Posted: December 4, 2014 | Author: CultFit | Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Body Image, compassion, Dreams, Edgar Allan Poe, Forgiveness, kindness, love, Mindfulness, nebraska, Omaha, passion, Poetry, Prose, reading, writing |
…
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow—
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand—
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep—while I weep!
O God! Can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
– Edgar Allan Poe
Posted: December 3, 2014 | Author: CultFit | Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Bad Religion, Bliss, Buddhism, compassion, cycling, family, fitness, free range, gluten free, gratitude, happiness, health, hipster, kindness, life, lululemon, marathon, meditation, Mindfulness, motivation, natural, nature, nebraska, Omaha, passion, pilates, running, time, trail running, winter, writing, yoga, Zen |
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana-
Often, in our self-absorbed naiveté, we believe time to be infinite in nature. Oddly enough, time as we are experiencing it, right now in this wonderful moment … Is the one “thing” in our lives of which we can be absolutely certain of (I am deeply grateful for you being here with me right now). Why then, do we insist on spending our precious time consumed with how many followers we have on WordPress, or perusing the latest “Likes” on FaceTube, rather than being engaged in our lives?
…
The past few weeks I have been paying more attention to the virtual world, instead of the real world. Rather than being fully engaged in the fleeting moments before me, moments that, for their own nuanced reasons, are even more precious than most. A none too subtle slap upside my head brought me back in time, and this abrupt moment prompted me to begin thinking about just how much distraction we volunteer for on a daily basis, and how much it impacts what we have come to consider “meaningful” in our lives.
The end result of my introspection is a simple question I often fail to ask when I’m distracted – “What’s important in this beautiful moment?!?”
The scrambled priority of our lives keeps us from savoring each sip of our morning coffee, or enjoying conversation with a dear friend, or going for an early ride/walk/hike and enjoying the sun rising gently on the horizon.
Daily Meditation:
… The view that we no longer notice.
Posted: December 1, 2014 | Author: CultFit | Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, gratitude, happiness, health, hipster, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, Mindfulness, motivation, musings, Namaste, natural, nature, Omaha, passion, perspective, pilates, running, trail running, writing, yoga |
At the end of the day, let there be no excuses, no explanations, no regrets-
Is it safe to say, given the byzantine nature of modern life, that most of us would admit that we could put gratitude into practice more in our own lives?
…
I still find myself handing out kindness and gratitude without acknowledging the what and why behind my actions. I fail to ignite a feeling of gratefulness within my heart that will ultimately burn into my memory … That this is no ordinary place or period in time – but rather a valuable one. Enriching our acts of “Thanks” – “Gracias” – “Namaste” with feelings of gratitude only serves to deepen our connections moving forward. I have been stuck in “Automatic Politeness” mode for the better part of the year, and I feel its time to put more meaning behind my actions, and deepen my presence in the world.
Daily Meditation:
*BREAKING NEWS* – The Holidays are about to speed our lives up by adding “things” to our already overflowing to-do lists, this is precisely the time to slow down and savor the important moments in life, instead of expanding my holiday shopping list while saying “Namaste” at the end of yoga class.
Posted: November 27, 2014 | Author: CultFit | Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Being, Happy Thanksgiving, Mary Oliver, Mindfulness, Poetry, winter, Winter and the Nuthatch |
…
Once or twice and maybe again, who knows,
the timid nuthatch will come to me
if I stand still, with something good to eat in my hand.
The first time he did it
he landed smack on his belly, as though
the legs wouldn’t cooperate. The next time
he was bolder. Then he became absolutely
wild about those walnuts.
But there was a morning I came late and, guess what,
the nuthatch was flying into a stranger’s hand.
To speak plainly, I felt betrayed.
I wanted to say: Mister,
that nuthatch and I have a relationship.
It took hours of standing in the snow
before he would drop from the tree and trust my fingers.
But I didn’t say anything.
Nobody owns the sky or the trees.
Nobody owns the hearts of birds.
Still, being human and partial therefore to my own successes—
though not resentful of others fashioning theirs—
I’ll come tomorrow, I believe, quite early.
– Mary Oliver
Posted: November 26, 2014 | Author: CultFit | Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, cycling, Disappointment, family, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, holidays, kindness, life, love, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, passion, perspective, pilates, pride, running, Thanksgiving, yoga, Zen |
With no expectations anything can become-
Life, struggle, disappointment. Hardship, pain and constant misfortune – What would our lives stories be without sharing the unpolished side of life?
…
Why do I want to discuss these less then “glamorous” topics a day before Thanksgiving? There are a multitude of reasons as to why, just a few off the top of my head: Remember that New Years resolution that went haywire by the 5th of January? Maybe it was a string of poor race performances over the summer? Thanksgiving is but one day of the year when we awkwardly engage family and friends, acting as though all is fine and dandy in the world … When clearly things are not?!?
…
We are all human (I think), and humans are by definition are imperfect beings. Every one of us (myself included), disappoint(s) someone at some time or another during the day, the calendar year and throughout our inspiring lives. This Thanksgiving and Holiday season, lets talk openly about our struggles. Lets deepen our capacity to love and connect with our fellow “creatures“.
Daily Meditation:
Be kind to yourself – Soothe your worries with grace and compassion, authentic conversation is food for the soul.
CultFit 