Quotations

Psalm 90

Gratitude softens us.

~ Nan Merrill from her interpretation of "Psalm 90" in PSALMS FOR PRAYING

Nan Merrill Psalms For Praying gratitude

Constantly awakening to the new wonder

Gratitude, therefore, takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to the new wonder to praise the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good not by hearsay, but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.

~ Thomas Merton in THOUGHTS IN SOLITUDE

Thomas Merton Thoughts In Solitude gratitude

Each of us owes the deepest thanks

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.

~ Albert Schweitzer in MEMOIRS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH, translated by Erica Anderson

Albert Schweitzer MEMOIRS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH gratitude

Generosity and kindness and style

Every minute of every hour of every day you are making the world, just as you are making yourself, and you might as well do it with generosity and kindness and style.

~ Rebecca Solnit, from the article "We could be heroes" on theguardian.com

Rebecca Solnit gratitude

Mindful

Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It is what I was born for—
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world—
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant—
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these—
the untrimmable light,
of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

~ Mary Oliver, "Mindful" in WHY I WAKE EARLY

Mary Oliver Why I Wake Early gratitude

Gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance,
chaos to order,
confusion to clarity.

~ Melody Beattie, from the poem "Gratitude"

Melody Beattie gratitude

Can you see the holiness in those things

Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted—a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.

~ Rabbi Harold Kushner in WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

Rabbi Harold Kushner WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE gratitude

We gain comfort, satisfaction and peace

We often remember to be grateful for big events, like graduating from university or getting married, but it can be more difficult to feel grateful for the small things we do every day. Reminding yourself that eating a meal, for example, is in itself special and can be very powerful. Your immediate awareness of the food in front of you, combining flavors while removing hunger, is a great way to enjoy gratitude as often as you eat! Another is feeling grateful in the morning for being able to comfortably sleep at night. We gain comfort, satisfaction and peace by practicing mindfulness and gratitude in this repeated fashion.

~ Najma Khorrami, from the article "Four Ways to Wire Your Brain for Gratitude" on mindfulness.org

Najma Khorrami gratitude

The humans articulate this

Everything is here for the same reason, for manifestation and celebration. But the humans articulate this. The others cannot articulate it reflectively. They can be a manifestation, but they cannot reflect on that. Humans can, therefore our role is to be spokespersons for the universe and to appreciate the universe as the context in which the Divine and human meet.

~ Thomas Berry

Thomas Berry gratitude

Awakening

Awakening in a moment of peace
I give thanks
to the source of all peace
as I set forth
into the day
the birds sing
with new voices
And I listen
with new ears
and give thanks

nearby
the flower called Angel's Trumpet
blows
in the breeze
and I give thanks
my feet touch the grass
still wet with dew
and I give thanks

both to my mother earth
for sustaining my steps
and to the seas
cycling once again
to bring forth new life
sun-fire
the dewdrops
become jeweled
with the morning
sun's fire
and I give thanks

you can see forever
when the vision is clear
in this moment
each moment

I give thanks

~ Harriet Kofalk, from the song "Awakening"

Harriet Kofalk gratitude

Psalm 107

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

~ Psalm 107

gratitude

Gratitude can transform

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.

~ William Arthur Ward

William Arthur Ward gratitude

Gratefulness has three steps

Gratefulness has three steps: not missing the opportunity, appreciating the opportunity, and using or enjoying the opportunity. By this method we come fully alive, full of joy, which is what we are all longing for.

~ Brother David Steindl-Rast

Brother David Steindl-Rast gratitude

Psalm 27

Love is my light and
my salvation,
whom shall I fear?...

One thing have I asked of Love,
that I shall ever seek:
That I might dwell in the
Heart of Love
All the days of my life,

To behold the Beauty of my Beloved...

Call upon the Beloved,
be strong and trust
in the heart's courage.
Trust in the power of Love;
the Beloved's unconditional and
everlasting love for you.

~ Nan Merrill, from her interpretation of "Psalm 27" in PSALMS FOR PRAYING

Nan Merrill Psalms For Praying joy

Here is the world

Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid.

~ Frederick Buechner in BEYOND WORDS: DAILY READINGS IN THE ABC's OF FAITH

Frederick Buechner BEYOND WORDS: DAILY READINGS IN THE ABC's OF FAITH joy

There are doors

In the universe there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.

