//stacy baker williams

hi, how are you? right now? this moment is all yours. enjoy it.

[esbydub]

Staying grounded and centered during transition and change is hard. "You can do hard things." -Barbara Kingsolver #inspired #favoriteplaces #vrksana #tbt

[esbydub]

amazing #iwd2105 started off with sunshine, an introduction to talented artist Mary Mihelic and her incredible work '53 Running Girls' #photodoesntdoitjustice and ended with a lovely meal with brilliant women from around the globe! Happy International Women's Day! #gratitude #inspired #CIES2015

[esbydub]

things that are good:

fiddles, banjos, guitars and cellos.

friendship. 

talent.

and whiskey before breakfast. 

[esbydub]

last week, bill gave the opening mediation at my yoga class (listen above). while i love him (his humor, his frank style, and his naive nonchalance), but his words don't speak to everyone. it's important to find words or songs or art or people that speak to you, to the core of you. things that remind you what is important. the journey of collecting these things is part of the practice of learning to be yourself. all the time. i admire bill because he appears (which i project with little information) to have figured that out. 

i'm working on it, but i've found it helpful to start by collecting things. 

what kinds of things speak to the true you and remind you to be yourself? 

[esbydub]

I don’t say there isn’t much work to do, for there is. And some tracks lead to excruciating darkness, where a person can tumble from the sky on a clear September morning. Yet is the world not whole? Is it not beautiful? For now, let’s consider well-being a choice, something you can try on and wear. When we put on the hat and coat of well-being we incline towards joy without special occasion.

Jean-Pierre Weill 

from the well of being as shared by maria popova at brain pickings 

[esbydub]

gregory alan isakov. thank you.

[esbydub]

the concept of time (and individual perceptions of it) has been discussed often in my life recently. i’ve found that in my social and professional arenas, I need to take time and its meaning more seriously. however, in my personal life my practice of being in the moment and working to acknowledge and enjoy that moment for what it is has benefitted me immensely in coping with change and stress. 

as I continue to be aware and mindful of my time, my practice should also extend to others’ time- which means: stop being late. this is hard and I’m working toward it. i hope that in some small way, people in my life can also learn from me to be present. to control your own reactions in the moment because that is usually all you can do. to be here and now. 

and if you don’t learn it from me, spend some time with a dog… 

 Credit: Guardians of Being

[esbydub]

i like geography best, he said, because your mountains & rivers know the secret. pay no attention to boundaries.

-brian andreas

[esbydub]

although i'd like to keep this feed full of happy things, sometimes we have bad days. dark days. black thoughts. when i feel darkness or sadness creeping up on me, i try to channel is somewhere else. it's important to meet the emotion where it is. acknowledge it. feel it. and then let it go.  

music is my default, and zoning out to melodramatic or ambient music is like a balm. i've always been a dcfc fan, and am looking forward to their new album. especially after hearing this song. the video is also beautifully mesmerizing. hope you enjoy it.

what do you do to cope with dark days?

[esbydub]

found in the mail: sunshine and a banjo tune to brighten my day 💖 #gratitude #motherdaughter #missinghome

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why, yes it was. #surprise #gratitude #sundayfunday

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mind is empty. you can change your thoughts.

lama norlha rinpoche

[esbydub]

reach for love. it's worth it. 

[esbydub]

weekend poetry: danna faulds

Sit here for a bit. Place yourself outside the frenzied pace of life. Slow down long enough to appreciate birds in flight, water drops like prisms in the grass and countless shades of green. Step off the fast track and listen to the sound of breath and birdsong. Take a moment to just be, and in the being, know the whole of this creation, mystery and madness, passion and profanity, know it all as one, stunning tapestry. Sit still and the thin line between sacred and profane simply  fades away. There is nothing then to reconcile. All the disparate threads are woven on the loom of life. Sit here for a bit and your unique place in the pattern becomes clear. Take the still point with you when it's time to walk away. Make the choice to see affinity, to watch the picture taking shape as  thread joins thread. Dare to be the weaver and the loom, creator and creation, the sower and the sown. In a moment of stillness, all that came before is seen as one. -Danna Faulds

[esbydub]

may the space between where i am and where i want to be inspire me.

-my dear friend liz beeson

[eliego]

[esbydub]

remembering this around the holidays. 

[esbydub]

do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them. and the point is to live everything. live the questions now. perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.

Rainer Maria Rilke