Tag Archives: beauty

What will your news be today?

You would be shocked if you knew how many knees were bent right now in prayer.

No doubt that thousands of poems are being typed and written right now.

Just a guess, but I would bet that over 1,000 times a minute today someone holds a door for someone with their hands full.

Ten billion thank you’s will be exchanged today. Easily.

I’m guessing that over 10,000 crossing guards this morning stopped traffic for lunch pale toting ducklings on their way to school.

Right now….right this very minute…thousands of chefs are preparing menus and dreaming in flavors for their Friday night guests.

If a billion cut roses are sold in the United States each year, that means that at least 31 buds per second are bursting in our universe today before they get to your vase. For your enjoyment, by the way.

And guess what? The sun pulled up over our horizon again this morning.

Here’s the catch of the day…once you learn to see it, you’ll see it everywhere.

See what?

Beauty. Benevolence. Whimsy. Hope. Thrill. Joy. Experience. Euphoria. Etc.

Breaking news! You’re the host of the today show.

 

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The Space Between (Part 2).

The space between creativity and something new being crafted is me.

The space between me and you is compassion.

The space between compassion and awareness is empathy.

The space between empathy and action is love.

And that is the space that changes the world.

I’ve connected quite a few dots since Part 1.

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LTMP Episode 18: Fr. Richard Rohr with Ashton Gustafson

Richard Rohr

Hi friends! I am so excited to share with you in Episode 18 at Let The Music Play Podcast one of the finest men that has ever graced our planet, Fr. Richard Rohr.

Fr. Richard Rohr is a globally recognized ecumenical teacher bearing witness to the universal awakening within Christian mysticism and the Perennial Tradition. Fr. Richard is the author of numerous books, including Everything Belongs, Simplicity, The Naked Now, Breathing Under Water, Falling Upward, Immortal Diamond (my personal favorite), and Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi.

Over the last twelve months I have journeyed through the land of his ideas and insights and consider them some of the finest treasure I have found. Alas, I am overwhelmed with joy to share our conversation with you.

Enjoy! And if any of this dialogue strikes a chord within you, please support his work by visiting the Center for Action and Contemplation.

You can also listen to this episode and subscribe to Let The Music Play Podcast by clicking here for iTunes.

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Renting vs. Owning

There’s an enormous difference in the engagement, experience, and fulfillment that occurs when we rent something and when we own something.

Think about the cars you’ve rented in the past. Style, design, and color isn’t near as important as price. And while we’re on the topic, you probably chose ‘cheap’.

Now think about the car you own. Or better yet, think about the car you you’ve wanted and dreamed of owning. I would bet that you know the color, the specs, the feel…and somehow, you even have and idea of the smell.

The same can surely be said for our homes and other rentable products and services but what about our lives?

Here’s the catch of the day: Ownership leads to reverence. You interact with everything differently when your time and energy was involved in making it a reality. And isn’t reverence what we’re all looking to get out our moments, minutes, hours, days, and lives? Don’t we want to respect, interact with, admire, and find awe in the electric flow that happens when we do our part in creating something worth remarking on and worth being shared?

We want to know that our presence was a part of something new, fresh, mysterious, and original. We want to taste and see the beautiful. We want to be still and know the Divine. We want to stop and smell the roses. But how many of us OWN these longings and make the investment for them to become realities? The research shows very few.

Own your life and take ownership of what leads to the wonder and beauty of your days. Don’t rent it to cable tv, the media, and pessimism. They’re terrible landlords and their only concern is you paying them with holiest of all currencies…your time.

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A new (old) kind of beautiful….

It has happened so fast and most of us haven’t noticed the trend. The concept of beautiful has become synonymous with glamor.

And they’re not the same.

This understanding and perspective is failing us.

We have bigger homes with smaller hearts.

We have faster, fancier cars accompanied with even faster breathing.

And we’ve chosen consumption over care for ourselves and our neighbors.

A vote won’t change this. Your next tweet won’t either.

But you can.

You can make the choice to step off the tireless hamster wheel, get out of the glamourous rat race, and waltz with your humanity back into what’s truly beautiful.

Before you start unwrapping on Friday, let’s remember to not get our words mixed up.

Praying this week that you find a way in your world to experience that new, old, kind of beautiful.

The keys are yours…

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