My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
Care for the soul needs to include care for the sacred, for without it we will become lost without even knowing that we are lost. And care for the Earth needs to combine these two, so that the real music of creation can be heard amidst all the noise of today.
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Seasons of the Sacred
The contemplative discipline of meditation… doesn’t acquire anything. In that sense, and an important sense, it is not a technique but a surrendering of deeply imbedded resistances that allows the sacred within gradually to reveal itself as a simple, fundamental fact.
Martin Laid
This image was handheld when it was 7 degrees and with a slight breeze out of the northeast. Because of those two factors it is not sharp, probably true of more of my images than I want to admit, but I do like the feel of it. It shouts, “Damn it’s cold!” On the upside we are moving into a few days of warmer weather, reaching into the 60’s.
Meditation is the attempt to provide the soul with the proper environment in which to grow and become.
Morton T. Kelsey
As the quote suggests I’ve come to believe that starting each morning with a meditation time provides my soul with the proper environment in which to grow and become. But, I also include my time in nature as part of my meditation. The beauty, serenity, and silence of a sunrise and being able to share it, does something to my soul, just as the twenty minutes sitting on a zafu cushion does. And, both of these experiences are the perks in my retirement years and for being an early riser. I am grateful!
To journey without being changed, is to be a nomad.
Mark Nepo, The Exquisite Risk
To change without journeying is to be a chameleon.
To journey and be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.
I love the idea of transformation by the journey. And the journey I am referring to is an inward journey. I tried the geographical change but that didn’t work. I spent way too much of my life being a chameleon and that didn’t work. It has only been in the last few years that looking inward has become a door into an accurate self-awareness. Who I thought I thought I was, was not accurate because the glasses I was using to see myself needed to be replaced. My inward journey has included self-examination, prayer and meditation which have become an unshakable foundation in my life. It’s a regular part of my daily practice and I enjoy being a pilgrim!!
Hope you enjoy your weekend!
Let me embrace each dawn as gift.
Steven Charleston, Spirit Wheel
Let me walk the hours of day unafraid
With grace and faith unbounded.
Let evening find me close to those I love
Warming my soul by the fires of their laughter.
Let me sleep believing tomorrow will be a blessing.
We had our first snowfall last night. I awoke to a heavy fog and mist this morning. There was a dusting of snow on rooftops and frost on windshields. I agree each morning is a blessing whether a brilliant sunrise or fog and mist. And, my walk through today will include lunch with my oldest daughter, Christine, reading a new book and journaling time. Seems to be that kind of day. Happy Halloween!
Let me honor you today with the respect you deserve.
Steven Charleston
Let me acknowledge you as a person
Who has worth and value.
Our world would be diminished without you.
Our journey would seem longer.
You bless us with your presence.
You make a difference in our lives.
We need you.
There are many who would stand to say this with me.
You are loved.
I know you well enough to understand
That you do not expect
Or even want to hear this kind of praise.
But I believe the spirit intends every human heart
To hear a simple truth: you are a light others can see.
Today would have been my mothers 93rd birthday. I miss your light!
tired after a night of wrestling for sleep
mws
I settled into silence, prayer, and meditation
ignoring the cold, I mounted my red steed for
an invigorating bicycle ride to the arboretum
then placed a latte made with love by Allie
on a tabernacle at an east facing window
with beams of sunlight enkindling blank pages
I sought words hidden within a favorite fountain pen
… meditation is a normal and central part of the spiritual life and open to everyone.
Thomas Keating
It is an absolutely beautiful day here in Colorado on this Friday the 13th. I hope you had a safe and wonderful Friday.