Follow My Bliss

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Finding Contentment

"There are nine requisites for contented living:

HEALTH enough to make work a pleasure;
WEALTH enough to support your needs;
STRENGTH enough to battle with difficulties and forsake them;
GRACE enough to confess your sins and overcome them;
PATIENCE enough to toil until some good is accomplished;
CHARITY enough to see some good in your neighbor;
LOVE enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others;
FAITH enough to make real the things of God;
HOPE enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Accepting Real Life

Feeling a little overburdened these days, been carrying alot of excess baggage lately.

"Everything in life that we really accept undergoes a change."
-Katherine Mansfield

I've found a great deal of solace re-reading a book I long ago gave my mother. When we were clearing out my family home during the early part of the year I reclaimed this book. The recent turn of events in my life which are presently quite challenging has spurred me to reread some thoughts that have helped me a great deal. I share them with you here.

"Accepting and blessing our circumstances is a powerful tool for transformation. In fact, this potent combination is a spiritual elixir that can work miracles in our lives.

What is acceptance?
Acceptance is surrendering to what is: our circumstances, our feelings, our problems, our financial status, our work, our health, our relationships with other people, the delay of our dreams. Before we can change anything in our life we have to recognize that this is the way it's meant to be right now. For me, acceptance has become what I call the long sigh of the soul. It's the closed eyes in prayer, perhaps even the quiet tears.

It's "all right," as in
"All right, you lead, I'll follow."

And it's"all right, " as in
"Everything is going to turn out all right."

This is simply part of the journey."

-From "Simple Abundance" by Sarah Ban Breathnach