feeling inspired

it was a weekend full of inspiration.
packed full to the brim.

not just from one book.......but from many!

perhaps my soul was already cracked open from yet
another book i was reading - viktor frankl's 'man search for meaning.'
that book was already swirling around inside of me as
i grabbed other books as well.

a friend had posted an article about viktor and his idea of 'meaning'
on my facebook page. (i can't find it or i'd post it here! there's
just a whole lotta stuff over there!)
i knew a little bit about him already, but when i read the article
i knew it was time i read his book.

i had already had his quote hanging in my studio -
'the point is not what we expect from life, but what life expects from us.'

and now i got to read the story of when he said that quote.
i believe the first time he ever said it was in a concentration camp
where he was a prisoner, to a bunch of other prisoners, in the dark,
after the lights had gone out and it was an even worse day than usual.

that's quite a moving visual and it takes my breath away.

from there i went to anita moorjani's book 'dying to be me' and read
some of her thoughts. here's a tidbit that i totally loved -

she's talking about the difference between belief and awareness -

'Becoming entrenched in beliefs that no longer serve us
can keep us locked in a state of duality and put us in a constant state
of judgement. What we endorse is considered 'good' or 'positive'
and what we don't believe in is not.

This also puts us in the position of needing to defend our beliefs when
others don't agree. And when we invest too much of our energy
in defense, we become reluctant to let go, even when ideas no longer
serve us. That's when our beliefs start to own us instead of the other
way around.

Having awareness, on the other hand, just means realizing what exists
and what's possible - without judgment. Awareness doesn't need
defending. It expands with growth and can be all encompassing,
bringing us closer to the state of Oneness.'

that thought grabbed me.

and then, as if i wasn't whirling and spinning enough, mister mark nepo
grabbed me for a dance.

he has a section on falling down and getting up that just rocks....

here's a couple tidbits from there -

'All the falling down and getting up, it seems, is just for this:
for us to drag the parts that are left to the place where our gifts
can fly.'

.....and after a short story he wrote about someone, he ended it
with this - 'studying god did not heal him. Embodying god did.'

and finally -

'In small and great ways, we are each challenged to open the miracle
of our lives by dancing where we are lame and by loving where we
are wounded. It is an astonishing thing to ask of ourselves, and yet
all our trials lead us there.'

WHAT a weekend full of wisdom!
i had to share little tiny tidbits.....
how lucky we are to have all this genius at our fingertips!