Tag Archives: love

Living Life with Gratitude

Do you live each day of your life fully? We know we are mortal and life will sometime end, but we still tend to live as though we’ve been given an endless supply of days. The seconds, minutes, and hours tick away relentlessly. Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Each day is a gift, and the present moment is the only certain one. There is beauty and sacredness to be found in every single day, when we choose to live that way. It’s the small things all around us all the time that give life its true magic.

Intentionally taking notice of life’s beauty makes life feel infinitely richer, and when we express gratitude for it, we also amplify our abundance. That which we focus on expands, so more comes back to us in an upward positive energy spiral of our own making.

Never underestimate the power of gratitude! It is an attitude that shifts everything in its path. Life immediately becomes bigger and full of possibility with gratitude.

If you are not already doing so, there is no time like today to begin fully immersing yourself in life! Don’t miss out on anything that you could enjoy, embrace, love, or learn, every single day from now on. Wring every beautiful moment out of life that you can, because it will fly by faster than you might ever imagine.

You may well ask, “How exactly does this help the world?” People can feel your happiness and the fulfillment of your soul. You will be a conduit of positive energy and inspire others, therefore helping to uplift humanity and create a better world.

This post is an excerpt from Becoming Bigger: In a world that wants to keep you small. It is free to read online or download at this link.

Inspirational Gratitude Quotes:

“Being grateful does not mean that everything is necessarily good. It just means that you can accept it as a gift.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” ~ G.K. Chesterton

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” ~ Maya Angelou

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

And to finish, I send a wish of Happy Thanksgiving to American readers celebrating your big day of gratitude today!

Crimson Reverie

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Friends send word
that it’s a stellar
autumn back home,
punctuated with pics
of unimaginable
flushes of perfect
color, ringing against
deep blue skies,
nudging my heart
to impossible
yearnings…

For long luxurious
walks scented
by Nature’s turning,
the poignant musk of
her full fruition,
apricot and crimson
ablaze with sunlight,
her dazzling glow
embracing me,
bending my mood
and contemplation.

Whoever could feel
tired or defeated
on such days?

I felt naught
but goodness and
rightness on these
halcyon treks,
Nature teaching me
the natural way
of everything –
It is not death,
but a tender
“see you later”,
only to rise up
again, transformed
in sweet green,
bidding me “hello”,
begging me to
walk and talk
of possibilities,
plans, the rebirth
of everything,
including me.

But just for awhile,
how my heart longs
to stroll once again
‘neath that crimson.

Crimson Reverie is an excerpt from Soul Journey: The Poetry of Life

Posting Crimson Reverie has become an autumn tradition for me. It’s a nod to home and its beauty, my love of nature and its rhythms, family and friends who I miss deeply, so much that I hold dear in my heart. It’s life.

Lighting the Darkness

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Out of the profound sadness that haunted much of Vincent Van Gogh’s life emerged one of the most famous paintings of the world, “The Starry Night” (1889).

Vincent was one of those souls who lived a life that in the fullness of time proved to be famously inspiring to others. While he was alive, his most fervent wish for his art was that it would help people “to see”. During his own personal journey of darkness he created works that would help to light the world.

Not everyone will paint a world-famous picture or write a widely read novel that inspires others. However, each one of us CAN be a light in the world.

Please, endeavor today to do one small random act of kindness for another human being. Be the light, and watch it ripple outward.

Inspirational Quotes:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” ~ Madeleine L’Engle

“A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” ~ St. Francis Of Assisi

“Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ~ Plato

Reverence

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Message in a Bottle

Chisel not my name
onto elegant stone,
so you that I love
might become slave
to a time and place
that no longer holds
my soul, to which you
could become tied,
lost in sorrow and
life’s limitations.

Rather, joyfully cast
my dust to the wind, so
I may dance on the breeze,
and one day as the leaves
rustle gently overhead,
you will feel me there,
riding a ray of sunshine
kissing your face, and
I’ll whisper in your ear,
“Remember to live free.”

Happy

True, real, enduring,
happiness is being at
peace with who we are.

Poems are from Soul Journey: The Poetry of Life.

You Butterfly, You

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The beautiful butterfly captivates us with its brilliant color and lightness of being. Its joyful flitting among flowers never fails to raise our spirits, and somehow it gives us hope. Hope for what? Well, perhaps simply a world where more color, joy, and lightness of being may be possible. Butterflies cut right through to the core of our being. They speak to our souls about joy.

We were born with lightness and joy

As adults, the world and its problems have this way of weighing us down. Eventually we forget that we were born with this innate sense of joy. Watch young children. They are still in a cycle of newness, discovering, joyfulness, positivity.

Butterfly, symbol of transformation

There is a long history of the butterfly as symbol of transformation, resurrection, adaptability to change, lightness and joy. You’ll find more about this in the article: Dance like the Butterfly

Allow the butterfly in you to burst forth

Embrace your soul lessons, because they are food for your transformation process. Learn from them, and do not get weighed down by regrets and problems. Allow yourself to grow, bloom, transform completely, to the beautiful butterfly you were always meant to be.

Born to Fly

I had a “friend”
who wanted to
dissect me,
so they could
determine how
to capture me.

I have worked
hard in this life
to unchain and
free my soul –
Why would I
agree to this?

The young me
would yield
to please, but,
the older me
stands firm for
autonomy.

I’m not an ant
made only
for hard work,
I discovered
I have wings,
I’m a butterfly.

Thank you for
the lesson!
I cannot allow
you to pluck
my wings and
pin me down.

I will not deny
that I am
a butterfly,
real friends
let friends fly,
and so must I.

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