The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection; it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable.
Each life is clothed in raiment of spirit that secretly links it to everything else.
Though suffering and chaos befall us, they can never quench that inner light of providence.
John O’Donohue
One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these – to be fierce and to show mercy toward others, both, are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Letter to a Young Activist During Troubled Times: Do not Lose Heart, We were made for these Times
Even if our movement is restricted, there are countless opportunities to have an impact on another persons mood
I think sometimes about this phrase, “made my day” — that we have the power, with our words and with all kinds of small gestures like that. Even somebody being really nice in a checkout line, or you being nice to somebody in a checkout line, after the last two people were really rude to them. And you watch a transformation take place that you made — that their day was getting broken, and you made. What an incredible power we have, to walk through the world, making somebody’s day.
Krista Tippett, On Being Blog, in conversation with Ross Gay
Any moment, however simple, can be transformative – it all depends on the quality of our attention.
By stopping and paying attention to some of the everyday aspects of our existence, we can wake up to every unique moment of our lives: the particular expression on our child’s face as we say goodbye in the morning, the way the wind blows the sycamore trees on this day compared to others…..
The beauty of life is in the day-do-day details that we can miss when we forget to stop and observe what is before us in each new moment. From the perspective of mindfulness, every moment has value and is worthy of being present to. When we practice the art of stopping, we can enjoy the blessings of nature that are always on our doorstep. We must simply take the time to stop and listen, open our eyes and our senses, and cease being consumed by our tumble dryer of thoughts.
Mark Coleman, Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery
“Enlightenment is like the moon reflected in a dewdrop on a blade of grass. The moon does not get wet, nor is the drop of water broken.
And the whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in even one drop of water”. Dogen,
In truth, the smallest stem of a damaged heart, like a single blade of grass, holds the essence of everything alive.
Enlightenment is the kiss of anything – moon, storm, or kindness – that opens us to that essence.
Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
The earthquake shakes you awake, and then that’s sort of the big spiritual question: How do you stay awake? …
The other question is: Why has everything we’ve ever been told about human nature misled us about what happens in these moments?
Rebecca Solnit
Mindfulbalance 