Blog Archives - Heartfelt Dolls

Everyday

31/7/2012

Our everyday actions provide plentiful opportunities for gratitude and praise.
Raising our arms to peg out clothes on the line ...
a simple act of gratitude and praise.
It requires a shift in perspective and an open heart.

May we be open today to recognising the divine in our everyday actions.

EVERYDAY

Intrepid

30/7/2012

Eric Maisel suggests that unexplored territory has no maps.
We all have to go into the unknown:
each new day;
every new thought;
each new experience and encounter.
And in each of these explorations,
we will be guided only by our inner compass.
We are, indeed, intrepid explorers of our own unknown and unexplored lives.

May each one of us relish the challenge offered to us
as we explore hitherto uncharted paths in our lives.

INTREPID detail

Gift

29/7/2012

Horace in 'Carmina' says,
"Cease to inquire what the future has in store,
and to take as a gift
whatever the day brings forth."

What a change in perspective this demands of us.
For most of our lives we are exhorted
to plan for a future career;
put aside monies for our retirement;
insure against future disaster;
look ahead.

Here we are simply invited to open the gift of today
and enter into it fully and consciously and gratefully.

Let us delight in the gift of today.

TODAY:A GIFT

Outlook

28/7/2012

No matter what our circumstance;
no matter how grey the day;
we can choose to find something or someone or sometime
for which we are grateful.

A prisoner at Dachau wrote,
"Leave me here freely all alone
In a cell where never sunlight shone
Should no-one ever speak to me
This golden silence makes me free."

Today may our outlook be one of gratitude.

OUTLOOK

Day

27/7/2012

“What day is it?"
It's today," squeaked Piglet.
My favorite day," said Pooh.”
A.A. Milne

May your day be filled with unexpected joys.

A western ideogram for light or sun

Recognise

26/7/2012

HOW TO RECOGNISE GRACE
by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

It takes you by surprise
It comes in odd packages
It sometimes looks like loss
Or mistakes
It acts like rain
Or a seed
It's both reliable and unpredictable
It's not what you were aiming at
Or what you thought you deserved
It supplies what you need
Not necessarily what you want
It grows you up
And lets you be a child
it reminds you you're not in control
And that not being in control
is a form of freedom

May we recognise grace in our lives today.

Therefore

25/7/2012

Little Summer Poem Touching The Subject Of Faith
by Mary Oliver

Every summer
I listen and look
under the sun's brass and even
into the moonlight, but I can't hear

anything, I can't see anything --
not the pale roots digging down, nor the green
stalks muscling up,
nor the leaves
deepening their damp pleats,

nor the tassels making,
nor the shucks, nor the cobs.
And still, every day,

the leafy fields
grow taller and thicker --
green gowns lofting up in the night,
showered with silk.

And so, every summer,
I fail as a witness, seeing nothing --
I am deaf too
to the tick of the leaves,

the tapping of downwardness from the banyan feet --
all of it
happening
beyond any seeable proof, or hearable hum.

And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.
Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine.
Let the wind turn in the trees,
and the mystery hidden in the dirt

swing through the air.
How could I look at anything in this world
and tremble, and grip my hands over my heart?
What should I fear?

One morning
in the leafy green ocean
the honeycomb of the corn's beautiful body
is sure to be there.

May we pause today and be overwhelmed by the mystery of life.

THEREFORE (a mathemematical symbol)

42: the meaning of life, the universe and everything

24/7/2012

A phrase immortalised by Douglas Adams in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.
How easy it would be to simply type a question into a computer and - hey presto! - up comes a satisfactory and satisfying answer.

Our reality is far different.
I believe the answer is revealed in our everyday actions in our everyday lives.
We may not recognise it.
We may not be able to articulate it.
We may not even believe it to be true.
But our every action;
our every thought;
our every word;
our every interaction with the environment;
our every encounter with another;
our every prayer
covertly or overtly,
reveals the meaning of our life, the universe and everything!

Let us revel today in a life, a universe and everything
that sustains us and gives us meaning.

42:the meaning of life, the universe and everything

Discord

23/7/2012

Minstrel's book – Discord by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"When by the brook his strain
Cupid is fluting,
And on the neighbouring plain
Mayors disputing,
There turns the ear ere long,
Loving and tender,
Yet to the noise a song
Soon must surrender.
Loud then the flute-notes glad
Sound 'mid war's thunder;
If I grow raving mad,
Is it a wonder?
Flutes sing and trumpets bray,
Waxing yet stronger;
If, then, my senses stray,
Wonder no longer."

Some times things or sounds or people simply do not 'gel' or work well together.
Their juxtaposition does not bring out the best in each element.
But we must always hold dear the integrity and beauty of each element
and the common good to which they all strive.

On a day when everything seems to clash and clang,
may we pause,
and give thanks
for each element or event or person in turn.
May each be redolent with grace and blessing.

DISCORD

Step

22/7/2012

"If I am walking with two other men,
each of them will serve as my teacher.
I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them,
and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself."
Confucius

Step by step, step by step,
I am able to become more fully human, more fully myself,
when I am attentive to the world around me:
to that which upsets or irks me,
and that which brings me delight or contentment.
Every state, every emotion, every reaction is an opportunity to impro.

May we allow our whole world be our teacher,
and may we listen well.

STEP