thoughts

In the quiet of Spirit

Grady6 Comments

Like silence after noise, or cool, clear water on a hot, stuffy day, Emptiness cleans out the messy mind and charges up the batteries of Spiritual Energy. Many people are afraid of Emptiness, however, because it reminds them of Loneliness

~ Benjamin Hoff

Photo by Grady

Seeking Solitude is a deliberate choice. Find a space or place to recharge your energy. Uplift your mind, body and spirit. Reawaken familiar yearnings. Find a place within where thoughts are free to stay. Or, go wherever one’s spirit desires. A flight of fancy, a soaring of the imagination. All this and more is possible when in quiet solitude. Look within to find your passion then paint your life in vibrant colors. Find your bliss; where heart dances to love’s sweet melody, where spirit gambols in delight.

Inner Self

Grady10 Comments

It is when you lose sight of yourself, that you lose your way. To keep your truth in sight you must keep yourself in sight and the world to you should be a mirror to reflect to you your image; the world should be a mirror that you reflect upon ~ C. JoyBell C.

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Photo by Grady

Until our Inner Self and Outer Self merges into one and becomes calm and centered, we will continue to pursue our seemingly elusive purpose in life. If there is to be any purpose to our life, we need to be able to make a connection with our Inner Self, our true Authentic Self. To know our Inner Self is to know our purpose, our values and beliefs and to be mindful of our thoughts and actions. We take our breathing for granted when in fact it is the means with which to reach our Inner Self. Through meditation and by practicing slow, deep, rhythmic breathing we are able to reconnect and be graced with an encounter with our Inner Self. That moment during meditation when our mind’s eye takes us to a place where we come face to face with our Inner Self is a most powerful and loving experience. To recognize and be recognized as one and the same and feel the embrace of our Inner Self, is pure Bliss.

As the Great Egret keeps sight of itself in the mirror-like swamp waters, it feels no fear or threat. The harmony between the bird and its reflection is where we need to be in mind, body and spirit. The Great Egret draws energy from its calm and in its stillness is embraced in a surround of golden Bliss.

Unlock your Life Purpose

Grady18 Comments

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo by Grady

 

Sometimes we feel more comfortable securing ourselves within our innermost thoughts. All our emotions, mostly negative, are locked away in the darkest recesses of our minds. We have a padlock for each hurt, grudge, failure; each personal inadequacy. Sadly, with each padlock we take away our sense of purpose, our strength of spirit, our personal power. Therefore, it is imperative that we find a way to free ourselves of these inhibitions. We need to focus on Spirit, on Passion. We need to focus on Purpose. The unlocking of Purpose is essential to our health, to our happiness, to our physical and spiritual growth.

We need to smash the locks that hold us hostage. We need to break out of our self-made prisons and walk free, with Purpose and Meaning.

 

 

 

Flight of the Daydreams

Grady18 Comments

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world ~ Harriet Tubman 

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photo by Grady

Whenever we daydream we are able to lose ourselves in a flow of conscious thought.  During these seemingly timeless moments, we are able to slow ourselves down enough so as to reach that place of absolute calm.   That place where we are able to do anything and go anywhere simply through power of thought.  Daydreams take us to a place where we are able to escape the outer world and at the same time we are free to explore our inner sanctuary. For when we daydream, we strengthen our creativity and our well-being. We allow ourselves to be transported to places where ideas take form and fire our passion.

And when we give flight to our daydreams we give spirit a chance to soar.

A Thousand Petals

Grady14 Comments

Spirituality is a flower with a thousand petals: every act, every thought, every talk, every movement of our heart is a part of it  ~  Robert Muller

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photo by Grady

Sometimes it is hard to escape the hurt, the disappointment, those feelings of inadequacy that have a way of corroding our good intentions.  We need to recognize the illusions we carry with us. These negative energies have the power to strip us of our purpose and divert us from our intended course. We need to stay on our spiritual path.   Love is what we are at the deepest level and it is what we are here to do. We live for these moments. To love and be loved. To give and to receive. Love can be so simple. If we would just let it be.

When we allow love into our hearts. When we embrace the very heart of us. We become one. Our words, our actions, our thoughts will burst into a cascade of a thousand petals.

Life’s Rocky Road

Grady14 Comments

There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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photo by Grady

We tend to allow negative thoughts to amass like great piles of rock.  We need to develop the Art of Wisdom and put it into practice. To become more self aware. To reach a state of consciousness where we can achieve freedom of mind and spirit. Balance. When we return to the center of our hearts through mindful living we will come to realize our true authentic self and find our sense of purpose. To Love and be Loved. We should build our Life Foundations on strength of character and replace the rocks heavy with Anger, Hate, Ignorance and Intolerance with spiritually light rocks.  Rocks made up of Compassion, Respect, Truth, Humility, Generosity, Sacrifice, Wisdom and Love.

Especially Love.

Love waits

Grady21 Comments

It is at the edge of a petal that love waits  ~  William Carlos William

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photo by Grady

Love has many meanings and for the most part we tend to get caught up in its complexities and try to be too many things to too many people. We lose our sense of balance and we either take more than we need or we give away far too much of our self, our very essence.  We tend to look beyond the obvious, that Love begins with us.  Once we make that deeper connection to self we realize the power of self love. To truly give our love to others we have to first love ourselves and when we put it into practice then and only then will we experience an awakening.

Our life path seemingly rickety and likened to a skeleton stretched across a barren land but in that moment of awakening, there love waits.

The Real You

Grady25 Comments

Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful, and free. The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun  ~   Don Miguel Ruiz

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photo by Grady

We spend so much time searching for The Meaning of Life little realizing that as we search, so we travel further and further away from our true self and how we perceived ‘our’ world back then.  Those precious moments of wide-eyed awe as we became aware of our senses and the emotional high that came with seeing a beautiful flower or holding a tiny kitten. To lie in the grass and stare up at the sky as clouds magically turned into animals and birds. A world of love, joy and freedom, a world of wonder and curious thought. Somehow the growing up years manage to take this away from us.

And this is why I am Searching for Grady.

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A young Grady

 

Make your own Music

Grady14 Comments

Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything  ~ Plato

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photo by Grady

Take a step back and observe life’s different perspectives. It is easy to get caught up in the hubbub of mass thinking. You can follow a Marching Band, and misstep your way through life,  lose sight of your passions, or you can march to the beat of a different drummer.

Make your own music. Listen to your Heart.

Shadow Dancing

Grady11 Comments

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves ~ Buddha

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photo by Grady

In life we have choices. We can allow ourselves to get caught up in the everyday tumultuous dances or we can trip the light fantastic in the magnificent Grand Ballroom of Life. Either way our shadows will follow.  Choose wisely.

Dance with Joy!