The most exhausting thing you can do is to be inauthentic.

--Anne Morrow Lindburgh

love this...

Today's thought from Hazelden is:

May you live all the days of your life.
--Jonathan Swift

Indeed life is much like a game - both a deadly serious one and one that demands laughter, relaxation, and the ability to play. Either way, life demands attention.

There is much of life that is truly exciting and fascinating - are we watching for it? There is hilarity and humor - do we see it? There is that in life which is touching and full of heroism - are we open to seeing it?

All these are not only present in some general, nebulous way about life, but about our lives! Right here where we live, in our lives today, there will be the hero and the goat, there will be disappointment and reason for wild celebration, there will be the beautiful and the horrible. The soap opera is not out there; it is right here with us, in us, all around us. The task is to be present in our own lives, to get our heads out of others' reality, and to find the enormous meaning and vitality of our own.

Life is precious. Today, I will not take my life for granted.

You are reading from the book:

Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty

Drifting

I have been in an odd place in regard to writing and living these days. It has been hard to pinpoint what is going on or even what to name it. I have not been motivated to post anything or really even write in my journal and last night I realized that I had not even considered visiting my favorite bloggers yesterday even though I spent some time dinking around on the computer. It was not until this morning when I read this post at Mind Sieve that the word came to me for my current state. I am “drifting.” It is something slightly different, I believe, than that to which Sunrise Sister refers which is more akin to being 'adrift.'

When I use this word, drifting, it does not feel like a moving away from anything (although I have been away from my ‘normal’ routine). It feels more like a liminal space—something in between. I was first aware of this space a few weeks ago when I had opportunity to spend several uninterrupted hours alone in nature. I had a “job” to do which was to listen to my surroundings. I took my journal along with a good book, but as I lay there in nature I found that I had no desire whatsoever to open my journal and record the amazing things happening around me. Lying there with bees buzzing, grass blowing and clouds gently swaying in the sky everything was absolutely perfect. I did not need to do anything else.

And so, that feeling has stayed with me for several weeks now. I have thought I was experiencing writer’s block. I have wondered if it is exhaustion or mere laziness, but I realize now that words like liminal and drifting seem to pop out at me when I hear or read them. It is a gentle shift. A slight rocking motion like the wind moving a hammock with an island breeze. I feel cared for and caressed even though I am not following my usual routine of morning reading and writing. God’s presence is abundant even (perhaps especially) without the need to record my impressions on the page.

Hmmmmm. I believe I have written all that is in me for now. Time to drift ☺!

"no bird can fly
without opening its wings,
and no one can love
without exposing their heart."

--mark nepo

here's to having the courage to open our wings, expose our hearts and look at our own "stuff"!

just a little note of gratitude for all those who stop by here and especially those who choose to engage with me through your comments!!

this showed up today...

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Most of us make trouble for ourselves by over-reacting to what others say or do. We have conditioned ourselves to see everyone else as "the enemy" rather than look within ourselves for the real cause of our distress.

If we can pause long enough to uncover our own hidden discomfort and distorted attitudes before we react with harsh criticism or vindictive silence, we can change our destructive first impulses into a loving interchange between individuals.

Today let me not be quick to criticize or condemn another. I will look at others as friends, not as foes, on my journey toward self-discovery.

You are reading from the book:

The Reflecting Pond by Liane Cordes