Conviction

Cross 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


There is no one more courageous
than the person who speaks with
the courage of his convictions.

Susan Cain, 
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can's Stop Talking

Character

Crucifixion 2a, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The real test of a man is not how well he plays the role he has
     invented for himself, but how well he plays the role that destiny
     assigned him.

        Jan Patočka

Listening

Earth Hour 2 (2013, 3. 23), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


There comes a point in every person's life 
when they must realize, I can't outrun 
my darkness – I can only fill it with light. 

Yehuda Berg

Listen

Tray, BW's home, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Before I tell my life what I want to do with it,
     I must listen to my life telling me who I am.

        Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

Peace

Cross, Freelton, Ontario 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, 
but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.

Thomas Merton

Trust yourslef

Jack's Lamp 1 (water jug), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Just trust yourself,
     then you will know how to live.

        Goethe

Birthing

Potted Flowers, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

I have been born again and again and each time, 

I have found something to love.

Gordon Parks

To love

A day before Spring (2013, 3.19), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr. 

To love means to offer a space to your beloved. 

Thick Nhat Hanh

Discernment

Conversation (2013, 3.5), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Discernment is a process of letting go of what
we are not.

Father Thomas Keating

Returning

Leaf on ice 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We carry a centre

that is always returning.

Mark Nepo, 

The Book of Awakening

A wider horizon

Sunset 1 (2013, 3.8), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


The eyes experience less stress when they can
look upon a wider horizon. 

R. D. Chin

Earth

Tree, SMC, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We won't save a place we don't love;

we can't love a place we don't know;

and we can't know a place we haven't learned.

Ched Myers

Right Relationships

Conversation (2013, 3.5), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

God is found in right relationships,

not right ideas.

Barbara Brown Taylor, 

Leaving Church

Limits

KRUC Cross 2 (2013, 3.4), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion. 

Michael Jordan

Truth

Leaf on ice 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

One word of truth outweighs the world.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Where we are

Direction in the snow, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The first step toward the capacity for hope is 
     the recognition of where we are. 
     If we refuse to recognize where we are, 
     then everything we do is futile. 

        Chris Hedges

Broken Open

Light (2013, 2.14), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

God breaks the heart again and again and

again until it stays open. 

Hazrat Inayat Khan

Clarity

Jacqueline Treloar 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Don’t confuse honours with achievement.

Zadie Smith

Presence

Salt 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Most precious gift you can give

is your true presence.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Solitude

Lamp (2013, 2.22), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Solitude is a crucial ingredient to creativity.

Susan Cain

Stop

Mountain 12, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Stop talking, stop thinking,
and there is nothing you will not understand.

Seng-Ts'an

My life

Footprint 9, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Wisdom tells me I am nothing. 

Love tells me I am everything. 

And between the two 

my life flows. 

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Joy

Baptismal Font 11, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

For the raindrop,

joy is entering the river.

Ghalib

Knowledge

Flower Pot, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Knowledge that takes you not beyond yourself

is far worse than ignorance.

Arabic Proverb

Art

Bicycle Rack 3, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Art is not what you see.

But what you make others see.

Edward Degas

Art

Containers 3, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Art makes it hard to ignore truth.

Anne Lamott,

Help, Thanks, Wow

Strength

Life 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Our strength will continue 

if we allow ourselves the courage 

to feel scared, weak, and vulnerable. 

Melody Beattie

More to do with beauty

Candles 4 (2012,1.29), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     but our lives will only ever always
     continue to be
     a balancing act
     that has less to do with pain
     and more to do with beauty.

        Shane Koyczan, To This Day

Wilderness

Snow Day 3 (2013, 2.16), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

No wilderness, no revelation.

Susan Cain

Your Being

Tree 1 (2013, 2.23), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The only thing you really transmit

to another person is your Being. 

Ram Dass,

Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita

Seeking

Monarch Butterfly 3, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

In seeking what is essential,

we become essential.

Mark Nepo,

The Book of Awakening

Unsayable

Kingston Road United Church 1 (2013, 2.25), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

This has always been the driving mystery

of all sacred wisdom:

The only thing worth saying are

those things that are unsayable.

Mark Nepo,

The Book of Awakening

To live

Community 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the times comes to let it go,
to let it go.

Mary Oliver, In Blackwater Woods

Wisdom

Snow Day 7 (2013, 2.16), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door
     that's unlocked and opens inward, as long as 
     it does not occur to him to pull rather than push. 

        Ludwig Wittgenstein

Mirror

James' 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


When men created the mirror, he began to lose his soul. 
He became more concerned with his image than with his soul. 
Thus, he tells himself a story that aligns with the social image. 

Stephen Covey, The 3rd Alternative

Helping

Second Automatic Door at KRU, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Helping other people can be a cure not just for
     those who are in need but for your soul as well.

        Marinela Reka

Beloved

RIC_0250, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.

Raymond Carver,
Late Fragment

Journey

RIC_7818-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Mistrust no one who offers you
water from a well,
a songbird's feather,
something that's mended twice.
Always travel lighter

than the heart.

Lorna Crozier,
Packing for the Future: Instructions

Travel

RIC_3271, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Always travel lighter
than the heart.

Lorna Crozier,

Packing for the Future:  Instructions,
What the Living Won't Let Go

Story

Jar 1 (2013,2.3), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The story that lives is the story that's told. 

Colin Hesterly, When I Grow Up

On faith

RIC_2310, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Believing that your faith tradition alone contains God 
is like believing the rain falls only in your cup.

John Shore

Care

Prayer Beads (2013, 2.9), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

When people care for you,
they can straighten out your soul.

Langston Hughs

Peace

RCC_0766, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

There is no way to peace,

peace is the way.

A. J. Muste

Discovery

RIC_2219, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Discovery consists of seeing
     what everybody has seen
     and thinking
     what nobody has thought.

        Albert Szent-Györgyi

At the light

RCC_5997-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Everything arrives at the light.

Lorna Crozier

Your adventure

Candle 2 (2013,2.3), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Your adventure has to be coming right out of your own interior.

Joseph Campbell

Grace

DSC_4219, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


I do not at all understand the mystery of grace –
only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us
where it found us. 

Anne Lamott

Vulnerable

RIC_5490-1 b/w, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Those who are willing to be vulnerable

move among mysteries.

Theodore Roethke

Seeing

RIC_4522, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

On a clear day

I can see

so far

into

myself.

Richard C. Choe, Seeing

Perspective

RIC_7662-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The most important power we have is

the power to help select the lens

through which we see reality.

David Brooks