Wednesday, March 23, 2011

What inspires you?

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“It is never about how good your voice is; it is only about feeling the urge to sing, and then having the courage to do it with the voice you are given.”

-- Katie in ‘True to Form’ by Elizabeth Berg

How often have you allowed fear and your inner critic to stop you from doing something you were inspired to do?

Helen Keller said, "Life is either a grand adventure or nothing.” When we allow fear and criticism to stop us in our tracks, we give up that grand adventure. What a waste!

“Be an all-out, not a hold-out.”

-- Norman Vincent Peale

Why are you here? Open to more meaning and fulfillment by exploring your life purpose...

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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Remove the filters...

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“You got to look at things with the eye in your heart, not with the eye in your head.”

-- Lame Deer, Medicine Man of the Oglala people

Whenever we’re thinking, our experience is being filtered through our minds. For example, when I say to myself, “What a beautiful sunset!” I am not fully experiencing the sunset because I am involved with the words in my mind.

Explore letting go of the thoughts, the words, and connecting directly with your experiences. Tune in to the silence and the sensations in your body. Be aware of the spaciousness this brings because this is truly living in the present moment.

Being present doesn’t mean that we have to abandon thinking entirely. That’s not feasible, of course. But we can experiment with what it’s like to stop thinking once in a while!

“Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.”

-- Hans Margolius

Awareness is the key to all change. Begin to trust yourself more deeply as you uncover new dimensions of who you are...

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Friday, March 11, 2011

Wonder-full!

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“...we can't survive without enchantment... the loss of it is killing us.”

-- Thomas Moore

“There is one thing that all true spirituality has in common, whether that spirituality is derived from faith, from science, from nature or from the arts – a sense of wonder.”

-- Andrew Schneider

"There are only two ways to live your life: One is as though nothing is a miracle, The other is as though everything is a miracle. I believe in the latter."

-- Albert Einstein

“We live in a world of theophanies. Holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary. There are burning bushes all around you. Every tree is full of angels. Hidden beauty is waiting in every crumb. Life wants to lead you from crumbs to angels, but this can happen only if you are willing to unwrap the ordinary by staying with it long enough to harvest its treasure.”

-- Macrina Wiederkehr

Why are you here? Open to more meaning and fulfillment by exploring your life purpose...

Posted via email from Les Belles-lettre

Friday, March 4, 2011

Getting down to essentials

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"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials."

-- Lin Yutang

Do you feel a desire to simplify your life?

If you say ‘yes,’ then set an intention to reduce the demands, stimuli, interruptions and busyness in your life. We each have the power to do this – we simply have to begin to say ‘no’ to those activities that don’t directly serve what we want for our lives.

Everyone of this planet deserves to have some free time to think, relax and have fun. If you long for this, begin now to clear your plate and allow a new level of experience to happen in your life. Take charge. Eliminate time wasters. Make some decisions about what matters to you.

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."

-- Hans Hofmann

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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Feeling safe...

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“Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are -- chaff and grain together -- certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.…”

-- Dinah Craik

We cherish our best friends and our special communities because we feel safe to be vulnerable when we’re in their embrace. And yet I have discovered that as long as I identify with my self-image, with my ego, there’s no safety possible anywhere. When the ego is on watch, even a dear friend’s truth may trigger reactions like anxiety, self-criticism and fear.

The only true safety exists in living the truth of our soul, our essence.

“Open your body and your mind to the subtler levels of experience, letting go of your attempt to control, to be right, not worrying about appearances, not trying to be safe.”

-- Stephen Levine

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