I love the unexpected – and I never expected to love blogging as much as I do.
A Flourishing Life went live in mid-August. Since then 1102 people from 65 countries have visited the site, and at last count, there were 199 subscribers. I can’t tell you the thrill I feel when I see that a post has been translated into Polish or when I receive an incredibly heartfelt comment or email from someone in India, Malaysia, or Switzerland.
I love knowing that there is a community of people out there desiring freedom from habits that weigh us down and beliefs that keep us from realizing our full potential. Whether you are on fire for the truth or just capturing the spark, I feel your presence, and I totally appreciate every single one of you.
I write about topics that I am impassioned about. For me, being happy is not just a desire or an occasional high that allows me to merely tolerate the difficult times. I absolutely know that peace is available in every moment, and my commitment is to live in this truth.
As I have let go of everything personal, including limiting beliefs about what is possible and old, painful stories I used to tell myself repeatedly, life has opened up in unimaginable ways – beauty, happiness, an amazing relationship, so much love and creative energy. I used to fool myself into believing I was wounded and lacking. Gratefully, I have seen through these trances to realize that our radiance is sitting here, patiently waiting for the veils to lift, so we can shine in infinite expression.
And I am overjoyed to have you along on this journey.
The Words of Our Masters
As a dedicated student, always open to greater depths of understanding, I appreciate the words of masters in all forms who motivate and inspire us. I have compiled a short list of my favorite quotes, some from beautiful books of poetry, which I am delighted to share with you. Let the meaning of each one wash over you, sink into your being, and saturate your heart.
In love and gratitude,
Gail
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.
~Rumi, 13th century Sufi mystic
*********
Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it’s dark.
~Zen Proverb
*********
We have come into this exquisite world to experience ever and ever more deeply our divine courage, freedom and light!
~Hafiz, 14th century Persian poet
*********
For true love is inexhaustible; the more you give, the more you have. And if you go to draw at the true fountainhead, the more water you draw, the more abundant is its flow.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author, The Little Prince
*********
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
~Kahlil Gibran, author The Prophet
*********
There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.
~Martha Graham, American choreographer
*********
I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.
~Hafiz
*********
The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.
~Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist monk
*********
The only journey is the journey within.
~Rainer Maria Rilke, 20th century German poet
*********
There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.
~Buckminster Fuller, American architect
*********
You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.
~Nietzche, 19th century German philosopher
*********
And a poem by Rumi…
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