~ William Blake in THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL

William Blake THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL joy

What if that is joy?

Is sorrow the true wild?

And if it is—and if we join them—
your wild to mine—what's that?

For joining, too, is a kind of annihilation.
What if we joined our sorrows, I'm saying.
I'm saying: What if that is joy?

~ Ross Gay in THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS

Ross Gay The Book Of Delights joy

Marginal

This is where I live,
at the edge of this ploughed field
where sunlight catches meadow grasses
and turns them silver-yellow....

I prefer it here, at the line
where the forest intersects
the field, where deer and groundhog
move back and forth to feed
and hide. On these juts and outcroppings
I can look both ways, moving
As that crow does, all gracelessness
and sway....

This life is not easy,
but wings mix up with leaves there,
like the moment when surf turns into
undertow or breaker, and I can
poise myself and hold
for a long time, profoundly
neither one place nor another.

~ Maggie Anderson, from "Marginal" in WINDFALL: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS

Maggie Anderson WINDFALL: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS joy

The strange path

I am quite confident that even as the oceans boil, and the hurricanes beat violently against our once safe shores, and the air sweats with the heat of impending doom...that there is a path to take that has nothing to do with victory or defeat: a place we do not yet know the coordinates to; a question we do not yet know how to ask. The point of the departed arrow is not merely to pierce the bullseye and carry the trophy: the point of the arrow is to sing the wind and remake the world in the brevity of flight. ... May this new decade be remembered as the decade of the strange path, of the third way, ...the kairotic moment... that opened up new places of power.

~ Bayo Akomolafe

Bayo Akomolafe joy

It is not too late to love

In times like these, many things become too late...It will be too late to save this coastline or that ecosystem, this city or that species, this democracy or that economy. But it is not too late to love, and it never will be. Love will count, no matter what. Even on the last day of the world.

~ Brian McLaren in LIFE AFTER DOOM: WISDOM AND COURAGE FOR A WORLD FALLING APART

Brian McLaren LIFE AFTER DOOM: WISDOM AND COURAGE FOR A WORLD FALLING APART joy

Fluent in the manners and ways of soul

We have entered a time of descent that takes us down into a different geography. In this shadowed terrain, we encounter a landscape familiar to soul—loss, grief, death, vulnerability, and fear...This is not a time of rising and growth. It is not a time of confidence and ease. No. We are hunkered down. Down being the operative word. From the perspective of soul, down is holy ground...

How can we meet these unpredictable times with any sense of presence and faith?
To do so, we must become fluent in the manners and ways of soul. We are required to develop another set of skills and ways of seeing as we descend ever further into the collective unknown. We are being asked to hone the faculties of soul that will enable us to navigate through the Long Dark....

~ Francis Weller in IN THE ABSENCE OF THE ORDINARY

Francis Weller IN THE ABSENCE OF THE ORDINARY joy

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

So, friends, every day do something that won't compute...Give your approval to all you cannot understand...Ask the questions that have no answers. Put your faith in two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years. ...Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts...Practice resurrection.

~ Wendell Berry, from "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" in THE COUNTRY OF MARRIAGE

Wendell Berry THE COUNTRY OF MARRIAGE joy

Walking you make the road

Walker, your footsteps
are the road, and nothing more.
Walker, there is no road,
the road is made by walking.
Walking you make the road,
and turning to look behind
you see the path you never
again will step upon.
Walker, there is no road,
only foam trails on the sea.

~ Antonio Machado in BORDER OF A DREAM

Antonio Machado BORDER OF A DREAM joy

Sowing Seeds

An expression of faith
In life Herself
Is to sow seeds into dark soil
Not knowing what awaits.
Returning to the patience
Reverence
Grace
Humility
Practiced by our ancestors...
Reminding me to wake up amidst the confusion
To do what must be done to feed the children.
To tuck vibrant seeds into fertile soil
And patiently tend the garden,...
The garden that our ancestors left for us is beautiful.
May we water it well with our tears and our laughter, our stories, and our songs.

Today I choose to plant seeds of hope into the winds of an unknown future...
It's a New dawn.
The time to be those ancestors our grandchildren are waiting for is upon us.
What seeds are you sowing?

