Tag Archives: Spirituality
Humdrum, Everyday Badness
“(There) are people who will follow any dragon, worship any god, ignore any iniquity. All out of a kind of humdrum, everyday badness. Not the really high, creative loathsomeness of the great sinners, but a sort of mass-produced darkness of the soul. Sin, you might say, without a trace of originality. They accept evil not …
The Noise In Our Heads
“Time goes by very quickly; one day we may be surprised to discover our life is nearing its end, and we don’t know what we’ve done with all the time we’ve lived. Maybe we’ve wasted entire days in anger, fear, and jealousy. We rarely offer ourselves the time and space to consider: Am I doing …
To Be
“We have a tendency to think in terms of doing and not in terms of being. We think that when we are not doing anything, we are wasting our time. But that is not true. Our time is first of all for us to be. To be what? To be alive, to be peaceful, to …
Stillness
Excerpted from Anam Cara by John O’Donohue, ©1997: Stillness is vital to the world of the soul. If as you age you become more still, you will discover that stillness can be a great companion. The fragments of your life will have time to unify, and the places where your soul-shelter is wounded or broken …
Big and Small
“Someone asked me, ‘Aren’t you worried about the state of the world?’ I allowed myself to breathe and then I said, ‘What is most important is not to allow your anxiety about what happens in the world to fill your heart. If your heart is filled with anxiety, you will get sick, and you will …
YOU
“If everything around seems dark, look again: you may be the light.” ~Rumi
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, How Does…
Joy Clarkson has her own web page at (naturally) JoyClarkson.com.
Slow Down, You Move Too Fast
“When you hold a child in your arms, or hug your mother, or your husband, or your friend, if you breathe in and out three times, your happiness will be multiplied at least tenfold.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh And that reminded me of this: Full lyrics HERE.
Attempt to Conceal
“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say ‘My tooth is aching’ than to say ‘My heart is broken.’” ~C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain © 1940
Is Not
“Not getting your own way is not a crisis.” ~Michael Kewley
Passive
Currently Julian Assange is in jail for exposing American war crimes. The people who actually committed the crimes are walking free.
The Pride of Life
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, …
Little Duties
“Great holiness consists in carrying out the little duties of each moment.” ~St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás
Precious Mistakes
Excerpted from Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom ©1998, by John O’Donohue: One of the qualities that you can develop, particularly in your older years, is a sense of great compassion for yourself. When you visit the wounds within the temple of memory, you should not blame yourself for making bad mistakes that you …
Stumbles
From Galatians 6:1-2: Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. From The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran: …
Illuminations
“The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.” ~Virginia Woolf That’s the way it’s been for me. I’ve never had The Big Reveal; only glimpses, shadows, movement in the periphery. Just enough to know that there’s something there.
Paradox
Excerpted from the article Music That Is Never Heard by Ephraim Radner: Solitary confinement is rightly viewed as the worst of living punishments, a place where self-expression is doomed to fail. Solitary confinement “cancels” the self, which is neither seen nor heard. Yet Carthusian monks have retreated to solitary cells in order to find, or …
Communion
“Each day, devote some time to being physically alone, because that makes it easier to practice nourishing yourself and looking deeply. It is because you are comfortable in solitude that you can be in communion with the world.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
Their Life Is In Their Movement
“We are showered every day with gifts, but they are not meant for us to keep. Their life is in their movement, the inhale and the exhale of our shared breath. Our work and our joy is to pass along the gift and to trust that what we put into the universe will always come …
RIP Tony Hendra
Tony Hendra died last Thursday of Lou Gherig’s disease. He was 79. You can read a little bit about him HERE. His autobiography, Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul, is a wonderful book about spiritual transformation. I don’t have a lot of space to store books, but I’ve always kept a spot on …
Abbie's Tree House 