What's bloomin' now, besides me :)

Bertrand Russell : “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness."

"Come home to our hearts again" ~ Tara Brach

Eryngium aquaticum (Sea Holly)

Finding Freedom in the midst is difficulty

Gives faith

Hibiscus

I Find Peace

I find peace in the color of water
how it invites the light
how it flows through us 
and around us,
how it becomes so many different things
while renaming itself.

I find peace when I set greed aside
I find peace when I have spoken my last word
I find peace when I am ready to listen.

Joyce Sidman

Ken

Law

Napatree Point... I'll see you again soon...

Okra - mallow family, as are hibiscus - who'd a thought?

Passion - Power and joy that gets sparked ... loving the journey

Quest Questions
Resiliency
Sacred pause...

Unlimited resources
Very nice choice, Ken
"When You Need Me" by Bruce!
eXquisite mechanism

Yarrow

Zest for life!!

Tuesday Truths, Wednesday Wonders

“Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation, then deciding what you’re going to do about it.” ~Kathleen Casey Thiesen

Being present and aware... Begin to feel a new freedom

Choose actions and thoughts that nurture... Connecting with our deepest desires...

Desires are seeds planted within Designed to lead us to our Divine passion and purpose 

Exponential Opportunities for Growth, Empowered selves. Equanimity

"Follow the phosphorescent thread of intuition that moves toward delight. So many things to learn, things to learn From... Love is an art, like music, dance, or painting pictures.  It thrives on light and imagination and daring. The heart of the lover learns wisdom From a stone, a song, a blossom, a breeze." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

G.K. Chesterton : “The real pleasure-seeking is the combination of luxury and austerity in such a way that the luxury can really be felt."

Heed the call

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” ~ William Shakespeare

Jnana Mudra: To start the day feeling engaged with the tasks ahead... Pearl of Wisdom #96

Knowledge or wisdom

Live in equanimity: "Philosophy teaches us to bear with equanimity the misfortunes of others." - Oscar Wilde

Martha's retirement party at Tripp's today
Now is the only time we have
Owl sounds Open Our  pure potential.
PBJ muffins help too :) made with jam from Germany :)

Quieting the mind, we...

Release the past completely and Realize our true destiny

Slow down to catch up

Thank you friends: Martha, Carmen...
Unmistakable evidence of abundance, hope and  joy
Vastness comes to mind

Who am I? meditation via Deepak and Oprah
eXpansive sense of freedom and hope

Yogi toes ;)  and the
Zen of Watch Hill Carousel

Sunday Soul Search

"...Ask for a clear mind and a strong heart that I may be “Captain of my soul.”~ Leaves of Life, by Margaret Bird Steinmetz

Besmirch - interesting word... especially when it comes to money. How did money come to be besmirched?
Cogent morality play about love, memory, and what is needed for a full and rich life." The Giver Phillip Noyce

Daily prayer message from my Jess

Enchantment - what a lovely word

Find this movie:

Giver : American social science fiction film directed by Phillip Noyce, based on the novel by Lois Lowry. 

Hafiz: 

Jessica Kelly:

"Let silence take you to the core of Life." ~ Rumi

"Moment you accept what troubles you've been given, the door will open." ~ Rumi

NOT POOR

We are not poor. We are just without riches,

we who have no will, no world:

marked with the marks of the latest anxiety,

disfigured, stripped of leaves.

Around us swirls the dust of the cities,

the garbage clings to us.

We are shunned as if contaminated,

thrown away like broken pots, like bones,

like last year’s calendar.

And yet if our Earth needed to

she could weave us together like roses

and make of us a garland.

For each being is cleaner than washed stones

and endlessly yours, and like an animal

who knows already in its first blind moments

its need for one thing only—

to let ourselves be poor like that—as we truly are.

