Express Friendship

Everyone has a deep friend and something that they love to do, a beloved and a craft. – Rumi 

 

Coleman Banks speaks of friendship, “However it might be in this violent world, I would rather see us walking along inside the mystery of friendship, with its soul fury and its kindness, to sit down together finally at the table that Rumi, and many others, have set.”

Of the things that wisdom provides the greatest is the possession of friendship  - Epicurus

Reach out to a friend today.  

Send a note to someone who has inspired you because of Friendship. Share the story with them.

Write to a friend to resolve concerns. 

 
Reconnect with someone with whom you may have lost connection over the years.  

The Power of Positivity

How do we maintain balance in a world that presses us with what’s broken, what’s dreadful, and what’s wrong?

It takes patience, perspective and perseverance to sort out the news and waltz beyond worry.

Take time to skip looking at the catastrophe network or reading headlines for a day.

Push away from the computer. Leave your cell phone. Find hearts in shadows.

Go out in the morning and Sing!

Immerse yourself in nature.

Take a walk and replace negative thoughts and frustrations with the scents and colors that pass along the way.

Ask questions. What does a peregrine or bee manage an obstacle?

Listen for different sounds.

Observe shapes and textures. 

Imagine clouds with anxiety. Will the release of rain help?

Marvel at the ways the sea rants in ripples.

Distractions move the mind back to the present moment.

Rocks let the sea and sky pass over, under, around, and through.

Let nature’s wisdom seep into your thoughts and actions.

See smiles in petals.

Breathe in the majesty.

Find Power in Positivity.

Life's Triads

There’s a notion that good and not-so- good events evolve in threes. If two similar situations occur, a third completes the struggles or successes. After the triangle’s edges connect, feelings follow of relief or gratitude.

My search rushes to complete the triad in times of “not-sos.” After two events happen to friends in a span of three days, I sift through the August week to find that third leg.

Just sliding in a mishap does not close the gap. The solution will not satisfy if I try to manufacture something to set up a wobbly, far-fetched leg that completes the action.

Relenting to my morning run, the breeze focuses my breath. Under the curb at the sidewalk, a seagull spreads all its feathers. “It’s just sleeping,” my father used to say, to protect me.

Now the monarch butterflies zig and flip outside my window. Just out of the chrysalis, they dry their newly-found wings, my first side of the next triad to measure the day’s good. 

 

Creativity: Never Worry. Wonder. Wander

John Lennon said he wrote the song, “Because” by playing Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” backwards.

Questions to ignite team creativity discover ways to attach/combine other objects to an item to give it a new use.

How does the shape of the item resemble other common shapes? The exercise encourages team members to free their minds so they might run into an amazement.

The University of Nevada Innevation Center, intentionally spells innevation to take the “no” out of innovation.

The interdisciplinary approach at the University of Oregon melds different backgrounds. At the College of Design, students learn about materials, the manufacturing process, design influences, and entrepreneurship. They discover how creativity is enhanced by acquiring interdisciplinary knowledge, making connections that are not obvious, and by applying these strategies to navigate around constraints. 

Professors in product design say, “If the round hole is bigger, the square peg might fit. We want to develop people who are inspired by constraints.”

Consider a creative strategy for today.

What could you do in reverse to develop a novelty or new product?

Invert an approach to study new ways of doing things.

Is there an idea to turn upside-down or inside-out to awaken a new perspective?

Ask how nature might solve it?

Approach the day in myriad ways.

Playfulness and humor become the starting points to launch creativity.

Celebrate World Photography Day

 

Smile On

 

Find Fun

When you realize there is nothing lacking, 

the whole world belongs to you. -Lau-Tzu

Stay curious as you view life’s wonders. Make daily contact with wisdom sources.

Find discipline and also stay open to guidance.

Avoid judgment. Notice how a heron provides a way for a lizard to rest.

Let your mind fly into new areas of discovery. 

Take challenges one step at a time. Absorb inspiration from an adventure.

Create with color, taste, and music on your mind’s wall.

Find Fun and chase Laughter as the best wisdom of the day.

Let Go

Let go of what has passed.

Let go of what may come.

Let go of what is happening now.

Don’t try to figure anything out.

Don’t try to make anything happen.

Relax. Right now. Rest.

            – Tilopa

Relent and realize time in ease. Let go of the mind’s clutter and chatter. Erase the clatter.

Move into stillness. Let in images of nature to return you to a placid state.

Snuggle under the comforter of blue the sea offers.

Let your mind sneak into the clouds and feel the textures from silky to moist.

Smell the breeze for daisies.

Find an amusement in bee activity.

Let nature distract you until you’ve forgotten strains, stresses, and worries.

Just Let go. Take a nap.

Live Like a Turtle

 How to live like a turtle: Semper paratus (always prepared).

     You have all you need for a life of amazement and amusement.

            Always believe from the inside out.

Stay unaffected by negativity from beyond the shell.

       Buoyant. Patient. Steady.

              Relentless.

Remain secure but never hiding from challenges.

Power with all the energy needed for a life of wonder.

Lover of Sunsets

Black Phoebes reveal a heart on their chests

 

Mornings by the Sea

During my morning walks, the sea behaves in a stroll of moods. Its animation stretches my senses. Some days the wave action reflects a satin stillness. In a moment, mounds appear as if a cat has arched its back, pushed forward and then returned to horizontal. Other days the spindrift curls off a wave’s crest like cat claws extended and hidden during movement toward the shore. 

Water moves in a celadon glaze of Chinese porcelain. It reveals a transparency where orange fish swim.  A change in season promotes rupture and urgency. Aggressive in sapphire, wave action polishes the sandstone. Slush and slap push water in cacophony or symphony. Carried on a mist of salt, scents of cinnamon rolls and coffee mingle on sun-enchanted breezes.

The sea might match my mood or cause me to question my morning’s emotions. Imagination tickles each breath.

La Jolla Friends by the Sea

 

Find the Power of Positivity

 

Push away from the computer. Leave your cell phone. 

Find hearts in shadows.

Go out in the morning and Sing!

Immerse yourself in nature.

Take a walk and replace negative thoughts and frustrations with the scents and colors that pass along the way.

Ask questions. What does a peregrine or bee do when faced with an obstacle?

Listen for different sounds.

Observe shapes and textures.

Imagine clouds with anxiety. Will the release of rain help?

Marvel at the ways the sea rants in ripples.

Distractions move the mind back to the present moment.

Rocks let the sea and sky pass over, under, around, and through\

Let nature’s wisdom seep into your thoughts and actions.

See smiles in petals.

Breathe in the majesty.

Find Power in Positivity and Clouds at Play

Adventure Like a Bird

 

Let Wonder Drive

Rebecca Solnit says, “So many us believe in perfection, which ruins everything else because the perfect is not only the enemy of the good, it is also enemy of the realistic, the possible, the fun.” Beyond the insect bites and frayed edges, one looks into the interior to appreciate the details of nature’s designs. When we learn to live with our foibles, fun reigns. It’s perfectly all right to be imperfect. Going for the Best outweighs a need for perfection. Delight arrives in observing nature’s colors.  Nature reveals the standard of excellence in shapes, angles, and scents. Designs reveal variety and opportunity to exist  in Wonder instead of perfection. Let Wonder drive to satisfaction.