Windridge Reflections

I love this.... "A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song." Chinese Proverb "The song of life is born in every soul. But the song we are meant to sing does not come to us whole. It grows in us - louder, stronger, clearer, more fully - over the years until we discover, finally, that our call has been within us all the while. Learning to hear the song within us, finding the call within us, and then bending our lives to follow it to the fullness of ourselves is the key to happiness, to meaning, to fullness of life." Joan Chittister * taken from the book Following the Path by Joan Chittister

    When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins ~    To find the lost,  To heal the broken,  To feed the hungry,  To release the prisoner,  To rebuild the nations,  To bring peace among brothers,  To make music in the heart. by Dr. Howard Thurman  

Image: istockphoto

"Let us make up our minds that yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet arrived. But today can be filled with wonder if we know that we stand on the threshold of that which is wonderful and new." Ernest Holmes Image: istockphoto

"Saying yes is a way to be open to ourselves and others. It is a way to be open to the beauty of nature. It is a way to be open to life’s small gifts – the fuchsia flower blooming in the window, the Jack Russell puppy who tears down the beach after his owner, the fancily hand-decorated cupcakes in the bakery display case.... There are gifts for us at every turn – gifts of beauty, of humor, of love – if we are willing to accept them." Julia Cameron What are you saying “yes” to today?   Taken from Julia's book The Prosperous Heart - Creating a Life of "Enough"   Photo credit: istockphoto

Aging is at times emotionally and physically challenging..... On the other hand, I would not trade all that I have now, the people, experiences and maturity, to go back.

“The year rotates through the seasons like a wheel of fortune. Being present in each one, possessing its bounty and taking its inconveniences in stride, means living to the fullest every day of the life you get.” —Victoria Moran Life is lived in seasons, and I am slowly learning to appreciate and live fully in each season. Too much time spent reminiscing about what has passed, or waiting for what is to come is squandered time that doesn’t yield a positive outcome. Can you imagine spending your summer moping around and wishing for winter, or spending the beauty of spring worrying about fall? Granted, brief moments of: “I can’t wait to go skiing” or “The beach next summer is going to be wonderful,” are normal but living in a season one isn’t in at the expense of where you are is a sad waste of time. Honestly, each season has its golden moments, and I’m learning to notice those moments as well as enjoy them. This concept is always brought home to me after I spend time with family. Ou...

“The past is huge. The future is huge as well. What remains for me, what is given, is to do the small tasks of the day.” —Julia Cameron Breathing space…that is what today feels like and I need to remember, when I’m in the thick of “busy-ness,” that there will always be a space, a time to refresh and reflect if I will only slow down for a moment to notice and appreciate it (without fretting about the future). Sometimes these “pauses” can be uncomfortable, a feeling of “what happened – where did everyone go?” can rob me of the peace that comes from simply taking a deep breath and completing the small tasks of my day. The joy of catching up on the little things, personal correspondence that has been pushed to the side, appreciating the morning light as a new day dawns, and knowing that now is the time to reflect and dream before the next onslaught of “places to go and people to meet” overtakes me. And so for this hour at least, and maybe for this day, I pause. The day may progress int...

Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it. Anne De Lenclos