I understand now that I’m not a mess but a deeply feeling person in a messy world. I explain that now, when someone asks me why I cry so often, I say, “For the same reason I laugh so often – because I’m paying attention.” Glennon Doyle Melton FOR NOW WE SHALL SEE THROUGH AContinue reading “whole: Sunday 3”
Tag Archives: attention
whole: day 7
There is a crack in everything God has made. Ralph Waldo Emerson I am moved by the Japanese art of Kintsugi, both for its own sake, and as a profound spiritual metaphor. Kintsugi is the art of repairing broken teaware, by reassembling the ceramic pieces in such a way that the broken/repaired/remade piece is perceivedContinue reading “whole: day 7”
whole: day 6
‘the only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision’. Helen Keller If I’m not careful, what I see with my eyes, and how I see it with my mind, often lead me into either/or binary: I like this/don’t like that; that’s alive/that’s dead; that’s beautiful/that’s ugly; that’s God/that’s not God. YetContinue reading “whole: day 6”
k’s big birthday gratitude project 2
Some of you will have already come across a version of this post or an extract of its content … but there are at least two immediate reasons to repeat myself! The first reason for being especially grateful is that the Godspace blog has been central to my growing confidence as a writer and thusContinue reading “k’s big birthday gratitude project 2”
a monk in the world of 2021
I am honoured to have written another guest post for the Abbey of the Arts, which was published yesterday: As a contemplative photographer I thought I knew quite a bit about light and brightness, shadow and darkness. It appears I was wrong. During 2020 and 2021 a series of COVID-19 ‘Lockdowns’ have been offering meContinue reading “a monk in the world of 2021”
wisdom of the gut: (Imbolc 2021)
If Candlemas Day be fair and brightWinter will have another fight.If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,Winter won’t come again. (Traditional) It has been a very grey January outside my window, and I although I resist turning on a light as soon as I wake up in the morning then leaving it on all dayContinue reading “wisdom of the gut: (Imbolc 2021)”
Epiphany 2021
Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still rememberwhat we have forgotten,that the world is meant to becelebrated. Terry Tempest Williams I wonder if I can help ‘heal the worldContinue reading “Epiphany 2021”
day 21
Your green all dissipated and dissolved, you part company with freshness and sap, suddenly alone and falling. Down and down, lower you swoop, till the ground greets you. Different colours are yours now, burnished golds and reds, as though the sunset of your days has painted itself on your canvas. The light shines through yourContinue reading “day 21”
day 20
In the film Dead Poets Society, Robin William’s character, Mr Keating, provides an aspirational figure for the boys he teaches … In an iconic moment, Keating climbs on his desk, to the bemusement of his pupils, and begins to speak: ‘Why do I stand up here? Anybody … ? […] I stand upon my deskContinue reading “day 20”
day 17
She,In the dark,Found lightBrighter than many ever see.She,Within herself,Found loveliness,Through the soul’s own mastery.And now the world receivesFrom her dower:The message of the strengthOf inner power. ‘She’ Langston Hughes In a meditation on the ‘night hour’, Macrina Wiederkehr includes Helen Keller’s description of her faith, in the midst of permanent silence and darkness, being aContinue reading “day 17”