~ Rowen White, from "Sowing Seeds"

Rowen White joy

And All I've Got Is a Love Poem

How rare and beautiful it is that we exist. What if we stun existence one more time?... The earth remembers everything, our bodies are the color of the earth and we are nobodies. Been born from so many apocalypses, what's one more? Love is still the only revenge. It grows each time the earth is set on fire. But for what it's worth, I'd do this again. Gamble on humanity one hundred times over. Commit to life unto life, as the trees fall and take us with them. I'd follow love into extinction.

~ Ayisha Siddiqa, from "On Another Panel About Climate, They Ask Me to Sell the Future and All I've Got Is a Love Poem"

Ayisha Siddiqa joy

Another name for God

Another name for God is surprise.

~ Brother David Steindl-Rast in GRATEFULNESS, THE HEART OF PRAYER

Brother David Steindl-Rast Gratefulness: The Heart Of Prayer love

Love springs from awareness

Love is frequently equated with good feelings toward others, with benevolence or nonviolence or service. But these things in themselves are not love. Love springs from awareness. It is only inasmuch as you see someone as he or she really is here and now and not as they are in your memory or your desire or in your imagination or projection that you can truly love them.

~ Anthony De Mello in THE WAY TO LOVE

Anthony de Mello The Way To Love love

Love deepens towards permanence

This is how we are: we fall in love with each other's strengths, but love deepens towards permanence when we fall in love with each other's weaknesses.

~ Salman Rushdie in THE GOLDEN HOUSE

Salman Rushdie THE GOLDEN HOUSE love

Remade all the time

Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone. It has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new.

~ Ursula K. LeGuin in THE LATHE OF HEAVEN

Ursula K. LeGuin THE LATHE OF HEAVEN love

To honor what emerges

To love someone long term is to attend a thousand funerals of the people they used to be. It is not our job to hold anyone accountable to the people they used to be. It is our job to travel with them between each version and to honor what emerges along the way.

~ Heidi Priebe in THIS IS ME LETTING YOU GO

Heidi Priebe THIS IS ME LETTING YOU GO love

Love is our true destiny

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone. We find it with another.

~ Thomas Merton in LOVE AND LIVING

Thomas Merton Love And Living love

A gently yielded heart

Honestly accept the journey into physical diminishment as the new learning curve in your life and embrace it with curiosity and beginner's mind. Keep facing forward with a gently yielded heart; that is always the direction from which the new integration emerges.

~ Cynthia Bourgeault from the "Ten Practical Guidelines for Conscious Aging" essay at WisdomWaypoints.org

Cynthia Bourgeault love

May all hearts be opened to one another

May my heart be opened.
May all that is broken within me be healed.
May I awaken to this moment, just as it is.
May all hearts be opened to one another.

May your heart be opened.
May all that is broken within you be healed.
May you awaken to this moment, just as it is.
May all hearts be opened to one another.

May our hearts be opened.
May all that is broken within us be healed.
May we awaken to this moment, just as it is.
May all hearts be opened to one another.

~ Anonymous

love

You come to love

You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.

~ Sam Keen in TO LOVE AND BE LOVED

Sam Keen To Love And Be Loved love

This kind of unmasking

When we reveal ourselves to our partner and find that this brings healing rather than harm, we make an important discovery – that intimate relationship can provide a sanctuary from the world of facades, a sacred space where we can be ourselves, as we are... This kind of unmasking – speaking our truth, sharing our inner struggles, and revealing our raw edges – is sacred activity, which allows two souls to meet and touch more deeply.

~ John Welwood in LOVE AND AWAKENING

John Welwood LOVE AND AWAKENING love

What you're looking through

Before fixing what you're looking at, check what you're looking through.

~ Mark Nepo in THE BOOK OF AWAKENING

Mark Nepo The Book Of Awakening love

Compassion becomes real

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.

~ Pema Chodron in THE PLACES THAT SCARE YOU

Pema Chodron THE PLACES THAT SCARE YOU love

Bless and sit down

Bless and sit down. Forgive and forget. Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you're already in heaven now. That's the story. That's the message. Nobody understands it, nobody listens, they're all running around like chickens with heads cut off. I will try to teach it but it will be in vain, it's why I'll end up in a shack praying and being cool and singing by my woodstove making pancakes.

