The beach in winter has its own beauty. We walked here on three different days this week, each cold, haunting, and with its own colors and moods.
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From the category archives:
Beauty
I rested into the morning, caressed,
deep pleasure, measureless being,
I rested until I heard
the song of the day call me out.
Come. Take joy. Awake.
Come and see my treasures.
Only then did I rise to take
my pleasure into the world.
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Last night before the sun set, I ran out with my camera, chasing beauty…
Sometimes, when I can not do a lovely thing just for myself, I am so grateful that I might offer it to you instead.
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It was a moment I can only describe as grace. Yesterday, after I had finished my accounting, glued some House Blessings, and surveyed my long list for the next task to accomplish, I took boxes out onto the lawn to paint gold for 100 Fortunes. Having done that, I looked up. Bees were busily feasting in the lavender, a gentle breeze was moving through the trees, a woodpecker was tapping in the oaks, and I heard my inner voice declare, “enough.”
I stood up to take in all that I have been missing, my mind on other things.
The other day, Ivan Granger included this thought in a Poetry Chaikhana mailing:
What we call the ego
is the individual’s particular way
of not being fully present.
Isn’t that well said?
In my book, The Abundance of Grace, I wrote,
Grace is often found in surrendering our plans,
letting go the need for perfection,
giving up impossible ideals,
and humbling ourselves before the mystery…
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff.
As I declared, “enough”, I was able to let go my list. I humbled myself before the mystery, wandered the garden, taking photos, and marvelling at the beauty all around me. And I am so glad I did! I will post more excerpts on grace next.
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Beauty is Life when Life reveals its Holy face.
~Kahlil Gibran
Everything has beauty,
but not everyone sees it.
~Confucius
There is no creature that does not have a radiance. Be it greenness of seed, blossom or beauty, it could not be creation without it. To be a creature is to be brilliant, beautiful, and on fire.
~Hildegard of Bingen
When it comes to beauty, may we have a beholder’s eye; an infinite witness within, and the ability to see the splendor that exists at every turn. The more beauty we perceive, the more open our hearts will become, and that beauty beheld will venture in, until it lights our luminous souls, sings in our gorgeous ears, and dances like brilliant diamonds in our smiling and radiant eyes…Ingrid
The question is not what you look at,
but what you see.
~Henry David Thoreau
If the doors of perception were cleansed,
Everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
~William Blake
Here is my secret. It’s quite simple:
one sees clearly only with the heart.
Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.
–Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Divine Manifestation is ubiquitous,
Only our eyes are not open to it.
~Joseph Campbell
…Viewing the world with the eyes of the heart,
it is illumined by our own inner light…
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
…With an eye made quiet
by the power of harmony
and the deep power of joy,
we see into the life of things.
~William Wordsworth
…I realized that what had changed was not outside
in the trees and streams and birds, but inside me.
As the mystics say, I was seeing the world by the light within. Through years of dedicated endeavor, the lamp had been lit in the depths of my consciousness, and all of nature had assumed an indescribable splendor.
~Eknath Eswaren
What is beauty,
if not the light of
a joy filled heart?
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
Beauty will come in the dawn
And beauty will come with the sunlight.
Beauty will come to us from everywhere,
Where heaven ends, where the sky ends.
Beauty will surround us.
We will walk in beauty.
~Billy Yellow, Navajo Medicine Man
Though we travel the world over
to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us
or we find it not.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Excerpted from the book, JOY, LIGHT, BEAUTIFUL WISDOM
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God spoke today in flowers,
and I, who was waiting on words,
almost missed the conversation.
~Ingrid G0ff-Maidoff
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Wherever you are, find a trail.
The sky is not falling for the cedar tree.
The Heron’s infinite blue world has not changed.
The marsh shows no signs
of Wall Street volatility.
Trees and grasses
are golden with the sun.
The ocean and sky still join
like lovers
here, now, and
on the horizon too.
The swan, content,
faces a gentle breeze.
The cormorant dives, resurfaces,
belly once again filled.
Follow that trail.
Find the bench, or stone
that waits for you there.
We must learn to walk away sometimes
from the carnival of the world
to sit still and remember
what it is that holds us;
what, in us, is held.
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
(pictures are from the Nauset Marsh Trail in Eastham, MA near Brewster, where I went on retreat this weekend.)
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Here is an example of a vision board/joy altar… eye candy and a lovely project for a winter’s day. (Not only that, but folks swear by the power these hold when made with intention. ) I made some once with children and we called them “Happy Folders.” And here is a link to a wonderful free e-book on making your own vision board. It is produced by an extremely talented musician and creativity coach, Christine Kane. I love her music, her blog, her beautiful energy.
My eyes are hungry for color in the wintertime, and I find myself gluing lots of beautiful pictures and quotations into a book to refer to whenever I need a boost. I’ve found it is perfect bedtime reading!
Here is a link to a great art-journaling blog for some fun inspiration.
And, while we’re snuffing out wonderful free content for rainy day inspiration, this looks like a beautiful e-book: The Awakened Woman’s Guide to Life. It’s 90 pages, overflowing with wisdom and practical guidance for living an awakened life in a challenging world. You’ll find it in the right hand column when you visit Jan Lundy’s really beautiful awake is good blog .
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When Winter drains the summer from our lawn,
my eye turns to within the house, seeking the cheer of color and light.
Here a geranium leans into the sun…
I supplement with candle light, party streamers & store-bought bouquets….
and I am thankful for the color on the walls….
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