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Sunday Thought For The Day

Mi(y)sty Morning Walk
Creative Commons License photo credit: Doblo­naut

“Still, there are times I am bewil­dered by each mile I have trav­eled, each meal I have eaten, each per­son I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordi­nary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imag­i­na­tion.” ~ Jhumpa Lahiri  (Inter­preter of Maladies)

Lance writes sto­ries from his heart, aim­ing to inspire and moti­vate, as you align more fully with YOUR true peak. When he’s not here, you can find him hang­ing out with his fam­ily, rid­ing a bike, or just gen­er­ally act­ing goofy.   Sign up for the Thoughts from the Tree­house newslet­ter and get addi­tional inspi­ra­tion in your email inbox!
Lance Ekum
View all posts by Lance Ekum

Comments

  1. It really is so extra­or­di­nar­ily unlikely, isn’t it, that we are all here together spin­ning on this lit­tle ball which burns molten at the core and orbits a small star in a uni­verse vast beyond our comprehension?

    We have just to accept this blessed gift of life, rejoice each day into exis­tence and revel in the love that binds us all together.

    Plus enjoy some wicked-good pas­try with coffee!

    Jan­nie Funster´s last blog post..Another chance!

  2. Mindful Mimi says:

    Lance,
    Again excel­lent thought to start the week. I am leav­ing tonight for a 3 day course in Lon­don. And although I will miss my fam­ily and it takes a lot of logis­ti­cal orga­ni­za­tion, I am savor­ing the travel, the time alone, the dis­cov­ery of new things, places and peo­ple. I am always sur­prised at what the world and life have to offer me. Some­times I do get stressed out by the many things that are going on and are thrown at me. But I try to stop, breathe and look at the oppor­tu­nity instead of the prob­lem. It’s not always easy but always very reward­ing.
    Have a great week.
    Mimi

    Mind­ful Mimi´s last blog post..Sun­day laugh

  3. Tak­ing the time to appre­ci­ate every­thing that hap­pens in life is an under appre­ci­ated skill. How can any­one be too busy to enjoy each moment?

    Jar­rod — War­rior Development´s last blog post..The Dif­fer­ence between those who Chase Dreams and the Rest

  4. Great thought today Lance. So true.…

    Natalia Burleson´s last blog post..Another Hodge Podge!

  5. Miz says:

    Jhumpa Lahiri.

    She is my favorite author.

    I adore her.

    Miz´s last blog post..A glimpse into the life of MizFit.

  6. Brett Legree says:

    I’d never seen this until now, but it is very fit­ting. So many times in the last lit­tle while my wife and I have said to each other, that even though we’re not quite yet where we’d like to see our­selves (geo­graph­i­cally or oth­er­wise), we have been extremely for­tu­nate to share the expe­ri­ences we have. We have been very lucky indeed.

    We drove down a road that looked a lot like that, actu­ally, a cou­ple of years ago. And we will be back there again.

    Brett Legree´s last blog post..a tale of two bridges.

  7. Chania Girl says:

    It is hard to write a follow-up or a com­ment to some­thing that already says it all, and says it so elo­quently. I am drawn to these words “as ordi­nary as it all appears.” I am learn­ing that my “ordi­nary” days are any­thing but — they are mag­i­cal, bewil­der­ing, divine. Jan­nie (above) said it very well. Thank you for this, Lance.

  8. Hi Lance,
    BEAUTIFUL image and words. EVERY moment is an oppor­tu­nity for growth and grat­i­tude. There are so many gifts we are given every day and some­times we tend to be in too much of a hurry or too dis­tracted to truly appre­ci­ate them. When we look back at all we have done, peo­ple we have known, places we have been — it is easy to be in a place of awe — “WOW, I DID ALL THAT? — I HAVE really LIVED”. It can allow us in that notic­ing to shift into that state of grat­i­tude and hope­fully carry it for­ward to notice not only when we reflect back but carry it for­ward in the now so we can TRULY appre­ci­ate every moment. Gor­geous way to begin the week Lance. THANK YOU. :-)
    Love,
    Jenny

    Jenny Mannion´s last blog post..Help Heal the World — Join Lynne McTag­gart and The Inten­tion Experiment

  9. Evita says:

    Good morn­ing Lance!

