The Poetry of a Woman s Heart Quotes, Stories, Poetry and Passages For Contemplative Meditation Practice Namaste, Beth She s turning her life into something sacred each breath a new birth, each moment, a new chance. She bows her head, gathers her dreams from a pure, deep stream and stretches her arms towards the sky. - Monique Duval The power of life comes from within: go there; pray; meditate. Reach for those luminous places in your Self. - Ardis Whitman May I have the courage today To live the life that I would love, To postpone my dream no longer but do at last what I came here for And waste my heart on fear no more. - John O Donohue Life isn t about waiting for the storm to pass. It s about learning to dance in the rain. - Vivian Greene When we count our blessings instead of our problems everything changes for the better. - Demi Lovato The dream of your life has been dreamed from eternity. You belong within a great embrace that urges you to have the courage to honor the immensity that sleeps in your heart. When you learn to listen to and trust the wisdom of your soul s longing, you will awaken to the invitation of graced belonging that inhabits the generous depths of your destiny. - John O Donohue Consciously or unconsciously, we avoid facing things as they are in themselves and so we want God to Open a door for us which is beyond But to find life s purpose we must go through the door of ourselves. - Krishnamurti Precious jewel, you glow, you shine, reflecting all the good things in the world. Just look at yourself. - Maya Angelou Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are: it solely relies on what you think. - Buddha
Make a list of all your negative thoughts and then write the opposite thought for each one. Stand in front of the mirror and read the positive thoughts out loud to yourself. - Demi Lovato Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything It s how the light gets in. - Leonard Cohen How sweet it is to feel how, in my heart Now, humbly, love is being born. How sweet it is to know that I am no longer alone But am a part of an immense life How generous the splendor that surrounds me Gifts of God and God s immense love. - Italian Chant Let me call upon the inner strength I have within to open all doorways for me today; so all that I wish for or want will easily be fulfilled. - Eleesha If I were a flower, I would be a sunflower. To always follow the sun, turn my back to darkness, stand proud, tall and straight even with my head full of seeds. - Pam Stuart Be grateful for this time - the tougher your challenges, the loftier the heights of naked openness and courage you can attain! - River Cummings
Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed. Quit the evasions. Stop giving yourself needless trouble. It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now. - Epictetus True Meaning of Peace The most important factor in maintaining peace within oneself, in the face of any difficulty, is one s mental attitude. If it is distorted by such feelings as anger, attachment, or jealousy, then even the most comfortable environment will bring one no peace. On the other hand, if one s attitude is generally calm and gentle, then even a hostile environment will have little effect on one s own inner peace. Since the basic source of peace and happiness is one s own mental attitude, it is worthwhile adopting means to developing it in a positive way. - Dalai Lama The Star Thrower While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean. As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water. He came closer still and called out, Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing? The young man paused, looked up, and replied Throwing starfish into the ocean. The old man smiled, and said, I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean? To this, the young man replied, The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don t throw them in, they ll die.
Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can t possibly make a difference! The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, It made a difference for that one. - Loren Eiseley I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred, but offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature, as a healer of misery, as a messenger of wonder, as an architect of peace. - Diane Ackerman Stillness is a baby I carry in my arms. Nothing in the world can tempt me to abandon it. - Hugh Prather Spiritual Notes to Myself I watch my body change and shift with the illumination of aging. - Unknown Now is the time, To climb up the mountain And reason against habit, Now is the time. - Mzwakhe Mbuli Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. - Rumi How did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all its beauty? It felt the encouragement of light against its Being. Otherwise, we all remain too frightened. - Hafiz Trust the energy that courses through you. Trust. Then take surrender even deeper. Be the energy. Don t push anything away. Follow each sensation back to its source in vastness and pure presence. - Rumi God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. - Reinhold Niebuhr
The wise woman does not confuse the road map with the road or indulge in dogmatic thinking. She knows she can paint the ocean by dipping her brush in it, for she is the sea and the brush and the artist of her perceptions and dreams. - Alberto Violloldo Let yourself imagine exactly what you want your life to look like - fearlessly and with the courage to bring our dreams to fruition. - Demi Lovato The World A man from the town of Neguá, on the coast of Colombia, could climb into the sky. On his return, he described his trip. He told how he had contemplated human life from on high. He said we are a sea of tiny flames. The world, he revealed, is a heap of people, a sea of tiny flames. Each person shines with his or her own light. No two flames are alike. There are big flames and little flames, flames of every color. Some people s flames are so still they don t even flicker in the wind, while others have wild flames that fill the air with sparks. Some foolish flames neither burn nor shed light, but others blaze with life so fiercely that you can t look at them without blinking, and if you approach you shine in fire. - Eduardo Galeano THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. - Wendell Berry And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. - Kahlil Gibran
The Journey by Mary Oliver One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. Mend my life! each voice cried. But you didn t stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice, which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do determined to save the only life you could save. Why I Wake Early Hello, sun on my face. Hello, you who make the morning And spread it over the fields And into the face of the tulips And the nodding morning glories, And into the window of, even, the Miserable and crotchety - Best preacher there ever was, Dear star, that just happens
To be where you are in the universe To keep us from ever darkness, To ease us with warm touching, To hold us in the great hands of light - Watch, now, how I start my day In happiness, in kindness. - Mary Oliver When I am Among the Trees When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks, and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, Stay awhile. The light flows from their branches. And they call again, It s simple, they say, and you, too, have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine. - Mary Oliver THE GUEST HOUSE This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice. meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. - Jelaluddin Rumi