Inner beauty

 

“No matter how plain a woman may be,

if truth and honesty are written across her face,

she will be beautiful.” 

  ― Eleanor Roosevelt

 

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Slowing down

 

And so taking the long way home through the market I slow my pace down. 

 It doesn't come naturally. 

 My legs are programmed to trot briskly and my arms to pump up and down like pistons,

but I force myself to stroll past the stalls and pavement cafes. 

 To enjoy just being somewhere, rather than rushing from somewhere, to somewhere. 

 Inhaling deep lungfuls of air, instead of my usual shallow breaths. 

I take a moment to just stop and look around me. 

 And smile to myself.
For the first time in a long time, I can, quite literally, smell the coffee.” 

 
― Alexandra Potter

 

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Living with passion and purpose

 

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love.

When we are afraid, we pull back from life.

When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer

with passion, excitement, and acceptance.

We need to learn to love ourselves first,

in all our glory and our imperfections.

If we cannot love ourselves,

we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create.

Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness

 and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”  

― John Lennon

 

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Being all that you can

“A queen is wise. 
 She has earned her serenity, not having had it bestowed on her
but having passer her tests.
She has suffered and grown more beautiful because of it.
She has proved she can hold her kingdom together.
She has become its vision.
She cares deeply about something bigger than herself.
She rules with authentic power.”  
 

― Marianne Williamson

 

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Sitting in the quiet

 

 

There are times when the direction of my day

feel aimless and uncertain.

 

Days where I don't feel a deep sense

 

of purpose or joy. 

 

Can I sit quietly in the emptiness?

 

Can I find sacredness in each moment regardless?

 

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Inner beauty

People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in,

their true beauty is revealed
only if there is a light from within.

~ Elizabeth Kübler-Ross ~

*****

 



Appreciating life

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful;
for beauty is God's handwriting ~ a wayside sacrament.
Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower,
and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

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