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Rose Roberts | #mydailydoseofcalm

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Moments of calm to soothe your heart & steady your mind. Finding Joy while living with chronic pain.
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Wednesday Wishes:: “…softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life.” — Jane Hirshifield

I’ve been paying more attention to the quiet bits in my life. You know, that long, long string of ordinary, fleeting experiences. Their impact. Their immensity.

Like this memory breaking through today’s grey sky: I was five or six. We were in the kitchen on a gloomy day. Mom stood at the stove stirring a pot of “something” with one hand. Her other arm curled around my little sister whom she balanced on her hip. My sister, exhausted from her persistent screeching to be picked up, snuggled against mom’s shoulder. I sat at the yellow kitchen table colouring. Each of us in separate worlds.

But then unexpected sunlight slid through the window, danced across the room like some live creature until it landed on mom’s flower-shaped, dangling earrings. My sister came alive. Mom stopped stirring. I ran to them. And there we were, playing and laughing as we reached out to catch a handful of light.

So I wonder, maybe this is how softly immensity can tap at our lives: while toddlers cry as mothers cook and children colour and a sudden sunbeam changes everything.

May you notice the ordinary moments of love, connection and laughter that brighten your day. May you experience their immensity. Happy February, lovely friends!
#mydailydoseofcalm
#_walkingtheseasons @ald65walks
#quietmomentsoutside by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday Wishes: “May I live this day
Compassionate of heart,
Clear in word,
Gracious in awareness,
Courageous in thought,
Generous in love.”
— John O’Donohue

Lately, I’ve been reciting these few words each morning before I leave my bed. Sometimes I simply reflect on a single capacity and carry it into my day. It’s my wish, my aspiration, my intention, my prayer to live this way. It’s similar to choosing a word for the year. Although it feels different to me. That’s probably just me.

But whatever we name it, this ritual of recitation and dwelling on an inner capacity has shown me how much I learn from witnessing concepts and capacities and clematis as they grow from seed to flower to new seed.

It’s brought me here: I’m paying closer attention to what I am drawn to instead of to what drives me. Compassion. Clarity. Grace. Courage. Generosity.

May you discover what draws you. May you give it your attention. May it bless you in ways untold.

#mydailydoseofcalm

#2023_creativegrowth
@adianandbert by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday Wishes:: “May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness….”
~~Neil Gaiman

I had a wish ready to go for the new year, but as I was about to post it, I realized all my words could be distilled into two: “good madness”. Make of it what you will lovely friends. Does the concept speak to you?

For me this “madness” is akin to the magic and boundless mystery that propels us into making beauty, into bringing it to the world, into knowing that it matters.

As I reflected further, I was drawn into the peace that lies beneath the froth of chaos. I saw how easy it is to forget our essential goodness. Yet when something or someone reminds us of our essence, our connection to each other and to something greater than our mind can grasp, we respond to the mystery without doubt. We remember. We forget. We remember. This is good madness.

And so my wish for you is contained in a cup of rosebuds crowned by starlight. May there be stars to light your way when you forget or are too weary to carry your light. May there be rosebuds to help you remember the delicate, fierce and ongoing act of unfolding.
#mydailydoseofcalm

#2023_creativegrowth @adianandbert
#livingintodaysmoment #quietmomentsoutside @annld60 by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday Wishes:: “My wish for you is that you continue.
Continue to be who and how you are,
to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.
Continue to allow humour to lighten
the burden of your tender heart.”
— Maya Angelou

In this space between endings and beginnings, between saying goodbye and hello, I’d like my last wish of 2022 to be a place to pause. I hope it can be a place of comfort and peace for anyone who wishes to continue resting in a circle of calm, mindful of the moments in which we have endured sorrow or celebrated joy, never certain of what would come next. And still we are here. And still we are kind. And still we give praise.

