Wisdom from Confucius

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.

– Confucius

Persistence is always needed
Persistence is always needed

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

– Carl Jung

What is the beauty within that we can awake to?
What is the beauty within that we can awaken to?

Wisdom from St. John of the Cross

That thou mayest have pleasure in everything, seek pleasure in nothing.
That thou mayest know everything, seek to know nothing.
That thou mayes possess all things, seek to possess nothing.
That thou mayest be everything, seek to be nothing.

-St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mt. Carmel

That thou mayest possess all things . . .
That thou mayest possess all things . . .

Wisdom from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

One step at a time
One step at a time

Wisdom from Nelson Mandela

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

– Nelson Mandela

One finds in hiking that there is always one more hill
One finds in hiking that there is always one more hill

Wisdom from Helen Keller

ireland_cliffThe best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.

– Helen Keller

Weekly Photo Challenge: An Unusual Point of View

The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective.
– Al Neuharth
Mt. Whitney is definitely not a molehill (at 14,505 feet). But from this perspective at Trail Camp (@12,000 feet), it is difficult to perceive that it really is that tall. And for me, ten years after the backpacking trip, I can no longer recall which peak is which, from the angle I was standing at Trail Camp. It all depends on where you stand, what and how you see.

How like life! It isn’t that I sometimes see “wrong”, but that I need to look from a different angle, or perhaps from the perspective of someone else. It can make all the difference.

From where you stand - from where you sit, how tall does this look to you?
From where you stand – from where you sit, how tall does this look to you?

Basho Haiku

 

across the road

 

from a field of sunflowers

 

a sunflower 

~ Basho

redwoods_sunflower_1

From the Wonderful John O’Donohue

I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.

John O’Donohue, “Fluent” from Conamara Blues

The Pollanass River at Glendalough in Ireland
The Pollanass River at Glendalough in Ireland

How to Find Sacred or Holy Ground

Of course, any San Franciscan would tell you that this is Holy Ground
Of course, any San Franciscan would tell you that this is Holy Ground

 

Any place is sacred ground, for it can become a place of encounter with the divine Presence.

– David Steindl-Rast, A Listening Heart