    It is ear­lier than nor­mal for me to be up and so I thought I would start the day with your quote of the day and what a won­der­ful one it is!

    I love the photo and the words really do make me sit back in awe at where I am and how I got here. Every moment and thought and per­son and place is a sig­nif­i­cant part of each of our lives. May we be grate­ful for them all, for they all served a big­ger pur­pose than we will per­haps ever know in our growth and on our jour­ney of life!

    Evita´s last blog post..Movie Review: The Compass

  10. SpinDiva says:

    To echo Jenny’s words above– “Beau­ti­ful image and words” — I agree in so many ways. It is some­times too easy to just go with the flow and let our­selves be han­dled by life events and some have noth­ing to do with us yet we flow with­out ever savor­ing the moments. In a most fun trip with my girl­friends last week­end we decided it was time to savor the moments we are given, to look back at all the joy, all the bless­ings, and be happy for every event. From this moment on we will be more mind­ful of what we have so that we can cre­ate mem­o­ries of hap­pi­ness in our lives. Thanks for the inspi­ra­tional mes­sage Lance–as always, very appro­pri­ate! I just love your blog!

    :-)

    SpinDiva´s last blog post..Ride2Recovery=bravery, strength, honor

  11. I have been think­ing about this a lot lately. How won­der­ful my life truly is includ­ing the chal­lenges. All of it makes me who I am today, and where I am today. And know­ing I can have a hand in cre­at­ing that is really beyond my imagination.

  12. Diane C. says:

    I never heard that quote before, but I think it begins to illus­trate why I enjoy sim­ple liv­ing. When it is real­ized that each moment is already extra­or­di­nary, then seek­ing and want­ing fall away and grat­i­tude remains.

    Diane C.´s last blog post..See­ing Orange

  13. I think this is my favorite Sun­day quote to date. When we really take a deep look at our lives we see the magic in every­thing that we do, see, and eat. We have an oppor­tu­nity to open our minds and bod­ies to all the beauty in every moment.

    The funny part is I don’t even think my imag­i­na­tion can truly wrap my mind around that bril­liance of it all. That’s why I love this quote so much.

    Karl — Work Happy Now´s last blog post..How to Build Con­fi­dence at Work

  14. Absolutely adore that quote. I feel that very same way some­times — so over­whelmed by all that has hap­pened to me (even the mun­dane things) and all that is to come. For me, it’s an awe-filled feel­ing of dis­be­lief that never ceases to amaze me.

    Pos­i­tively Present´s last blog post..do you have a clear view?

  15. Rupal says:

    Every expe­ri­ence lends some­thing to my life. great, just great.

    Rupal´s last blog post..For the fun of it: bizarre links

  16. What a fan­tas­tic quote. I was just telling my brother this morn­ing that my life, while ordi­nary, is any­thing but. It feels mag­i­cal most times. Per­haps in the sim­plic­ity of it all?

    Megan “Joy­Girl!” Bord´s last blog post..Who We Are (Quote From Adyashanti)

  17. Jim Gaudet says:

    Beau­ti­ful photo. My friend has a photo like that from some land here in Costa Rica. I will have to find it and put it out there.

    Jim Gaudet´s last blog post..Costa Rica Spanish

  18. I’ve expe­ri­ence some of the most chaotic events in life, but even dur­ing those events I learned to see the beauty of it all. How I love grow­ing dear Lance!!!

    Tabitha@ichoosebliss´s last blog post..Can I Quote You?

  19. Laurie says:

    I find absorb­ing the won­ders of the world an over­whelm­ing event for my life. I am con­stantly amazed at the cre­ativ­ity of God. From the small­est sin­gle celled organ­ism to the blue whale, from a moss to a giant red wood tree, His paint brush is mirac­u­lous and cries for my worship!