        ~ Rainer Maria Rilke's The Book of Hours, III, 16

           Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy

"Over abundance of control" ~ Avengers
Project Happiness
Quote from Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

"Spirit of sacrifice, of detachment, of renunciation, and above all, for the spirit of joy and gratitude." ~ Amiel

"The secret of goodness and greatness is in choosing whom you will approach, and live with, in memory or imagination, through the crowding obvious people who seem to live with you." ~ Robert Browning

"Undressing" by Rumi

Welcome difficulty, as a familiar comrade...

Sorrows are the rags of old clothes / and jackets that serve to cover,

and then are taken off. / That undressing,

and the naked body underneath,

is the sweetness that comes after grief.
Year with Rumi

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Access the gap

Be alert to all opportunities

Cosmic psyche whispers softly in the gap between our thoughts

Thank you Ken

Early morning coffee and Echart Tolle's A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
Friday Frenzy has Finally ended
Give Me Gratitude or Give Me Debt

Heart, be considerate. Soul, be tolerant. ~Rumi 

Thank you Deb Hoadly

John O'Donohue : "I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding."

"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love." —

Lao Tzu

Mountain Meditation - Jon Kabat-Zinn

No place else like Napatree Point

"Once more you open the door / And you're here in my heart" ~ Celine Dion

PawPaw with my lunch Annonaceae

Quintessentially emblematic 

Rabindranath Tagore's

Stream of Life

Trader Joe's Trip needed soon

Very interesting week

Wow - What a great 

X - "Are you prepared for what comes neXt?"

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

This week's inspirations

Atlantis Lodge, Atlantic Beach, NC 8/17/14

 photo by David Crawford

Bhavana : (Pali; Sanskrit) literally means "development" or "cultivating" or "producing" in the sense of "calling into existence."

Clearing the pathway

Dwell in the realm of non-doing

Encounter Equanimity : mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.

"Follow Your Heart" by Diane Duda

Gentle undulations, even through the surface is whipped to frothing p. 143 JK-Z

Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain

I see with eyes of wholeness, and act with Integrity and kindness ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

Jon

Kabat-Zinn

Love this hanuman handstand

Maturing Metamorphosis through Meditation... walking our own path... More ardently

"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try." ~ Yoda
Orangutan Day was this Tuesday
"Peace is every step" ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Quinn's 2nd Birthday

"Ruminate whilst I illuminate" ~ Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin

"Standing meditation is best learned from trees" p. 149 Wherever you go... JK-Z

Time to Move On...attualmente

Unknown...and known nourish our lives from day to day...

Walk with it... Walk With this step... p. 147 Wherever you go... JK-Z

eXquisite

"You will be faced with a choice" ~

How to ... What if... write, re-write Aug 17, 2014

"At the deepest level, there is no giver, no gift, and no recipient . . . only the universe rearranging itself." — Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

Ben Howard performing "Depth Over Distance" click here Beautiful 

Called to adventure... Concentration Capacity Cultivation 

Deep breaths with Deepak. Drishti with Meghan

Effort but non-doing is required to practice meditation

Freedom
Gobsmacked: adjective : utterly astonished; astounded. 

Hero's Journey 

"It is the mark of an educated man to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." --Aristotle

Jon

Kabat-Zinn

Meditate on My personal hero's journey... Mindfulness of generosity

Notice what Needs taking care of Now

One journey... One pointedness: samadhi

Piercing hope lights my path... "Practice sharing the fullness of your being" 

 "...Quiet hopes and labors for others." —Bryant McGill

Renew thyself 

Samadhi (Sanskrit: समाधि) refers to a state of meditative consciousness. It is a meditative absorption or trance, attained by the practice of dhyāna. In samādhi the mind becomes still.

Thoreau: "They say that characters were engraven on the bathing tub of king Tching-thang to this effect: 'Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again.' I can understand that. Morning brings back the heroic ages."

Understanding Undulation
Vehicle for this work is meditation" bucketing out the pond
Wonder what video that began With "W" Was here before YouTube decided to delete...

eXperiencing eXpanded versions of ourselves

Yogic philosophy states that the soul's Yearning for a connection with others derives from a Yearning to connect with itself. #431 of 1,001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom by Liz Lark

Zinn Zen - Jon Kabat-Zinn

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

"And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying."

