Monday Musings: Practices, Simple and Profound

Gerber daisy, Garden Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Smile, breathe and go slowly.

— Thich Nhat Hanh

I can't think of a better mantra for this week — or life. These three simple, but profound, practices seem to me a pathway for being present and awake to life.

I feel more peaceful just reading these words.

Tell me, what simple practices support you in being present to your life?

Flowering Fridays: Proceed with Love

Lily, from living room bouquet, last week

I notice all the "nubbies" on the petals of this lily.

(Um, that's obviously not a technical term. I have no idea what these little "dots" are actually called.)

But I see these markings, and they seem to me like little protective signs to reach the center of the flower.

Maybe it's a way to have visitors pause a bit before reaching this sacred center.

"Careful! Proceed with Caution!," these nubbies seem to say.

Too bad us humans don't have these kinds of visible signs to remind others to "slow down" and proceed with care when we connect and converse.

I think of how often, whether it's from anger, insensitivity, or focusing more on my concerns, I can ignore the reminders of how tender we are all at our core.

I can sometimes forget how much we long for gentle words, a loving touch and a sense of sacred witness that honors the beautiful spirit we are.

I am in Atlanta for the quarterly Future Thinking Conference.

We are talking a lot this weekend about being curious — really, truly curious — about another. (Even when they are "criticizing" us.)

It's an arena where I'm such a beginner.

Too often I rely on what I think I know about another. Or out of laziness or self-centeredness, I don't bother to dive deeper than the surface level.

But part of being curious, for me, is to really connect in a way that appreciates the beauty and sacredness of another's souls.

I appreciate this lily for the reminder to proceed with kindness and love whenever I meet another, especially when I want to connect deeply into another's radiant spirit.

Tell me, what ways do you proceed with love when connecting with another?

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Flowering Fridays is a weekly look at flowers through the lens of what they might teach us about flowering fully in our life. Past editions are here.

Monday Musings: On Authentic Spirituality

Lily from bouquet in our living room

Lately I am pondering the notion of what spirituality is for me and how to describe it. Here are some quotes that resonate with me as I language my own definition for spirituality:

"Authentic spirituality awakens the soul, reconnects us with the sacred, and fills us with the passion of life. Spiritual development is not about religious rituals and practices; it is about waking up to the wonder of life." — David N. Elkins

"No matter what your spiritual condition is, no matter where you find yourself in the universe, your choice is always the same: to expand your awareness or contract it." — Thaddeus Golas

"Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of existence. But rightly understood, it is a vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being...Wherever we may come alive, that is the area in which we are spiritual." — David Steindl-Rast


"We live in a world of theophanies. Holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary. There are burning bushes all around you. Every tree is full of angels. Hidden beauty is waiting in every crumb. Life wants to lead you from crumbs to angels, but this can happen only if you are willing to unwrap the ordinary by staying with it long enough to harvest its treasure."  —   Macrina Wiederkehr

"Saying yes, opening up, and loving:
these are the keys that will unlock the prison door."
— Arnaud Desjardins

"I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know - unless it be to share our laughter.

We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.
 For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves."

 — James Kavanaugh

"Spiritual practice is the process of coming to see our misknowledge and letting it go, to begin to experience, accept, and live the truth about how we and the world actually are.  When we begin to understand and to live this way, there is a great decrease in fear and dread, so common in human experience, caused by the huge gap between our expectations and the way things actually are.  With an appreciation of the empty nature of things, there are no more foiled expectations.  There is a lot more joy, peace, and love."  — Norman Fischer

Tell me, what does "spiritual" look like to you?