separate and divide us. May we see with the openness of new eyes, not defined with preconceived images of our minds or another’s images. May we choose faith over fear. May we have the awareness we are all connected in unimaginable ways within this landscape we call earth. May we respect and protect our life-giving natural world as vital to our existence and not abuse it. May we spend more time within the beauty of Mother Earth, walking gently on her sacred soil, fully embracing the gift she is while accepting her embrace. May we venture into the mystery of the unknown that lies ahead of us with trust! And last but not least, may we all enjoy the gift of sharing with our neighbors from our box of Enstrom’s Almond Toffee (to die for I’m telling you). And, thank you for the gift of your presence in my life, even if it’s virtual!!
Cool loneliness allows us to look honestly and without aggression at our own minds. We can gradually drop our ideals of who we think we ought to be, or who we think we want to be, or who we think other people think we want to be or ought to be. We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and heartache, no punishment. Cool loneliness doesn’t provide any resolution or give us ground under our feet. It challenges us to step into a world of no reference point without polarizing or solidifying. This is called the middle way, or the sacred path of the warrior.
Pema Chödrön
I enjoyed my drive to Windsor for coffee and conversation with Eric this morning. Clear blue skies, sunshine and cold. I saw a half dozen hawks and one with a mouse, the mornings special. I have also seen at least one eagle the past three weeks. Last Saturday I saw four. May have to take my longer lens next week. I needed to stop and accept this scene with our Rocky Mountains draped in a pink alpenglow and the moon looking out over it all.
Pema Chödrön’s quote again reminds me of those images I have of who I am or what I ought to be. I also like how she suggests we look directly with compassion and humor at ourselves and walk that sacred path of the warrior. Hope you have a wonderful Saturday!
It says something about our species that we have eradicated smallpox and invented vaccines and antibiotics for yellow fever and the Black Death, but war continues to plague us; that in the past century — this supposed pinnacle of enlightened modernity — war has claimed or maimed more of our children’s lives than any virus or bacterium. It says something about both our immense imagination and our immense blind spots: Our species’ failure to eradicate war is a failure of the imagination, a failure to imagine what it is like to be anybody else, without which there can be no empathy and compassion — those vital molecules of harmony, the other name for which is peace.
Maria Popova
Maria’s quote is spot on. Could it be that much of our world is unable to imagine what it is like to be anybody else, find our similarities, because we are trying hard to be somebody we aren’t rather than accepting who we are. I love her idea that molecules of harmony, empathy and compassion, will bring peace.
About a month ago I posted a quote by Vincent Van Gogh which I liked. Just after I posted that quote they put up this new mural at Starry Night coffee shop. I had to have a photo the moment I saw the mural and quote. It’s interesting that as a photographer we can draw people’s attention to things they have not yet seen while sitting right next to them. You can see how the one woman turned to see what the silly photographer was pointing his camera at. Happens all the time! I’m off to meet Mark for breakfast and conversation.
May you have a wonderful day and may what you do in love today be done well!!
I belong to no religión. My religion is love. Every heart is my temple.
Rumi
At this point in my life I do not believe anyone is a bad person at the center of who they are. Although that could be true of peanut M&Ms, I don’t believe it’s true of humanity. Some will disagree. There are many who believe the lie that we are born bad and then live a life based on that belief, never coming to the full potential and the gift we are to the world.
God who created man out of love also calls him to love–the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1604
I’ve read where we are created out of love to be love and that statement resonates at the center of who I am and continues to resonate. Maybe it’s the optimist in me, the romantic in me or my hope for humanity. But, I also believe in it because it gives me hope that all people can be transformed and become who they were really created to be; loving, compassionate, kind. This world needs love, lots of it, and it is our task to be that love. We are not bad peanuts coated in chocolate!
“We usually miss You, cluttering our minds with expectations about where and how and who You are, but if we trust giving up our seeking and let ourselves know You in everything that is, even what’s concealed from us, we come to find You everywhere, at all times and in an equal way, no matter how strange this might seem to us.”
Meister Eckhart’s Book of Secrets
I believe the above is written from the perspective that You is referring to God. Even though the author is Christian his concept of You is not confined to a box but goes way beyond that. His You is not an object or deity. I also feel that way. I find it interesting to reread this and each time replace the word You with God, Love, Reality, Great Spirit, Compassion, Beauty, Nature, Creator, Truth, Justice, Peace, Serenity… and none of these are objects or material things. Thanks for listening…