"Be observant if thou wouldst have a pure heart, for something is born to thee in consequence of every action." ~ Rumi

"Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."

Dead Poet's Society

For the first time in my whole life

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may / Old Time is still a-flying"

"Happiness is part of who we are. Joy is the feeling." —Tony DeLiso

"I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world." ~ W.W.

Just so heard to believe, but...

Kim Cullinane Pearson, I am thinking of you too xoxo
"Like a blanket that always leaves your feet could."

"No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world."

"O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done..."

"Powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse."

"Questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?""

Rest in Peace

Shakespeare

“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray thee, love, remember.” ~Shakespeare

Uncle Walt Up there

"eXistential Angst of Dead Poets Society"
"You must find your own voice!"
Zest for life!!

Monday, August 11, 2014

"Allow nature to teach you stillness" ~ Echart Tolle

"Becoming aware of awareness is the arising of stillness." ~ Echart Tolle

Dante Bosco says it best... "Rest in Peace, Robin"

Everyone felt a loss. Logan said: "I feel like I just lost my favorite uncle."
Frenetic stream of consciousness
Good Will Hunting

Hook
I had started a completely different blog post, but this one emerged in response to such sad news
Jumanji

Mrs. Doubtfire

Night at the Museum

Robin Williams

Shazbot

This is so very sad...

"What will your verse be?" ~ Mr. Keating Dead Poet's Society

Sunday, August 10

"Align with what fills you up, excites, inspires, frightens yet thrills you." ~ Lis at Dandelion seeds and Dreams
Bronzer for Christine :)

"Create your own list - not what do I want to do, but how do I want to feel?"

Eckhart Tolle - Acceptance and Surrender

finally, friday (final days of summer break) and me finally catching up on blog reads

Thank you Brooke :)

Heidegger's Hut

Illusory sense of self is what Albert Einstein, who had deep insights not only in to the reality of space and time but also into human nature, referred to as "an optical illusion of consciousness."

"Juicy, expansive, plugged in, engaged" ~ Lis at Dandelion seeds and Dreams

Keep walking

Listening to what feeds my soul

Martin Heidegger - Heidegger's Hut form Carmen's Facebook page

Nan Miller's Birthday is today, so I took a stroll over to her place
Oprah and Tolle were with me for my morning walk

Pineapple sage - thank you Liz 

Queys : heifer words with friends with pete fidrych made 100+ points with it

Remembrance cake {flourless chocolate rosemary cake}

 “Tell me how you read and I'll tell you who you are.” ― Martin Heidegger
Unity consciousness
Vedic wisdom : most valuable of all; inherent in every desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment.

Words With friends:  afrit or afreet : a powerful evil jinni, demon, or monstrous giant in Arabic mythology

eXchange of appreciation and gratitude forms a bond we must preserve.

 Thank you, Meghan :)

Zen bliss at our place after your fabulous Reiki

The week in review Aug 4 thru 9 2014

Abelia scent is in the Air

 photo by Lonnie Huffman

Bumblebee Moth: A Snowberry
Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis)
Dharma instead of our conditioned ego mind

Exploring openness in radical video

"Feeling the SPANDA, the pulse, the expansion/contraction, the concealment/revelation, the inhale/exhale, the open/close, the peekaboo!" ~ Meghan

Gawk at everyday wonders
Healthy, Happy, Harmonious
"I suppose I am heading in the right direction then." :)
Jason Silva : Performance Philosopher
Kundalini is described... as an indwelling spiritual energy that can be awakened in order to purify the subtle system and ultimately to bestow the state of Yoga, or Divine Union upon the 'seeker' of truth "
"Life should be lived to the point of tears." ~ Albert Camus

Mandy's comment (see below) can now become my "M", since the video that was here is no longer available

Nectaring is a verb. Who knew?

"One cannot help but be in awe when One contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend only a little of this mystery every day." -Albert Einstein

Pulse
Quality of your doing?? ~ Echart Tolle
Receive the opportunity to glimpse the greatness of our true nature
Surrendering to the demand of abhyasa (tireless practice of devotion over a long period of time).

