Source: Via New England Journal of Education (1878). Thank you Rob @ The Hammock Papers
Tag: Happiness
Be Better
NY Times 11 Ways to Be a Better Person in 2017:
Second annual semi-serious list of self-improvement tips, gleaned from the Styles stories that resonated most with readers in 2017. Here’s how to be healthy, happy and a little bit Canadian in 2017.” (And if you’d like to go deeper, our 15 tips for 2016 still hold up.)”
Lightly child, lightly.
Like wind – In it, with it, of it.
Of it just like a sail, so light and strong that,
even when it is bent flat,
it gathers all the power of the wind without hampering its course.
Like light –
In light, lit through by light, transformed into light.
Like the lens which disappears in the light it focuses.
Like wind. Like light.
Just this – on these expanses, on these heights.
Notes:
- Photo: Patty Maher. Poem: Thank you Beth @ Alive on All Channels
- Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”
Lightly child, lightly.
I sat down with myself and let myself feel. I let myself open to the bodily sensations of feeling under qualified, poorly prepared…There was no need to follow a story about the feelings that were there; what I needed was simply to let myself feel them, beyond their names, down into the visceral connection – feel them while not losing touch with the larger spaciousness that I also knew to be there. The error I had initially made – one that is all too easy to make – was attempting to control the impact of my uncomfortable thoughts through bypassing them and replacing them with a feeling of spaciousness and calm. I know it doesn’t work that way; I know that both realities need to be embraced, but sometimes I forget. The only way through is to accept the gift of the moment, however it shows up. If what shows up is inadequacy, or illegitimacy, let it be so. This too. These moments were offering me the opportunity to accept my vulnerability and fragility.
It’s this simple: I am not required to hold it together all the time.
~ Roger Housden, Dropping the Struggle: Seven Ways to Love the Life You Have
Notes:
- Photo: via Your Eyes Blaze Out. In Greek mythology, ravens are associated with Apollo, the god of prophecy. They are said to be a symbol of good luck, and were the god’s messengers in the mortal world. (wiki) (I think it is a Raven!)
- Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”
Absolute Patience
An absolute
patience.
[…]
So absolute, it is
no other than
happiness itself, a breathing
too quiet to hear.
– Denise Levertov, from “The Breathing” in Poems: 1960 – 1967; “O’ Taste and See”
Notes:
- Source: Poem – American Poems via .all too human.
- Photo: Pauline by NerySoul via Your Eyes Blaze Out
- Related Posts: Denise Levertov