Celebrating the Important Things in Life

In a world filled with chaos, I seek calm. I want to dwell on what is important and gracefully filter out the rest. Asking myself what is important feels like a simple and yet complex question. The immediate answers are peace, love, kindness, and balance.

I find peace in quiet times in nature. Although nature is not always peaceful, she always quiets my restless heart and troubled soul. Then there is love; love of family, friends, pets. Sometimes love hides in the smallest places. Kindness sometimes seems in short supply, but when I am feeling discouraged, it is the small acts or gestures that fill me. I can find ways to both give and receive kindness, and it matters. Balance is sometimes a struggle. It is easy to find oneself spinning in a life that feels too busy and out of control. Striving to find and keep balance is an ongoing effort.  Art, music and books/poetry are some great tools!

The following little poem written by by Thompson says a lot in just a few words.

And, one day 

We shall look back and see 

It was always those little moments 

That mattered the most 

Those little fleeting moments 

Of innocence 

Of happiness 

Of laughter and dance. 

 Athey Thompson 

I celebrate kindness when I find and lately it seems, even amidst the struggles and unrest, it is there and makes itself known in a myriad of ways and through any beautiful souls. There is kindness and beauty if we are open to it and it seems the more we acknowledge it and are grateful for it, the more we find it. Have you noticed this? Let’s spend this week seeing the kindness around us and enjoy it while expressing gratitude for it.  

The following by one of my favorite writers, Victoria Thompson, is most inspiring, while trying to find balance and live knowing what it important.

To be a gentle mover in a swiftly spinning world.

To be present.

To extract the poetry.

To only entertain the real.

To listen. To seek the genuine.

To stand inside of the stretch, the momentum, the tall discomfort of change, the knowing that you don’t need to rush the practice, or ever fake or force a thing.

To believe in rhythm and movement. To trust in the river, the song, the stillness, the storm, and the seed.

This is my religion.

Victoria Eickson

Art by Teri Sloat Art