Undulation

Vibrate

“We all have two lives. The second one starts when we realize that we only have one.” ~Tom Hiddleston

eXpanding to embrace that thought, and this one: 

“Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes...Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings.” - Rumi
Zipcode that is right for me. ~ Rick McBane

A to Z tidbits that are HUGE!

"Be in this space with me" ~ Wayne Dyer (God's message to us in the middle of the night)

Daily meditation on Dharma

Einstein said:

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts." ~ Albert Einstein

Gunilla Norris invites us to live soulful moments throughout August because...
 "...Highest ecstasy is the attention at its fullest”. Simone Weil

Knowledge

"Life is not complex.  We are complex.  Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing. ―Oscar Wilde

"May we see beyond the surface waves, may we cherish the sacred in all beings…may we find our way to peace." ~ Tara Brach

Numinous: having a strong religious or spiritual quality; indicating or suggesting the presence of a divinity.

"Only a very exceptionally gifted mind could cope singly with all the problems which present themselves in the protecting of a home." ~ Arnold Bennett

Poetry video: "Limited in his nature, infinite in his desire, man is a fallen god who remembers heaven." ~ Alphonse de Lamartine
"Quinnypalooza" begins 

Resting pose

Shots of Awe on YouTube with Jason Silva

"The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you . Don't go back to sleep!" ~ Rumi via Wayne Dyer

Unearth the power within

Vedic seer states, “I am the immeasurable potential of all that was, is, and will be, and my desires are like seeds left in the ground: they wait for the right season and then spontaneously manifest into beautiful flowers and mighty trees, into enchanted gardens and majestic forests.” ~ qtd. by Deepak Chopra

When color and rhythm are harmonious, the tapestry of life is extraordinary." ~ Old MossWoman's Secret Garden

eXquisite is a beautiful word

Zeitgeist (spirit of the age or spirit of the time) is the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in time.

A to Z with Deepak Chopra

All Possibilities, Authority, Absolute, Affluence, and, Abundance

Better and Best. This is also called the principle of highest first.

Carefreeness and Charity: Carefreeness automatically leads to charity and sharing because the source from which it all comes is infinite, unbounded, and inexhaustible.

D stands for dharma. Each of us has a dharma, a purpose in life. When we are in dharma, we enjoy and love our work. Offer that purpose, and supply is guaranteed.

E stands for Exulting in the success of others Especially those who consider themselves your Enemies

F stands for the Fact that in every Failure is the seed of success.

G stands for Gratitude, Generosity, God, Goal, and Gap.  God is the ultimate role model and the Goal is in the Gap and the Gap is a precise mechanism through which all desires can be manifested.

Step 1: You slip into the gap between thoughts. The gap is the window, the corridor, the transformational vortex through which the personal psyche communicates with the cosmic psyche.

Step 2: You have a clear intention of a clear goal in the gap.

Step 3: You relinquish you attachment to the outcome, because chasing the outcome or getting attached to it entails coming out of the gap.

Step 4: You let the universe handle the details. It is important to have a clear goal in you awareness, but it is also important to relinquish your attachment to the goal. And the goal is in the gap, and the gap is the potentiality to organize and orchestrate the details required to affect any outcome.  One of the easiest and most effortless ways of slipping into the Gap  is through the process of meditation.

Happiness and Humanity: We are here to make all humans we come into contact with happy.

Intent and Intention: It is to make an unchangeable decision from which it is Impossible to go back. It is singlemindedness of purpose. With fixity of purpose not countermanded by any other conflicting desires or interests. In order to acquire wealth—or for that matter, anything in the physical universe—you must intend it, make a decision to go for it. 

Judging Not Stands for the fact that it is not necessary to judge. When we relinquish our need to constantly classify things ... we experience more silence in our consciousness. Our internal dialogue begins to quieten when we shed the burden of judgment, and it is then easier to access the gap.

