Morning Trip (368)

”…When you recognize all the repetitive actions you take every day, many of them without awareness, it is easy to understand why making the larger changes of creating new thought patterns and beliefs, such as unconditional self-love and self-acceptance, can be so challenging. Just the simple act of making little changes in your daily routines can help you remember that you have a choice in how you live your life and remind you of the magnificent creator you are.
Creativity comes naturally when we are living a life of awareness.”
—-Don Miguel Ruiz Jr. Living a Life of Awareness p.105

Morning Trip (340)

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kinds of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” —-Henry David Thoreau

Morning Trip (330)

“‘ We study madness in order to learn how to resist,’ Professor Wiesel replies. ‘Madness holds the key to protest, to rebellion. Without it, if we are too “sane” by the standards of our surroundings, we can be carried along with the world’s madness.[sic]

‘Listen to a story: One day a just man came to the city of Sodom. He began to preach to its inhabitants, telling them to change their evil ways. He wanted to save them from destruction, a destruction he knew would come as a result of their sins against one another. “Please,” he said, “stop your cruelty, stop your inhumanity! You must be kinder to the stranger, to the children of the stranger!” He went on like that for many days, but no one listened. He did not give up. He continued preaching and protesting for many years. Finaly, a passerby asked him, “Rabbi, really, why do you do that? Don’t you see no one is listening?” He answered, “I know. No one will listen, but I cannot stop. You see, at first I thought I had to preach and protest in order to change them. But now, although I continue to speak, it is not to change the world. It is so that they do not change me.'”
–Ariel Burger, Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom p. 119

Morning Trip (313)

“Journeys bring power and love
Back into you. If you can’t go somewhere,
Move in the passageways of the self.
They are like shafts of light,
Always changing, and you change
When you explore them.”
–Rumi

Morning Trip (311)

“The truth is that we’re always in some kind of in-between state, always in process. We never fully arrive. When we’re present with the dynamic quality of our lives, we’re also present with impermanence, uncertainty, and change. If we can stay present, then we might finally get that there’s no security or certainty in the objects of our pleasure or the objects of our pain, no security or certainty in winning or losing, in compliments or criticism, in good reputation or bad–no security or certainty ever in anything that’s fleeting, that’s subject to change.”
–Pema Chodron

Morning Trip (264)

“Resentment and anger are emotions that cause your suffering, keeping them alive inside you, draining you of your life force and inner light. Nothing good comes from anger, hate, or resentment. Peace can only come through forgiveness, when you release all that binds you to negativity. Perhaps you need to forgive yourself for placing unrealistic expectations on your situation resulting in a self-sabotaging perception tainted by perfectionism.”

(Look within) “…and see how the lack of forgiveness feeds the” (perception of) “turmoil and suffering around you. Forgiveness is the key to freedom and peace…and it starts with you.”
–Colette Baron-Reid

Morning Trip (232)

“A prophesy that comes true, especially a negative prophecy, is a prophecy that has failed. One doesn’t prophesy for the purpose of being accurate. A prophecy is an attempt to warn or to prepare people to make a change, and if they make that change, then what they’re preparing for just may not occur.”
–Paul Solomon

Morning Trip (198)

“

The Laughing Heart

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.”
–Charles Bukowski