friday quotation

 

There are times when we stop.  We sit still...we listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.
~ James Carroll

friday quotation

"...community is first of all of quality of the heart.  It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another.  Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own.  The question, therefore is not 'How can we make community?' but 'How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?' "
~ Henri Nouwen

friday quotation

Feeling like giving a little tribute to Oprah today for asking hard questions with a big dose of humanity, compassion, and accountability.

If you peel back layers of your life - the frenzy, the noise - stillness is waiting. That stillness is you. 
~ Oprah

sunday something

And we wonder why some people didn't recognize us cheering at 3M?! 
Nonetheless, we did see a lot of people today as we cheered friends and unknown runners alike through parts of their 13.1 mile saunter through Austin.  The weather was PERFECT.  A little more perfect for running than for spectating, but no rain and crisp air to keep everyone alert.  Oh, for perfect running days like this morning all of the time.  I was even feeling the tug of putting on a race number again.  I'd forgotten the excitement of an event like that.  The crowds running through the streets all with a common destination and many shared goals and purposes.  The spectators offerings words of encouragement and energy.  Everyone out there being healthy and able to do something like that.  Yes, I fall into that category, too.  So maybe I'll find my way back into my running groove.  Or maybe I'll settle into a walking groove.  Or swimming groove.  Or yoga groove.  Or barre/pilates class groove.  I'm all over the map right now.  But happily so...evidenced by the goofy grin on my face this morning. 

friday quotation

May your joys be as bright as the morning, and your sorrows merely be shadows that fade in the sunlight of love.  May you have enough happiness to keep you sweet, enough trials to keep you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to keep you happy, enough failure to keep you humble, enough success to keep you eager, enough friends to give you comfort, enough faith and courage in yourself to banish sadness, enough wealth to meet your needs and one thing more; enough determination to make each day a more wonderful day than the one before. 
~ An Irish Blessing

Friday quotation

In keeping with my theme of light, some words from one of my favorite authors...

The thing about light is that it really isn't yours; it's what you gather and shine back.  And it gets more power from reflectiveness; if you sit still and take it in, it fills your cup, and then you can give it off yourself.

~ Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

my word for 2013

I think that instead of listing resolutions or intentions or goals or, or, or... for the year ahead, I'm going to try to do everything through a lens of a certain word or theme. 
And this year's word/theme for me: LIGHT.
Nurturing the light within me.
Sharing that light with others.
Being light as I go through the world.
Letting go of things so that I go through the world lightly instead of burdened.
Taking things lightly instead of seriously (as appropriate, of course!)
And always believing that there is a light at the end of whatever tunnel I'm traveling through...no matter how dark it seems.
Yes.  This is the year of light.  Of epiphanies.  Of hope.  Of new beginnings.  Of seeing things in a different way.  Of understanding things on a deeper level.  Of self-reflection, self-nuturing, freeing myself to fly, and warming the world with whatever light I've generated.