"We become what we think about." ~ Earl Nightingale

Welcome to Sacred Ruminations

I hope you'll look around & leave comments
then visit me at my new blog ...

Giraffe Journal

and/or website ... Labyrinth Journal
both self-hosted at WordPress
where I publish as myself
rather than under a
pseudonym.

I've not had much time for posting or blog visits, but if you're interested I hope you'll find time to check out my new blog, Giraffe Journal or my Labyrinth Journal website ... both self hosted at WordPress.

Thanks for your visit and have a delightful day ;--)
Hugs and blessings,


Sunday, January 13, 2008

Sacred Life Sunday - Kindness and Inspiration

This morning, after adding a new link to a 2nd "kindness" resource in yesterday's post on De-lurking and Everyday Kindness, I found myself searching Google to see if there were references to the Practice Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty project from a few years back. I found many and wrote about them at Small Reflections this morning here. As I composed that post, I found myself thinking of a PBS program I watched some ago with Wayne Dyer ... and blogged about briefly here, sharing these two quotes:

"The morning breeze has secrets to tell you.
Do not go back to sleep."
---Rumi

"The memory of God comes to the quiet mind."
A COURSE IN MIRACLES

I awaken early and always have, driving my parents crazy until they hit on the solution of giving me a flashlight and telling me I could read "under the covers" as long as I didn't awaken my sister or them. I've never understood how people can sleep in late, and when I listened to Wayne Dyer discuss his view of this Rumi quote ... sharing how he noticed himself awakening at 3:13 briefly each morning and eventually training himself to put his feet on the floor as a means to stay awake and listen ... I couldn't help but wonder. If we each listened upon waking to the "secrets" whispered to us and trusted ourselves enough to take action, I wonder how many of the problems in our world today might be resolved.

While searching for the post about Dyer's talk this morning, I revisited a few more of my earlier posts with timely and inspirational messages and I've decided to highlight them here, since I didn't have many readers back then so they might be new to you.

On 12-28-07 I shared a couple of personal stories about "gratitude" prompted by a video link from Simple Truths.
On 11-27-07 I passed along a Cherokee "teaching " story I found at Peajay's blog.
On 11-12-07 I referenced the incredible story of Patrick Henry Hughes and his amazing dad in Living on Purpose
.
On 10-31-07 I share links to two inspiring stories of people dealing with life-threatening illnesses, but using the experience to enrich us all ... Randy Pausch and Lisa Kerr. Reminding us that life is a terminal condition for everyone, Randy said,

"We can't control the cards we're dealt.
We can only play the hand we're holding."


So ... How about it?
A penny for your thoughts!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~John Wooden

A favorite quote of mine from a sort of family, cross-generational hero.

Mother of Invention said...

You would love these daily messages I get from www.zaadz.com
or they may have changed to www.thinkArete.com Anyway, there are all kinds of ideas from different philosophers.

storyteller said...

Jennifer – Thanks for visiting and sharing this quote. It’s a keeper! I love the “defrag” metaphor in your latest post and hope this phase smoothes out for you soon.

MoI – I’m not familiar with that site, but I suspect I would enjoy it because I am a collector of quotes … always have been. I used to start the day with a new one posted for my students … encouraging them to copy it in their notebook and discuss it with others throughout the day. Old habits die hard ... or don't die at all. LOL

Hugs and blessings to you both!

Maude Lynn said...

I've always tried to pay attention to my dreams and / or the first thought that I have upon waking. I blame all of my training in Freud!

Eve said...

Thanks to your blogs about kindness, I have determined to take note when someone is kind to me. I will be keeping a list to share later on. By noticing others kindnesses, I hope to be inspired to emulate their examples.

Anonymous said...

I am super grateful to have read your beautiful words tonight. Blessings & love to you, Virginia!

storyteller said...

Mama Zen – I suppose that works since Freud blamed most everything on mothers ... and what goes around, comes around :-)

I’ve had little luck remembering dreams (Lord knows I've tried everything), but I do write in my journal 1st thing most mornings. I find doing so keeps me centered and sometimes when reading it later, I wonder who wrote it.

Eve – What a wonderful idea! I’ll look forward to reading your list when you post it and perhaps you’ll spark a “kindness” flame in others.

Carla – Thanks so much for offering gratitude, blessings, and love … such lovely gifts to discover this morning.

Hugs and blessings to you all!

Karen said...

For years now, I've been trying to "cure" myself of waking up every morning around 3 a.m. and often being unable to fall back asleep. I've wondered what would happen if I just followed my body's instincts...

storyteller said...

Karen – I suppose you could try it and see what happens. I know when I was working, I used to worry that I’d be exhausted if I didn’t get enough sleep … and sometimes that happened. I developed the habit of retiring earlier to make up for waking so early and that helped, but these days I need less sleep (perhaps because I’m not “working” per se). As with all things, balance would be essential … but some experimentation might bring unexpected outcomes.
Hugs and blessings,