Midst the glitter and the noise of life, may you trust the quiet voice within that keeps your wish alive. May grace, grit and gratitude follow you into your days, moment by precious moment. Blessings to all. I’ll see you soon. x
#mydailydoseofcalm

#20222_creativegrowth
#creativegrowth_mindful @adianandbert
#livingintodaysmoment #quietmomentsoutside @annld60 by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday Wishes:: "But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.” George Eliot, Middlemarch

The first time I read Eliot’s words, I had a flash of recognition: the capacity for hope resides within us, waiting to be nourished. Let me be clear, I’m not referring to that deep, ongoing state of despair that is gently and best approached with professional support. Today, I’m thinking back to when I walked a winding path of longing and isolation with no clear end in sight.

I wondered: if despair was a child of unfed hope, perhaps I was not helpless. I would nourish hope with mindful attention, intention and a persistent, albeit new-found, trust in possibility. Even now, when I feel myself sinking into old ways of ruminating over outcomes that may never come to pass, I go back to basics: Am I nurturing hope or am I extinguishing its light through thoughts, words and stories I tell myself about my circumstances?

Over time, I’ve become aware of the many small, hopeful moments that illuminate my days. It seems, dear friends, I (we?) always return to this: The small, consistent ways we nourish our innate capacities for goodness make a significant difference.

May we recognize, embrace and celebrate that which nourishes our sense of hope. May we continue to hold the light of hope for each other.
#mydailydoseofcalm

#20222_creativegrowth
#creativegrowth_mindful @adianandbert by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday’s Wish:: “Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.”
— Mary Oliver

As we say farewell to November, I’ve been organizing the seeds I’ve gathered, the leaves and flowers I have pressed.

As I organized, I wondered. What do we do with all we gather in other realms? All those seeds of experience we don’t pay enough attention to. You know what I mean. Those beautiful, fruitful moments that are not as tangible — blessings bestowed, meaningful encounters, sweet words and kind gestures. And what of our fleeting desires? The unimaginable ones. The ones that in reality are not all that fleeting because they return again and again, sometimes over decades. We hear them in whispers, see them in dreamscapes, appearing and disappearing through the seasons without bravado. At least that’s been my experience.

So lovely friends, may you gather close what sustains you. Be they the seeds and leaves you hold in your hands or moments you carry in your heart. May you trust and attend to your deepest desires. Persist. Be patient. Awaken to see the dawn. Gather the light….share it.
#mydailydoseofcalm

#livingtodaysmoment
#naturewisdom
#natureismytherapy
#naturehealsthesoul
#awakethelight
#thissimplescene by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday’s Wish: “What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?” —George Eliot

Honestly, kindness is top of mind these days. Your generosity of spirit has transformed these squares into a circle of calm. I was recently telling someone in real life what I’ve been fortunate to find among you. She looked puzzled. Understandably, given the negatives that also inhabit this space. But if only for today, I want to tip the balance and acknowledge that the insights you share, the courage you show, the support you offer make life a little less difficult.

May beauty, light-heartedness and kindness grace your day. May a sense of calm flourish within you. Thank you for being part of #mydailydoseofcalm lovely friends.

Ps the photo of this Dahlia in a friend’s garden was taken 10 days ago, before the winter storm and grey skies moved in.
#quietmomentsoutside @ald65walks
#2022_creativegrowth @adiandbert by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday’s Wishes: “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

I usually share that which I’m in need of being reminded. Today it’s about a small blunder that has taken on a disproportional degree of importance thanks to overthinking. It amazes me how something quite small during the course of day — or a life — can become a burden we think we must bear. Can you relate?

And so, lovely friends, may we enter this new day lightheartedly and with a spirit so buoyant that old nonsense slips away like the melting of snow. Be well!

The photo: The ever-graceful Hinoki Cypress in our backyard bears a skin of November snow.

