Gratitude

I am preparing for a workshop that I’ll be facilitating next week at work on Gratitude.  This quote keeps coming to me and I thought I’d share…

The Divine’s desire for us

We are THAT desired.  We are that beautiful.  We are that loved.  We are that cherished.

Whatever your creed, however you image the Divine — as Creator, man or woman, The Great Mother, the Beloved, Consciousness…this benevolent presence calls to us!  Calls us back home…to BE nourished, to laugh, to quell all our anxieties.  The Divine is EAGER for each and every one of us!  See your beauty, the way only YOUR eyes speak your soul, the sweet sounds you make when you are happy, the way your body rests when you fold into the embrace of the Divine.  You are a gift, a blessing.  With a purpose that no one else can fill.  With a way of being that brings LIGHT to this world.  Be nourished, dear one.  Be nourished.  And then let your soul shine.

Deep blessings to each of you for a delightful 2013.

Love,

Lisa

Soulful Quotes for Inspiration #12

These quotes recently appeared on the Barefoot Barn’s facebook page. Join us on Facebook!

“Everything you do right now ripples outward and affects everyone. Your posture can shine your heart or transmit anxiety. Your breath can radiate love or muddy the room in depression. Your glance can awaken joy. Your words can inspire freedom. Your every act can open hears and minds.”
- David Dieda

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“In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you love? How deeply did you learn to let go?”
- Buddha

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“If you are waiting for anything in order to live and love without holding back, then you suffer.”
- David Deida

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“May I be at peace, May my heart remain open,
May I awaken to the light of my own true nature,
May I be healed and may I be a source of healing for others.”
Pocketful of Miracles by Joan Borysenko

Blessings of Delight,

Lisa

The Miracle in the Now

The miracle is finding the peace and beauty in the ordinariness of our everyday lives. Seeing it all as SACRED. A gift. May we all experience several miracles today!!

(Coming soon…a video series on finding the sacred in everyday life!)

Soulful Quotes for Inspiration #11

These quotes were posted on the Barefoot Barn’s community Facebook page. If you’d like to get a daily does of inspiration, “Like” the Facebook page. Right there — to your right!

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother. ~Abraham Lincoln

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“The sweetest sounds to mortals given
are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.”
- William Goldsmith Brown

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My mother is a poem
I’ll never be able to write,
though everything I write
is a poem to my mother.
~Sharon Doubiago

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“Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.” ~Linda Wooten

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“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

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“Some people think only intellect counts: knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to get by, knowing how to identify an advantage and seize it. But the functions of intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy.” – Dean Koontz

Soulful Quotes for Inspiration #10

These quotes were posted on the Barefoot Barn’s community Facebook page. If you’d like to get a daily does of inspiration, “Like” the Facebook page. Right there — to your right!

“Each morning we are born again.” – Buddha.

Happy Monday, folks! Be kind to yourselves! And remember – born again this morning! We’ve got 24 brand new hours before us to offer TENDERNESS and compassion and a smile to ourselves and this world.

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“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – The Dalai Lama

Compassion heals! Kindness heals! Happy Tuesday, folks! Spread the compassion and kindness. Love, Lisa

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“Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where you are — in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see. Everywhere, wherever you go, you find people who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, just rejected by society — completely forgotten, completely left alone.” — Mother Teresa (1910-1997); Founder Of The Missionaries Of Charity

We don’t have to travel very far to find opportunities to offer compassion! Right here in our homes, the grocery store, the bus stop. Offer yourself and someone close by you some compassion today!

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“Give children at least as many chances to show compassion as they have to be competitive.” – Erica Layman

Happy Saturday, folks. As our kiddos are in sports and hanging out with other kiddos, let’s encourage compassion in it all!

Soulful Quotes for Inspiration #9

These quotes were posted on the Barefoot Barn’s community Facebook page. If you’d like to get a  daily does of inspiration, “Like” the Facebook page. Right there — to your right!

