I do enjoy quotes with vibrant images.  Here is one by Parker Palmer, a wonderful writer and one of my former teachers.

“You must keep collecting threads: threads of meaning, thread of hope, threads of purpose, energy and will, along with all the knowledge, all the skill that every weaver needs.  You must keep on weaving – stopping sometimes only to repair your broken loom – weave a cloak of warmth and light against the dark and cold (oh, all the dark and cold!), a cloak in which to wrap whoever comes to you in need: the world with all its suffering, those near at hand, yourself.”

Here’s to weaving hope in these troubled times and wrapping ourselves in warmth and light!

I came across a beautiful quote from the 14th century poet and mystic, Hafiz.

“When the mind is consumed with remembrance of the Holy One, something divine happens to the heart that shapes the hand and tongue and eye into the word Love.”

What are your spiritual practices that shape you into Love?  My yoga teacher says at the end of class as we bow, that we surrender the wisdom of the mind to the greater wisdom of the heart.  It is the compassionate heart, consumed with gratitude and remembrance of the One beyond all names, that touches the world with kind hands, sees the world with clear eyes and sings praises throughout the whole day.

What is the outline of your day?

A story in a book by Robert Fulghum, “From Beginning to End – The Rituals of Our Lives”, tells of a woman cultivating a morning ritual because “if I get the morning right, the rest of the day goes better.” ( paraphrase)

What helps you “get the morning right?”  I listen to music while I eat breakfast and read the morning paper.  Having Gregorian Chant or Gospel music seems a good balance to the often painful headlines.  The older I get, the more I need to stretch out the kinks and some gentle yoga moves helps lots.  Saying hello to the dog and cats and fresh fruit on homemade granola put me in touch with the ordinary blessings of life. A little quiet time to journal and reflect on the day is key before I turn on the computer and tackle the tasks of the day.  Breathe.

As Jeff Brantley, director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at Duke University, wrote, “Even if you wake up tense or cranky, your brain hasn’t had a chance to feel overwhelmed by these feeling yet, so it’s easy to find relief and set the tone you want for the day ahead.”

What are your ways to get the morning right?

Do you collect quotes?  A friend of mine keeps a wisdom book with quotes he has found.  I like that. Nice, neat contained.

Me?  I have a file folder with handwritten quotes, bits of paper torn from articles, copies of pages from books with quotes underlined in yellow.  It is a bulging file. I keep thinking I will organize it.  Nah.

It is easy to go to the internet and type in a topic and see what comes up but I like pulling out the file and being surprised.  Often quotes can be used in unexpected ways, going beyond any narrow category.  So, it takes some time searching for the right  quote, but along the way I dwell with some good friends who I had forgotten about.  A gentle laugh, a deep sign of appreciation.  Such gifts. I might just take some of them along on a different project.

Here is one from my file.  “I believe that life is given us so that we may grow in love and I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower-the light in my darkness and voice in my silence.” Helen Keller, The Open Door.

Our dog, Thor, is a good companion.  He greets me at the door when I get home from work at the retreat center and if I walk back to the center to catch up on email at night, he is always eager to go.  Recently, he got hungry at night and raided the counter top, which is off limits and normally of no interest to him, but this night he grabbed a whole loaf of bread.  In the morning, I found a shredded plastic bag and the heel.  One slice out of nearly a whole loaf.  What? He doesn’t like the heel?  Or, did he want to leave me one slice?

I didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh.  Actually, a little of each as I put him outside with a stern, “not good, Thor!”  And then I laughed.  I don’t know if there is a moral but it was good for a laugh.  He left me one slice.  Good enough.  A little kindness, even if it was a heel.