Tag Archives: dreams

Begin transforming

“St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time – a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.”  — Adrienne Cook That sounds good to me. Let the transformation begin! Help me brainstorm some ideas to get us started. How shall we prepare to welcome spring? Maybe we can visit a nursery or hardware store and pick …

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In spite of all

“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you to go on in spite of all.  And so today I still have a dream.”  — Martin Luther King, Jr.  The Trumpet of Conscience, 1968 Today we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and …

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I learn by going

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.    I learn by going where I have to go. —  Theodore Roethke I’ve never been fond of awakening from a nice dreamy sleep, and getting up (especially on cold, dark mornings) is not something I do well. I envy and wonder at Jeff’s ability to get up very early, usually …

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Foundations of ease

“Burdens are the foundations of ease and bitter things the forerunners of pleasure.” — Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi I had to really think about this one for a few minutes; I wasn’t sure whether it was truth or wishful thinking.  Then I remembered the joke about the man who, when asked why he hit himself repeated on the …

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A new kind of action

“The defense force inside of us wants us to be cautious, to stay away from anything as intense as a new kind of action.  Its job is to protect us, and it categorically avoids anything resembling danger.  But it is often wrong.” – Barbara Sher I don’t know about you, but just looking at the …

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Great things

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet. This is not done by jostling in the street.” — William Blake I like these lines from Blake, because they remind me that obstacles need not be setbacks.  In a few well-chosen and memorable words, he acknowledges the stamina life requires of us, the potential for tremendous …

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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. …

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A daybreak that’s wondrously clear

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise. — Maya Angelou I join millions in saying “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Maya …

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A vision that stays

“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always.  No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree.  The feeling they produce is not transferable.  From them comes silence and awe…they are ambassadors from another time.” — John Steinbeck It really is impossible to capture a forest …

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Yonder lies the way

“The hour is ripe, and yonder lies the way.” — Virgil In most ways I’m a cautious person.  I tend to fall into what a friend once described as “paralysis by analysis,” so fearful of making a mistake that I think and re-think decisions far too long.  This blog, however, was an exception that could …

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Good thoughts

“The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.” — attributed to Confucius In honor of Chinese New Year, I thought it would be appropriate today to feature this quote from one of the most famous philosophers of all time.  This blog was started to help me …

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Permit yourself the luxury

“Winter is the time of promise because there is so little to do – or because you can now and then permit yourself the luxury of thinking so.” —  Stanley Crawford Each year, I enter January with delusions about how much I will get done — I will clean out my closets, sort through old …

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Hopes rise blooming

Our sweetest hopes rise blooming And then again are gone, They bloom and fade alternate, And so it goes rolling on. I know it, and it troubles My life, my love, my rest, My heart is wise and witty, And it bleeds within my breast. — Heinrich Heine Recently, several of you asked me to …

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Regular phases

 “…bereavement is not the truncation of married love, but one of its regular phases– like the honeymoon. What we want is to live our marriage well and faithfully through that phase too. If it hurts (and it certainly will) we accept the pains as a necessary part of this phase…We were one flesh. Now that …

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See from a bike

“It is curious that with the advent of the automobile and the airplane, the bicycle is still with us. Perhaps people like the world they can see from a bike…without leaving behind clouds of choking exhaust, without leaving behind so much as a footstep.” — Gurdon S. Leete While I was in Oxford, I found …

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Heart melodies

Bring me all of your dreams You dreamers, Bring me all of your Heart melodies That I may wrap them In a blue cloud-cloth Away from the too-rough fingers Of the world.  — Langston Hughes One great thing about dreaming, whether asleep or awake, is how portable it is. No place is more conducive to …

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Every year I dream, 2016

Merry Christmas, everyone! I wish you pleasant dreams tonight, and joy in the morning. Lyrics from the song A Christmas Dream by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice Recorded by Perry Como (You can listen to the song and see some beautiful Christmas photos here.) Watch me now, here I go, all I need’s a little …

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Like my own heart

…box of tea, like my own heart you arrived bearing stories, thrills, eyes that had held fabulous petals in their gaze and also, yes, that lost scent of tea, of jasmine and of dreams, that scent of wandering spring. —Pablo Neruda Ah, no wonder I love tea so much! Once again, the poet distills deep wells …

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Begin transforming

“St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time – a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.”  — Adrienne Cook That sounds good to me. Let the transformation begin! Help me brainstorm some ideas to get us started. How shall we prepare to welcome spring? Maybe we can visit a nursery or hardware store and pick …

Continue reading

In spite of all

“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you to go on in spite of all.  And so today I still have a dream.”  — Martin Luther King, Jr.  The Trumpet of Conscience, 1968 Today we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and …

Continue reading

I learn by going

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.    I learn by going where I have to go. —  Theodore Roethke I’ve never been fond of awakening from a nice dreamy sleep, and getting up (especially on cold, dark mornings) is not something I do well. I envy and wonder at Jeff’s ability to get up very early, usually …

Continue reading

Foundations of ease

“Burdens are the foundations of ease and bitter things the forerunners of pleasure.” — Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi I had to really think about this one for a few minutes; I wasn’t sure whether it was truth or wishful thinking.  Then I remembered the joke about the man who, when asked why he hit himself repeated on the …

Continue reading

A new kind of action

“The defense force inside of us wants us to be cautious, to stay away from anything as intense as a new kind of action.  Its job is to protect us, and it categorically avoids anything resembling danger.  But it is often wrong.” – Barbara Sher I don’t know about you, but just looking at the …

Continue reading

Great things

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet. This is not done by jostling in the street.” — William Blake I like these lines from Blake, because they remind me that obstacles need not be setbacks.  In a few well-chosen and memorable words, he acknowledges the stamina life requires of us, the potential for tremendous …

Continue reading

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. …

Continue reading