Tag Archives: appreciation
We don’t need as much
“We don’t need as much money as we have. Hardly any of us need as much money as we have. It’s true what they say about the best things in life being free.” – Donald Miller Miller’s words may sound controversial or oversimplified, but the more I think about them, the more I agree. I …
Created for the transcendent
“We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew…Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful…and all of us are given the task of …
In familiar surroundings
“As much as I love to travel and see new things, I’m also a homebody. No matter how far I wander, I’m always eager to get back to my own nest. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as the little surprises that can pop up in familiar surroundings. I find a great deal of pleasure right …
Complicated
“Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.” — Wallace Stevens I’ve noticed that advertising and publishing increasingly use variations on the word “simple” to promote their content. Everyone, it seems, yearns for simplicity amid the overwhelming density of challenges our brains must deal with …
Worthy of note
“Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. ‘Nothing in particular,’ she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing …
Little oases
“All that the historians give us are little oases in the desert of time, and we linger fondly in these, forgetting the vast tracks between one and another that were trodden by the weary generations of men.” — John Alfred Spender One of the most fascinating (and frustrating) aspects of visiting historic sites, especially ancient …
First find thankfulness
“This is the only life you will have before you enter eternity. If you want to find joy, you must first find thankfulness. Indeed, the one who is thankful for even a little enjoys much…It does not matter what your circumstances are; the instant you begin to thank God, even though your situation has not …
All about us
“It seems to me that people are forever traveling great distances, and journeying to strange countries, to see things that, if they only knew it, exist beside their own doorstep…Whether one goes to nature for truth, or for beauty, for knowledge or for relaxation, these things can be found in a yard in the city …
Watch with glittering eyes
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.” ― Roald Dahl Look around you today. Great secrets and enlightening discoveries may be hiding in plain sight. What are the unlikely places you tend to look past? What secret discoveries …
Always in the midst
“It is always in the midst, in the epicenter, of your troubles that you find serenity.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry An updated note, seven years later: As I go back through these posts, it surprises me how many of them I have totally forgotten. Others I vaguely remember, but the details are lost to me …
There is nothing lacking
“Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” — Lao-tzu It’s a curious paradox that some of the people who have the most possessions never seem to have enough, and some with the least are the most content. …
The indispensable ingredient
“It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for. He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast.” …
Wildly enthusiastic
“I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things…It has been after such times of joy that I have achieved my greatest creativity and produced my best work.” — Leo F. Buscaglia More than once over the years, people have made fun of me for getting excited over things they considered minor or insignificant. Confusing their …
Museums, formed from the heart
“In poetically well built museums, formed from the heart’s compulsions, we are consoled not by finding in them old objects that we love, but by losing all sense of Time.” — Orhan Pamuk On a recent day while Matt was at camp, Jeff took a day off from work and we went to the National …
Arise in the morning
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …” ― Marcus Aurelius When I looked back at the post that was published one year ago today (written exactly one week before it was published) I was surprised to find that I …
Hardly a waste
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.” ― Sir John Lubbock Rest is not optional; it’s necessary to health and sanity, but it seems we are in …
At the threshold
“The pressure of adversity is the most powerful sustainer of accountability. It’s as though everything you do is multiplied by 50 in order to surpass those with a head-start. I was never capable of slacking when at the threshold of failure.” ― Criss Jami One year ago, for Mother’s Day, I posted about my mother’s …
So great a sweetness
When such as I cast out remorse So great a sweetness flows into the breast We must laugh and we must sing, We are blest by everything, Everything we look upon is blessed. — William Butler Yeats Recently when I took Matt for his diagnostic testing and pre-surgical planning at the Children’s National Medical Center …
The best of now
“No longer forward nor behind I look in hope or fear; But, grateful, take the good I find, The best of now and here.” ― John Greenleaf Whittier No matter what is going on in your life right now, this day holds many hidden gifts. Which ones will you discover? One year ago today: Not …
Sharing their experience
“I want to thank anyone who spends a part of their day creating, I don’t care if it’s a book, a film, a painting, a dance, a piece of theater, a piece of music – anybody who spends part of their day sharing their experience with us – I think this world would be unlivable …
What you now have
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” ― Epicurus It’s so easy to get caught up in looking ahead to the next goal or aspiration. There’s nothing wrong with anticipation; it makes life more fun. …
The onrush of scenery
“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.” ― Sylvia Plath It’s difficult to read this quote from Plath without thinking of the sad reality that she chose to end her own life while still young, with two small children. …
I challenge you to a dare
“Can I challenge you to a dare? Today, stop praying for anything other than the life you have!…before we begin the year, with a sense of adventure, give thanks for your most “ordinary” life. This is how the miracle begins, as we embark with a sense of adventure seeking the splendid in the simple gift …
Defeat Despair 