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At the Pond One summer I went every morning to the edge of a pond where a huddle of just-hatched geese
would paddle to me and clamber up the marshy slope and over my body,
peeping and staring— such sweetness every day which the grown ones watched, for whatever reason,
serenely. Not there, however, but here is where the story begins. Nature has many mysteries,
some of them severe. Five of the young geese grew heavy of chest and bold of wing
while the sixth waited and waited in its gauze-feathers, its body that would not grow. And then it was fall.
And this is what I think everything is about: the way I was glad
for those five and two that flew away, and the way I hold in my heart the wingless one that had to stay.
—Mary Oliver Evidence, p. 34-35 |
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In your personal or professional life, what is leaving and what is staying behind?
This is our monthly offering of Words of Courage. It is our hope that the words that you read and the questions you consider will en-courage you to engage fully in your work in the world. These Words of Courage contributed by Ann Faulkner, a CRNT facilitator.
Reconnecting Who You Are With What You Do. For more information, please visit our website at CourageNorthTexas.org |
Archive for Uncategorized
Words of Courage.
Image of Renewal.
In your professional life, do you take the time to reflect on the good work you do or is it "just another day in the office"?
Photo Mandala © Donna Bearden
These images and words are a monthly offering from Courage & Renewal – North Texas. It is our hope that they will provide a moment of refreshment, of reflection, of renewal – and will enable you to live and work more whole heartedly.
"Reconnecting Who You Are With What You Do."
For more information please visit our website at www.CourageNorthTexas.org
Words of Courage.
Deep Summer 
The mockingbird
opens his throat
among the thorns
for his own reasons
but doesn’t mind
if we pause
to listen
and learn something
or ourselves;
he doesn’t stop, he nods
his gray head
with the frightfully bright eyes,
he flirts
his supple tail,
he says:
listen, if you would listen.
There’s no end
to good talk,
to passion songs,
to the melodies
that say
this branch,
this tree is mine,
to the wholesome
happiness
of being alive
on a patch
of this green earth
in the deep
pleasures of summer.
What a bird!
Your clocks, he says plainly,
which are always ticking,
do not have to be listened to.
The spirit of his every word.
Mary Oliver, Evidence, 2009
What are you choosing to listen to?
This is our monthly offering of Words of Courage. It is our hope that the words that you read and the questions you consider will en-courage you to engage fully in your work in the world.
These "Words of Courage" contributed by Ann Faulkner, a CRNT facilitator.
"Reconnecting Who You Are With What You Do."
For more information, please visit our website at www.couragenorthtexas.org
Image of Renewal.
Have you enjoyed the monthly Images of Renewal that Donna creates?
If so, you will certainly enjoy our latest offering, Courage & the Creative Process, which Donna and I are hosting on August 7, 2009 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Sign up today for a chance to express your creativity through art and play. It is sure to be an imaginative day of exploration and reflection!
Photo Mandala © Donna Bearden
These images and words are a monthly offering from Courage & Renewal – North Texas. It is our hope that they will provide a moment of refreshment, of reflection, of renewal – and will enable you to live and work more whole heartedly.
For more information, please visit our website: www.CourageNorthTexas.org
"Reconnecting Who You Are With What You Do."
Welcome Traveler.
Whether you are staying home or travelling abroad, you will always be connected to us. We would love to hear your stories, thoughts and responses. Tell us what’s happening!
For more information, please visit our website www.CourageNorthTexas.org
"Reconnecting Who You Are With What You Do."
Words of Courage.
The Comfort of Questions
We built a house
together, one without a roof.
All night it opened
to dark, abundant emptiness—
the questions without answers.
Gradually those questions
became stars. Red dwarfs and blue giants
consoled me, allowed the darkness
inside to be, to sprout like a safe seed,
slowly with grace.
In that house, all those days,
those years of your patient presence,
I learned to live
under freedom’s open sky,
with the walls of kindness
surrounding me.
In the beginning, what I knew could
fill volumes and teach me
nothing. Now I look to the shadows,
the starry questions and inhale,
every exhalation a Thank You.
-Rebecca del Rio
Has there been a time in your life or work, where you have found solace in life’s unanswered questions?
This is our monthly offering of Words of Courage. It is our hope that the words that you read and the questions you consider will en-courage you to engage fully in your work in the world.
These "Words of Courage" contributed by Ann Faulkner, a CRNT facilitator.
For more information visit our website: www.CourageNorthTexas.org
"Reconnecting Who You Are With What You Do."
Images of Renewal.
"Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine;
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine."
-From "Auguries of Innocence" by William Blake
What is the joy that runs through your grief and woe?
What other paradoxes are woven through your life?
Photo Mandala © Donna Bearden
These images and words are a monthly offering from Courage & Renewal – North Texas. It is our hope that they will provide a moment of refreshment, of reflection, of renewal – and will enable you to live and work more whole heartedly
For more information visit our website www.CourageNorthTexas.org
"Reconnecting Who You Are With What You Do"
Words of Courage
What might the “one true voice”
be saying to you?
The following is the last stanza of a longer poem by John O’Donohue.
from For Loneliness
Allow all your loneliness time
to dissolve the shell of dross
that had closed around you;
choose in this severe silence
to hear the one true voice
your rushed life fears;
cradle yourself like a child
learning to trust what emerges,
so that gradually
you may come to know
that deep in that black hole
you will find that blue flower
that holds the mystical light
which will illuminate in you
the glimmer of springtime.
—John O’Donohue
These "Words of Courage" contibuted by Ann Faulkner, a CRNT facilitator.
For more information, please visit our website www.CourageNorthTexas.org
"Reconnecting Who You Are With What You Do."
Awww, thanks!
Hi,
If you have met me (Nate’), you know that I LOVE the work I do for Courage & Renewal- North Texas. I am also very fond of the the Images of Renewal and Words of Courage that are contributed monthly by our friends, Donna Bearden and Ann Faulkner, respectively.
And apparently, I am not the only one…
"…the "images of renewal" you send are so welcome. They’re a bright spot in my e-mail."
"This was so completely beautiful! Thank you so much for the hope and courage you offer. I love your new messages….GREAT idea!"
"Thanks for this, Cindy. I love Wendell Berry, but I don’t recall having seen this before. I look forward to May’s words!"
" love it!"
"Thanks for the email. I have to say that I must have finally found my real work and come to my real journey because I am truly baffled. I do continue to sing and embrace each new day…"
"Loved the previous mandala–it is up in a corner of my desktop, and this one will soon join it."
Thank you for your kind words! Please feel free to post your own words of courage or thoughts anytime, right here on our blog in the comments section below.
All the Best,
Nate’
For more information, please visit our website www.CourageNorthTexas.org
"Reconnecting Who You Are With What You Do."
Images of Renewal
Aerodynamically the honey bee shouldn’t
be able to fly.
That’s what they say.
Big body. Small wings. Not at all designed for flying.
But they forgot to tell the honey bee.
In what areas of your life or work have others said you should not be able to fly, but you fly beautifully anyway?
Photo Mandala © Donna Bearden
These images and words are a monthly offering from Courage & Renewal- North Texas. It is our hope that they will provide a moment of refreshment, of reflection, of renewal – and will enable you to live and work more whole heartedly.
For more information visit our website www.CourageNorthTexas.org
"Reconnecting Who You Are With What You Do."
