Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

Each Day

RCC_5615 by rchoephoto
RCC_5615, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Each day forces us
to totter on planks we hope
will become bridges.

Kevin Hart

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Who we are

Christmas Day 2003 (2) by rchoephoto
Christmas Day 2003 (2), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Who we are and who we become depends, 
     in part, on whom we love.

        Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini & Richard Lannon, 
        A General Theory of Love

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Faith

RCC_5991 by rchoephoto
RCC_5991, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


As our faith deepens,
the "container" in wihci fear arises gets bigger. 

Sharon Salzberg, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

Friday, December 27, 2013

Seeing

RC1_4536 by rchoephoto
RC1_4536, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     How you see is what you see. And to see rightly 
     is to be able to be fully present — 
     without fear, without bias, and without judgment.

        Richard Rohr

Thursday, December 26, 2013

The Path

RIC_3589-1 by rchoephoto
RIC_3589-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


You cannot travel the path 
until you have become the path. 

Buddha

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Sacred

RIC_1206-1 by rchoephoto
RIC_1206-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Friday, December 20, 2013

Truth

RCC_5622 by rchoephoto
RCC_5622, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Falsehood has an infinity of combinations,
but truth has only one mode of being. 


Jean Jacque Rousseau

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Faith

RCC_9640 by rchoephoto
RCC_9640, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


       You have to have trust in your own self. ... 
     The importance of having faith is to see it 
     concretized in your own self. 

        Esperanza Ortega in Birthing God: Women's Experiences of the Divine by Lana Dalberg

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Fear

RIC_3470-1 by rchoephoto
RIC_3470-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


When fear dominates, 
our sense of possibility collapses. 

Sharon Salzberg, 
Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

Monday, December 16, 2013

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Healing

Toronto 3 (2013, 11.20) by rchoephoto
Toronto 3 (2013, 11.20), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     The healing comes from letting there be room
     for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief,
     for misery, for joy. 


        Pema Chödrön,
        When Things Fall Apart: 

        Heart Advice for Difficult Times

Friday, December 13, 2013

Growing Old

Christian Island Ferry by rchoephoto
Christian Island Ferry, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     One great thing about growing old is
     that nothing is going to lead to anything. 
     Everything is of the moment. 

        Joseph Campbell, 
        A Joseph Campbell Companion:
        Reflections on the Art of Living

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Faith

RIC_9666 by rchoephoto
RIC_9666, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Faith never knows where it is being led,
but it knows and loves the One who is leading.


Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Instructions

Toronto 8 (2013. 10.27) by rchoephoto
Toronto 8 (2013. 10.27), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


      Instructions for living a life:
     Pay attention.
     Be astonished.
     Tell about it.


        Mary Oliver

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Monday, December 9, 2013

Wisdom

RC1_9580 by rchoephoto
RC1_9580, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     It is said that no one truly knows a nation 
     until one has been inside its jails.
     A nation should not be judged 
     by how it treats its highest citizens,
     but its lowest ones.

        Nelson Mandela

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Play

RIC_3446 by rchoephoto

RIC_3446, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.



A wise man once said that all human activity is a form of play. 
And the highest form of play is the search for Truth, Beauty and Love. 
What more is needed? 
Should there be a ‘meaning’ as well, that will be a bonus?  
If we waste time looking for life’s meaning,
we may have no time to live — or to play.

Arthur C. Clarke


Monday, December 2, 2013

Questioning & Faith

RHUC 1 by rchoephoto
RHUC 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


When we claim our right to question everything, 
including our beliefs, we can unhook from our 
dependence on what is familiar and let in
the heartfelt, open, fresh quality of faith. 

Sharon Salzberg, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Presence

Tower of Power (2013, 6.4) by rchoephoto
Tower of Power (2013, 6.4), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     ... whatever
     returns from oblivion returns
     to find a voice.


        Louise Glück,
        The Wild Iris

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Real

Toronto 7 (8.29, 2013) by rchoephoto
Toronto 7 (8.29, 2013), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The question is always: Who am I? 

     You see, if I were allowed one single cry to God, 
     that cry would be: I want to be REAL.