~ Jack Kerouac from his "The Golden Eternity" letter

Jack Kerouac love

Sabbaths 1999 VI

We travelers, walking to the sun, can't see
Ahead, but looking back the very light
That blinded us shows us the way we came,
Along which blessings now appear, risen
As if from sightlessness to sight, and we,
By blessing brightly lit, keep going toward
That blessed light that yet to us is dark.

~ Wendell Berry, "Sabbaths 1999 VI" in GIVEN

Wendell Berry GIVEN love

True giving

True giving is a thoroughly joyous thing to do. We experience happiness when we form the intention to give, in the actual act of giving, and in the recollection of the fact that we have given. Generosity is a celebration. When we give something to someone we feel connected to them, and our commitment to the path of peace and awareness deepens.

~ Sharon Salzberg in A HEART AS WIDE AS THE WORLD

Sharon Salzberg A HEART AS WIDE AS THE WORLD love

To total acceptance

It costs so much to be fully human... One has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both arms... One has to accept pain as a condition of existence... One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt always to total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying.

~ Morris West in THE SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN

Morris West THE SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN love

You will find God there

Go to the place called barren. Stand in the place called empty. And you will find God there.

~ Joan Sauro in WHOLE EARTH MEDITATION

Joan Sauro WHOLE EARTH MEDITATION love

We are naturally reverent beings

We are naturally reverent beings, but much of our natural reverence has been torn away from us because we have been born into a world that hurries. There is no time to be reverent with the earth or with each other. We are all hurrying into progress. And for all our hurrying we lose sight of our true nature a little more each day.

~ Macrina Wiederkehr from the "Radical Grace" newsletter by The Center for Action and Contemplation

Macrina Wiederkehr love

What Is It?

... and how could anyone believe
that anything in this world
is only what it appears to be—

~ Mary Oliver from "What Is It?" in HOUSE OF LIGHT

Mary Oliver House Of Light allow

The presence of everything

Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything . . . It is the presence of time, undisturbed. It can be felt within the chest. Silence nurtures our nature, our human nature, and lets us know who we are. Left with a more receptive mind and a more attuned ear, we become better listeners not only to nature but to each other. Silence can be carried like embers from a fire. Silence can be found, and silence can find you. Silence can be lost and also recovered. But silence cannot be imagined, although most people think so. To experience the soul-swelling wonder of silence, you must hear it.

~ Gordon Hempton in ONE SQUARE INCH OF SILENCE

Gordon Hempton ONE SQUARE INCH OF SILENCE allow

Quietude

I personally believe the noise pollution, both physically noise pollution, as well as our inner noise pollution, is probably one of the single biggest threats to our humanity. And to be able to quiet ourselves enough in whatever practice, and then in the fields of discovery of where we work or where we live, find quietude, so that the signal and antenna can even meet is, to me, the front line of the work. Because if we can't quiet ourselves, getting the instructions, knowing how to meet each other is actually impossible.

~ Azita Walton from "On Nature's Wisdom for Humanity" podcast interview with Krista Tippett

Azita Walton allow

Two questions

For some time now it has seemed to me that two questions we should ask of any strong landscape are these: firstly, what do I know when I'm in this place that I can know nowhere else? And then, vainly, what does this place know of me that I cannot know of myself?

~ Robert Macfarlane in THE OLD WAYS

Robert Macfarlane THE OLD WAYS allow

The Willows

As we are made by what moves us,
willows pull the water up into their
farthest reach which curves again
down divining where their life begins.
So, under travels up, and down and up again,
and the wind makes music of what water was.

~ Marie Howe from "The Willows" in NEW AND SELECTED POEMS

Marie Howe New And Selected Poems allow

Flickering Mind

Lord, not you,
it is I who am absent...

I stop
to think about you, and my mind
at once
like a minnow darts away,
darts
into the shadows, into gleams that fret
unceasing over
the river's purling and passing.

Not for one second
will my self hold still, but wanders
anywhere,
everywhere it can turn. Not you,
it is I who am absent.

You are the stream, the fish, the light,
the pulsing shadow,
you the unchanging presence, in whom all
moves and changes.

How can I focus my flickering, perceive
at the fountain's heart
the sapphire I know is there?

~ Denise Levertov from "Flickering Mind" in THE STREAM AND THE SAPPHIRE

Denise Levertov THE STREAM AND THE SAPPHIRE allow

In the stillness of quiet

In the stillness of quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair.

~ Howard Thurman

Howard Thurman allow

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