#mydailydoseofcalm
#quietmomentsoutside @ald65walks
#songofseasons
#natureofsoul
#naturewriter
#naturemindfulness
#naturespirituality by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday’s Wish: “Ordinarily I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend….when I am alone…I can hear the almost unbearable sound of the roses singing. …If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.” — Mary Oliver from How I Go To The Woods

I’ve been reflecting on the facets of friendship while enjoying the company of new and old friends. They’re all so different. AND all a joy. Some are laugh-out-loud, chatty, enthusiastic. Others are quietly passionate. They’re the ones for whom solitude, more than anything, is nourishment. And finally, there are those who are both chatty and contemplative.

The other day I spent an afternoon with someone like this. We rarely see each other. It didn’t matter. Our conversation was a song in two-part harmony. A kindred spirit, some would say. Her words flow easily yet she doesn’t rush to fill the silence as I search for mine. She listens.

It’s a level of listening I aspire to. To enter an inner silence that, like Mary, would allow me to “hear the almost unbearable sound of the roses singing,” even when I’m not alone — well that’s my wish.

May we rejoice in the facets of friendships that leave us nourished and uplifted as we each find our own way of going to the woods. Be well lovely friends. x
#mydailydoseofcalm

#quietmomentsoutside
#songofseasons
#natureofsoul
#chasingslow
#poetryheals
#poetryhealsme
#poetryhealsthesoul

Ps these are my November Roses — a joy!
PPs I’ll post the entire poem in Stories by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday’s Wish: “I urge you to please notice when you are happy.” —Kurt Vonnegut

I’ve been a little out of sync with my usual routine lately. (Like posting Wednesday’s Wishes on a Thursday.) Nothing heavy, just caught up with too many ideas but not sure how to fulfill them. I don’t know if you can relate, but that led me into the sort of inner dialogue that can make new beginnings seem like burdens.

And then yesterday this happened: I became aware of how many times in the course of an hour I smiled or uttered words of praise — “I love that!” “She’s beautiful!” “That’s so moving…I’m grateful.” So many points of exclamation punctuated my morning…and I was speaking only to the air around me. It began while reading/seeing your posts (thank you!). It continued while I dusted a bookshelf that holds favourite books, small objects steeped with meaning, framed photos of those I love. I noticed how happy I felt.

All these fleeting moments of gladness. They count. They can change how the body feels, loosen the grip of our ruminating mind, break through the dreariness of disappointments. They don’t negate or belittle those experiences. But they tip the scale toward a lighter heart. They remind us of the bigger picture and our connection to all that is good in this life.

So lovely friends, I wish you many moments of noticing when you are happy. Happy November!
#mydailydoseofcalm by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday’s Wish: “Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love.”
—Rumi

What do you truly love? It seems simple to answer. I rhyme off a list to myself that flows like a stream from heart to pen (or keyboard). And then the word “truly” jumps out from Rumi’s sentence. I slow down. My list is shorter. My heart feels fuller. My entire body sinks into a deeper sense of peace. I suppose, I could say, there’s a feeling in these moments of letting what you love become what you are.

That stronger pull draws me toward trust, tenderness, affection. These capacities become my solid ground. It’s not a place devoid of vulnerability. But when I am most adrift, when the river rushes over rapids of strong emotions and disappointments, that which I love is my safe harbour, my place of belonging, my place of rest.

May you feel the pull of that which you truly love, lovely friends.
#mydailydoseofcalm

#quietmomentsoutside @ald65walks
#walkingtheseasons @annld60
#2022_creativegrowth @adiandbert
#joyinautumn @joyin_theseasons by @roserobertswriter

Wednesday’s Wish: “Why not live each day as if it were the first — all raw astonishment.”
— Linda Pastan, Imaginary Conversation
Someone who knows me well told me she thought the burdens of chronic illness and pain seemed to be lighter for me of late. Subtle changes to be sure. Nonetheless, she was right. A new-found joy has wrapped itself around me as I do my best to follow the poet’s lead and see the wonder and mystery embedded in this life. Same illnesses. Same world. New eyes.
Wishing you many moments of raw astonishment lovely friends.
I’ll be posting the entire poem in my Story a little later for those interested. #mydailydoseofcalm by @roserobertswriter