- Nathaniel Branden: “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.”
- Aristotle: “The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than mere survival.”
- Phil McGraw: “Awareness without action is worthless.” Continue reading
awareness
Listen to Your Life
By Frederick Buechner
Listen to your life.
See it for the fathomless mystery it is.
In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness:
touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it,
because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.
Frederick Buechner was an American author, Presbyterian minister, preacher, and theologian.
The Summer Day
By Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean
the one who has flung herself out of the grass, Continue reading
Prayer for Radical Amazement
By Abraham Joshua Heschel
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement.
Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.
Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually.
To be spiritual is to be amazed.
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and philosophers of the 20th century.
Through the Silence of Nature
By Hazrat Inayat Khan
Through the silence of nature, I attain Thy divine peace.
O sublime nature, in thy stillness let my heart rest.
Thou art patiently awaiting the moment to
manifest through the silence of sublime nature. Continue reading
The Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
The Serenity Prayer is attributed to theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.
Slow Me Down
By James Martin, SJ
Slow me down, God, slow me down, so that I may
see you more and move in my faster and faster life.
Give me a listening heart, and contemplative eyes,
so that I may see you in my active world. Amen.
James Martin, SJ is an American Jesuit priest and writer.
Engaging Your Host Community
Questions to ask your host site partners during a dinner/reflection. Could also be used for group discussion or journaling.
From Joe Holland and Peter Henriot, SJ Continue reading
The Siddur of Shir Chadash
May the door of my inner home be wide enough to receive those who hunger for kindness, those who are lonely, or isolated from friendship.
May it welcome those who have cares to unburden, thanks to express, hopes to nurture.
May the door of my heart be narrow enough to shut out pettiness and pride, envy and enmity.