“True happiness comes from the openness of heart, compassion, resiliency and mindfulness.” – Jack Kornfield

Let’s not get caught in the “if only” myth today — “If only blah blah blah were different, then I’d be happy.” WE choose our happiness (or suffering). Here’s to choosing happiness, delight, and kindness today!

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“Would you rather be right or free?” – Byron Katie

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“Let your practice be the prayer itself, your body the temple.”
- Julie Rapport

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Soulful Quotes for Inspiration #8

These quotes were posted on the Barefoot Barn’s community Facebook page. “Like” the Facebook page if you’d like to get daily doses of inspiration. Right there — to your right — on this page!

“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.” – Sharon Salzberg.

Happy Monday, folks! Treat yourself to some self-compassion today! Love, Lisa

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“Rest in the pause between breaths.
Pause in the rest between thoughts.
Bask in the space between words.
Stop in the stillness of a calm lake
and listen.”
- Julie Rappaport

THE SACRED PAUSE. Find those sacred pauses in your day today! Love to you all, Lisa

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“Find the sweetness in your own heart, then you may find the sweetness in every heart.”~ Rumi
“Love is cure, Love is power,Love is the magic of changes.Love is the mirror of divine beauty.”~Rumi

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“There are men and women who make the world better just by being the kind of people they are.  They have the gift of kindness or courage or loyalty or integrity.  It really matters very little whether they are behind the wheel of a truck or running a business or bringing up a family.  They teach the truth by living it.”  – James A. Garfield

This is the essence of what it means to be a leader — to act with kindness and integrity no matter what “role” one plays in life. The outside matches the inside.

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May you offer kindness to yourself and others today…and notice how this lifts your spirits, sweetens your heart, and connects you to others.

Soulful Quotes for Inspiration #7

These quotes were posted on the Barefoot Barn’s community Facebook page. “Like” the Facebook page if you’d like to get daily doses of inspiration. Right there — to your right — on this page!

“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with the eyes of compassion.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

What will you do with just one of the hours of your day? Just one hour? One minute? Try some compassion…for yourself and others.

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“The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes, ahhh, that is where the art resides.” – Artur Schnabel

Hope you find a Sacred Pause in your Monday!

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“You cannot have peace in your outer life unless you first have established peace in your inner life. It is in the inner world that everything starts.” - Sri Chinmoy.

Start creating peace within yourself by being kind to yourself and gentle with the words that you speak to yourself. Just for this evening.

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“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” – Teilhard de Chardin.

Don’t wait to master the winds or waves or tides of your life until you offer LOVE. Harness that love this morning! Bless yourself with that love this morning. Bless others with a soft smile and eye contact. These simple ways — that’s how we discover fire!

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“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that yo have built against it.” – Rumi

Today, see any barrier between you and Love as an illusion. Any wall between you and Love, see it crumbling. Blessings of Delight, Lisa

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“Are you breathing just a little and calling it a life? – Mary Oliver

Breathe deep, loves. Breathe into your heart. Breathe into your life. Breathe out joy and peace and kindness into the air you breathe and into the world.

Tips for Everyday Mindfulness #9: Soften

Soften, soften, soften. Whenever we wake up and realize that we have hardened our hearts, that we are pulling away, that we are wanting to be right and standing our ground, that our anger has led us far away from what we really want (to belong, to be loved, to be connected)…the answer isn’t to get more ridged. Or more self-righteous. Or more self-protective and closed off. It’s to soften.

Soften our brow. Soften our jaw. Soften our shoulders away from our ears. Soften our grip on…everything. Unclench our fists. Soften our words – to ourselves and others. Soften around our heart. Soften, soften, soften.

I am finding more and more the truth of what Lao-tzu says here — softness always triumphs over hardness or harshness or rigid thinking or trying to justify our positioning. Softness is always stronger and more powerful than any kind of power that comes from fear and seeks to dominate. I am convinced of this now.

Next time we feel the burn of anger, of feeling justified in how we feel or in what we think, of judging someone else — however right we may believe we are — just soften. Breathe into the heart. Relax the shoulders and jaw and eyes and belly. Soften, soften, soften. And a strength rises.