Thanks for this reminder. For another one, check out Walt Whitman's Miracles (https://poets.org/poem/miracles). My Dad kept it always in a folder on his desk, and it was read at his funeral this spring.
Damn you... This is where I live right now: I'm trying to write picture books which are suppose to have happy endings and I'm acutely aware -- as I attempt to hold my newly widowed sister together; absorb news that my college boyfriend lost his wife in the early months of COVID; navigate a life-reality check that another sister has lost another part of her boob to cancer... I'm not in a place to hold their grief very well and the world sometimes doesn't offer happy endings and yet, there's that stupid moon and the desert smells so good after a downpour and I can get on my bike and disappear into my head for 40 miles because I'm healthy and alive and blessed. Yep... still baffled.
Thank you for this reminder. My husband always laughs at me when I am absorbed in fresh, clean sheets after washing them but it is the little things that keep us going. Getting that encouraging email from my daughter this morning and the lovely kisses from our dog. These are some of the things that keep me going when the weight of the world wears me down. I appreciate your words sharing your thoughts. So refreshing for the soul!
I was fortunate to live next door to a woman, Sheri, who always greeted me (and everyone else) as if we were long lost loves. ( What a gift to me.)
Just last week (in a Richard Rohr message I was reminded of Mary Oliver's words:
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
The AT&T woman and you did just that. Thank you.
Love this so much! The healing power of wonder and awe is proven, we need to keep is closer.
Thanks for this reminder. For another one, check out Walt Whitman's Miracles (https://poets.org/poem/miracles). My Dad kept it always in a folder on his desk, and it was read at his funeral this spring.
Thank you for this! Wonder-full.
Do you know about Rob Walker’s newsletter and book? The Art of Noticing https://robwalker.substack.com/
It’s about noticing and celebrating little things in our life. Highly recommend!
Damn you... This is where I live right now: I'm trying to write picture books which are suppose to have happy endings and I'm acutely aware -- as I attempt to hold my newly widowed sister together; absorb news that my college boyfriend lost his wife in the early months of COVID; navigate a life-reality check that another sister has lost another part of her boob to cancer... I'm not in a place to hold their grief very well and the world sometimes doesn't offer happy endings and yet, there's that stupid moon and the desert smells so good after a downpour and I can get on my bike and disappear into my head for 40 miles because I'm healthy and alive and blessed. Yep... still baffled.
This was just pure delight... and reminded me of this great poem:
It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
"The Real Work" by Wendell Berry
Thank you for this reminder. My husband always laughs at me when I am absorbed in fresh, clean sheets after washing them but it is the little things that keep us going. Getting that encouraging email from my daughter this morning and the lovely kisses from our dog. These are some of the things that keep me going when the weight of the world wears me down. I appreciate your words sharing your thoughts. So refreshing for the soul!
Wow! Joy is everywhere; we have only to notice!
Big thanks, Courtney. We need constant reminders--or I do. Here's a beautiful one (and a forthcoming book) from a spiritual teacher himself, via some wonderful students of his: https://plumvillage.org/podcast/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet/