Category: Favorite quotes

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My Christmas Greeting 2021

Dear Friends and Family, 

I would like to share a verse from this “amazing” poem by Maya Angelou. The light and love in these words serves us all well in these challenging times.  

Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem

We clap our hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.

We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.

We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim say come.

Peace.

Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.

We, the Jew and the Jainist, the  Catholic and the Confucian,

Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and  see community. 

 

May you find your joy, wonder, peace, and love this holiday season and throughout the New Year.

All blessings,
Franny and Andy

Felices Fiestas

Chag sameach

 Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers ~ Kahlil Gibran

  

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5 Contemplations before Eating – from Plum Village

 

Plum Village is a global community of mindfulness practice centres offering retreats and teachings on engaged Buddhism and the art of mindful living, founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. We share these contemplations with you, on this day before Thanksgiving:

This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard and loving work.

May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food.

May we recognise and transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed and learn to eat with moderation

May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.

We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, build our Sangha, and realise our ideal of serving all living beings.

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Yoga for Fall, the Pandemic, and Letting Go

Autumn is my favorite color.

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower” ~Albert Camus

Nature is once again awash in the colors of autumn. I watched the sun peep out of the clouds after yesterday’s storm. It was shining magic light on the orange, scarlet, gold and plum tree branches. The hills glowed magenta at dusk.  

The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus. said,”The only constant is change”.  Continue reading “Yoga for Fall, the Pandemic, and Letting Go”

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Let the Light Shine In

Happy summer solstice!
Please enjoy a favorite poem that was posted by a fellow Yoga teacher:
I thank You God for most this amazing day
For the leaping greenly spirits of trees
And a blue true dream of sky
And for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes
I who have died am alive again today
And this is the sun’s birthday
This is the birth day of life and of love and wings
And of the gay great happening illimitably earth
How should tasting, touching, hearing, seeing, breathing any
Lifted from the no of all nothing
Human merely being doubt unimaginable You?
Now the ears of my ears awake
And now the eyes of my eyes are opened
– e.e. cummings
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THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF DAFFODILS (and The Pandemic)

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”~Audrey Hepburn

“An optimist is a human personification of Spring.”~Susan J. Bissonette

Last October,  my partner and I planted one hundred and twenty bulbs of Daffodils in our garden. We wondered, “what would next Spring bring?”. Winter was tough. We were faced with the tragic loss of lives coupled with economic, social and political unrest.

Continue reading “THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF DAFFODILS (and The Pandemic)”

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THE AMARYLLIS FLOWER

“ Love is the flower,  you’ve got to let grow”.

~John Lennon

This amaryllis flower is a symbol of love and determination. It is a message of renewal. It symbolizes the success won after a struggle.

It is a hopeful sign for our time.

So perhaps…

“ If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change”.

~Jack Kornfeld, Buddha’s Little Instruction Book

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Winter Solstice: December 21

It is almost time to celebrate the heat and light of the returning sun. Many cultures celebrate the solstice as a day of rebirth and renewal. Its origins can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony. It is a time of positive energy.
Please enjoy this beautiful passage about letting the Light in, courtesy of The Center for Spiritual Judaism. The light will always lead us through the darkness. During this solstice Jupiter and Saturn will form a rare “Christmas Star”. They will appear closer on Earth’s night sky than they have since 1226 A.D.

Continue reading “Winter Solstice: December 21”

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Season’s Greetings From Peace Mountain

Celebrate 

by Danna Faulds (with a bow to Dr. Suess)

Celebrate harmony, celebrate cheer,
celebrate courage, and celebrate fear.
Celebrate easy, celebrate stuck,
celebrate nervousness, celebrate pluck.

I think you are getting the simple idea
that to celebrate everything
is why you are here.

So celebrate silence and celebrate noise,
celebrate matter flowing in
from the void.

Wherever you are in your life
as you read, celebrate freedom,
abundance, and need –

Because all of it’s holy,
the whole thing divine,
so get on with enjoying –
don’t waste any time!

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Thanksgiving Thoughts

Please enjoy this lovely blog post from Kripalu, one of my favorite retreats and sources of peace and learning:

Yoga is a deeply rich and interweaving study of being fully alive. This Thanksgiving presents another moment for us to pause as an organization and reflect on what we want to share with you.

Read more from Kripalu’s greeting HERE

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Obey only Love

Yesterday,

we obeyed Kings and bent our necks before Emperors.

But today, we kneel only to Truth,

follow only Beauty,

and obey only Love.”

~ Khalil Gibran

… and wear face masks!

Crossstitch by Julie.