Knowledge – organizing power is inherent in Knowledge. Knowledge of any kind gets metabolized spontaneously and brings about a change in awareness from where it is possible to create new realities.

Love and Luxury. Love yourself. Love your family. Love everybody.  Love the world. Also adopt luxury as a lifestyle. Luxury is our natural state. Adopting luxury as a lifestyle sets the preamble, the preconditions for the flow of wealth.

M stands for Making Money for others and helping others Make Money. Helping others make money and helping other people to fulfill their desires is a sure way to ensure you’ll make money for yourself as well as more easily fulfill your own dreams.

No to Negativity

O stands for the fact that life is coexisting of all Opposite values... and Opportunity and Open and honest communication.

Purpose in life and Pure Potentiality

 Question dogma, Question ideology, Question outside authority. It is only by questioning what people take for granted, what people hold to be true, that we can break through the hypnosis of social conditioning.

 Receiving is as necessary as giving. To graciously Receive is an expression of the dignity of giving.
To graciously receive a compliment or admiration or respect also implies the ability to be able to give these to others.

Spending and Service. Money is like blood; it must flow. Hoarding and holding on to it causes Sludging. In order to grow, it must flow. Otherwise it gets blocked and, like clotted blood, it can only cause damage. Money is life energy that we exchange and use as a result of the Service we provide to the universe. And in order to keep it coming to us, we must keep it circulating.

Transcendence, Timeless Awareness, Talent Bank, and Tithing. Without transcendence, life has no beauty. In order to live a full life it is necessary to go beyond all boundaries. As the Sufi poet Rumi has said, “Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there. My experience of transcendence through the practice of meditation gives me an inner stability and silence that is not overshadowed by any activity. That silence stay with me so that no outer experience can overshadow the awareness and experience of the self. Timeless awareness is in the heart; it feels.

In order to maximize creativity and offer the best service, it is good to develop a talent bank or a coterie of individuals with unique and diverse talents and abilities and whose individual talents, when added together, are more than the sum of the parts.

Tithing means giving away a certain portion of your income without conditions or strings attached. When you give, a vacuum is created that attracts even more of what you have given away. As Emerson said, “Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar.”

U stands for Understanding the Unity behind all diversity. Unity consciousness is a state of enlightenment where we pierce the mask of illusion which creates separation and fragmentation. We experience unity consciousness when we are in love, when we are with nature gazing at the stars or walking on the beach, listening to music, dancing , reading poetry, praying, and in the silence of meditation. In unity consciousness, we slip through the barrier of time into the playground of eternity.

 Values: truth, integrity, honesty, love, faith, devotion, and beauty. Rabindranath Tagore says, “When we feel beauty, we know it as truth.”

Wealth consciousness Without Worries.  Once, when we were discussing a world peace project with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, somebody asked him, “Where is all the money going to come from?” And he replied without hesitation, “From wherever it is at the moment.”

X stands for eXpressing honest appreciation and thanks to all who help us.

Youthful vigor. We experience health when our identity of who we are comes from reference to the self...then we keep our energy to ourselves...energetic... powerful, and we experience youthful vigor.

Zest for Life! It is to appreciate life in all its vitality and exuberance. It is to know that there is only one life that expresses itself in myriad forms. It is to know that I am that, that you are that, that all this is that, and that’s all there is. To see that life is to know that power is in the present moment.  Tagore once said, “The same stream of life that runs through the world runs through my veins night and day and dances in rhythmic measure. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth into numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of flowers.” He calls this “the life throb of ages, dancing in my blood this moment.” To be in touch with this life throb of ages dancing in our blood this moment, is to have
Zest for life. It is to face the unknown with carefreeness and freedom. The unknown is the field of all possibilities in every moment of the present. And this is freedom, beyond the known of past conditioning, beyond the prison of space, time, and causation. As Don Juan once said to Carlos Castaneda, “It does not matter what our specific fate is, as long as we face it with ultimate abandon.” This is carefreeness. This is joy. This is freedom. This is Zest for life.

“Creating Affluence” by Deepak Chopra