        Katherine Mansfield

Friday, November 29, 2013

Writing

Mississauga Chinatown 7 (2013, 6.4) by rchoephoto
Mississauga Chinatown 7 (2013, 6.4), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     When we tell a story we exercise control, 

     but in such a way as to leave a gap, an opening. 
     It is a version, but never the final one.
     And perhaps we hope that the silences will be heard 
     by someone else, and the story can continue, can be retold.

     When we write we offer the silence as much as the story. 
     Words are the part of silence that can be spoken.

        Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Understanding

Toronto 5 (2013. 10.27) by rchoephoto
Toronto 5 (2013. 10.27), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Nothing in life is to be feared, 
it is only to be understood. 
Now is the time to understand more, 
so that we may fear less.

Marie Curie

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Now

Toronto 1 (2013. 10.27) by rchoephoto
Toronto 1 (2013. 10.27), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


We're so busy watching out 
for what's just ahead of us 
that we don't take time to enjoy
where we are.

Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbs

Monday, November 25, 2013

Happy Ending

Toronto 1a (2013, 10.15) by rchoephoto
Toronto 1a (2013, 10.15), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     If you want a happy ending, 
     that depends, of course, 
     on where you stop your story. 

        Orson Wells

Sunday, November 24, 2013

You

Toronto 3 (2013. 10.27) by rchoephoto
Toronto 3 (2013. 10.27), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


You are the traveler,
you are the path and
you are the destination.
Be careful never to lose
the way to yourSelf.


Shihab al-Din

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Light

North Bramalea United Church by rchoephoto
North Bramalea United Church, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Death is not extinguishing the light,
     it is only putting out the lamp

     because dawn has come.

        Rabindranath Tagore

Friday, November 22, 2013

Risk Taking

RIC_3518-1 by rchoephoto
RIC_3518-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Sometimes not having any idea where we're going
works out better than we could possibly have imagined. 

Ann Patchett, What Now?

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Curiosity

RIC_1044-1 by rchoephoto
RIC_1044-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Look at everything. 
     Don't close your eyes to the world around you. 
     Look and become curious and interested  in
     what there is to see. 

        John Cage

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Possibilities

Five Oaks 1 (2013, 9.12) by rchoephoto
Five Oaks 1 (2013, 9.12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     If your mind is empty,
     it is always ready for anything;
     it is open to everything.
     In the beginner's mind
     there are many possibilities,
     in the expert's mind there are few.


        Shunryu Suzuki

Monday, November 18, 2013

Longing

Toronto (2013, 10.24) by rchoephoto
Toronto (2013, 10.24), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Blessed be the longing that brought you here
And quickens your soul with wonder. 

John O’Donohue, 
Blessing for Longing

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Your Stories

Toronto 1 (2013, 11.10) by rchoephoto
Toronto 1 (2013, 11.10), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Don't forget — no one else sees the world the way you do, 
     so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.

        Charles de Lint

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Soul

Real Jerk Restaurant (2013, 10.6) by rchoephoto
Real Jerk Restaurant (2013, 10.6), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


When the soul wishes 
To experience something, 
She throws an image 
Of the experience out 
Before her and enters into 
Her own image. 

Meister Eckhart

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Creativity

Toronto 2 (2012, 9.1) by rchoephoto
Toronto 2 (2012, 9.1), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Creativity isn't the monopoly of artists,

this is the crucial fact I've come to realize and 
this broader concept of creativity is my concept of art. 

Joseph Benys

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Stories

Toronto 1 (2013, 10.3) by rchoephoto
Toronto 1 (2013, 10.3), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Be careful which stories you expose yourself to.  ...
     The meanings you find, and the stories you hear, 
     will have an impact on how optimistic you are:
     it’s how we evolved. … If you do not know how to draw 
     positive meaning from what happens in life, 
     the neural pathways you need to appreciate good news 
     will never fire up.

        Philippa Perry

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Love

RCC_9595 by rchoephoto
RCC_9595, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Love doesn't die.
People do.
So, when all that's left of me
Is love,
Give me away.


Merrit Malloy, When I Die