a day in the (silent) life...

"Meditation is a discipline of simplicity. Our world needs to learn it urgently. It is a discipline whereby you direct all your powers of consciousness to God. Instead of being at the mercy of your mind with its myriad thoughts and imaginations, you bring our mind, your consciousness, to silence. In that silence you quite naturally become open to God and God's power. It is an utterly benevolent power which we can only describe with the word 'love'."
- Dom John Main, OSB


Once again, I have given myself the gift of a 5-day silent retreat. I leave after work on Thursday. Here's what a typical day on a non-directed, silent retreat looks like (with possible minor variations):

• sleep
• meditate
• eat
• walk
• read/write
• eat
• nap
• walk
• meditate
• eat
• read/write
• meditate
• read/write
• sleep

Well, SOMEbody has to do it! :-) See you on the flip side of Silence...
simply jag xox

more blossomtime...

More visual delights from Kariya Park, a small urban oasis in Mississauga, Ontario. Although I did bump up the colours a bit, I didn't change them. The surroundings truly were awash in pink & purple!

simply jag xox

blossomtime...

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

- Marcel Proust

With gratitude to simple sparrow who reminded me today that it's important to share the beauty we see through our lens...

simply jag xox

commitment...

"The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating - in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life."

(seen on a Starbucks coffee cup: The Way I See It #76 - A. Morriss, Customer)

This past weekend, these two men inspired me to renew my commitment to running. Reinforced by the wisdom from an unlikely source (a disposable coffee cup?!), I've decided to register for a 15K race this coming August. Eeek! This is a huge leap for me and I'm still not sure I can do this... but then again, that's probably just the voice of fear parading around as rational hesitation. :-)

Special kudos & proud sentiments go out to Hubby who ran his marathon in 3:18:12, thereby qualifying him to run the Boston Marathon in 2010! If I feel like giving up, I can turn to him for inspiration - and a healthy dose of insanity...


simply jag
xox