  20. suzen says:

    Beau­ti­ful thought for the day! Ordi­nar­i­ness (or sim­plic­ity) has its own world of beauty within, mak­ing the ordi­nary Extra­or­di­nary! No flour­ishes or drama required — what some would say is blah, I say ahhhh!

    suzen´s last blog post..Happy Anniver­sary Honey!

  21. Wow, it’s always beyond my imag­i­na­tion to go back and reflect at the many ways I’ve been, how I’ve tried to com­pen­sate and who I really was. I know it’s all up there some­where still. What a won­der­ful life we lead. I find the purely authen­tic times to be the most memorable.

    Tom Volkar / Delight­ful Work´s last blog post..Five Dis­turb­ing Ways To Make More Money

  22. Marelisa says:

    Hi Lance: I think it was Ein­stein who said that there are two ways to live life: one is as if noth­ing is a mir­a­cle and the other is as if every­thing is a mir­a­cle. Your quote reflects the sec­ond atti­tude, which is def­i­nitely the way to go.

  23. Davina says:

    Hi Lance. I agree with Cha­nia Girl; it is hard to write a follow-up com­ment to some­thing that says it all so won­der­fully. It IS beyond imag­i­na­tion in the sense that it con­tin­ues to unfold, day after day as we go on mak­ing “other” plans. I love pho­tographs like this one. I could just walk right into it. What am I say­ing, I think I am in there. Hmm, which bench will I sit on? :-)

    Davina´s last blog post..Mind­ful Melancholy

  24. Hi Lance,

    Isn’t life amaz­ing? I often think about my past and all the things I have expe­ri­enced. Not all of it has been pleas­ant but it has served a pur­pose. I have known and still know many beau­ti­ful souls. Life is full of won­der and that won­der is around us all the time. The ocean is about an hour away from where we live and when­ever we go there, I am always made aware that my so called prob­lems are really small in com­par­i­son to the awe­some­ness of the ocean.

    Hope all is well and that you are hav­ing a won­der­ful week­end! :)

    Nadia — Happy Lotus´s last blog post..Happy News (June 7, 2009)

  25. The photo reminds me of when I was 15 years old and wit­nessed my sister’s boyfriend drown at our fam­ily pic­nic. My mom had 10 chil­dren and Larry was an only child. It all seemed so unfair, cruel and insane at the time.

    My sis­ters and I spent a lot of time with Larry’s mom and dad, Louise and Floyd after the funeral. They owned a large home on a river. We walked through our grief and sad­ness on the coun­try road
    near their home. It looked just like this except no benches.

    We were healed by the illu­mi­nat­ing light that shined on us and by the strength of the tall, old and strong trees as we talked and walked our way through the won­der­ful joy­ful mem­o­ries we shared.
    Louise clung to our every word. We had sto­ries and knowl­edge of Larry she missed out on for the sim­ple fact that boys don’t share with their moth­ers like girls do. And share we did.

    The quote: It is beyond my imag­i­na­tion how I came to be on the path I’ve cho­sen and the pain and sorry and joys and laugh­ter I have lived through and learned from. I mar­vel at how I’ve sur­vived it all, the fear and pain and the love and joy that passes through my life. I look for­ward to each and every day and the gifts that are mine for the taking.

    A side note because his photo reminds me of loss and heal­ing: Ellie Wiesel, a holo­caust sur­vivor was 11 years old in a con­cen­tra­tion camp as he watched his fam­ily die. He is the author of sev­eral books. Ellie invested his money from his foun­da­tion with Mad­off and lost it all. At 88 years old he stated, “I’ve risen from the ashes before and I’ll do it again.”

    My life looks small com­pared to his and I’m blessed to be able to learn from “the shoul­ders of giants” who have gone before me.

    Tess The Bold Life´s last blog post..A Bold Tech­nique That Cre­ates Miracles

  26. Caroline says:

    It just goes to say that it’s the lit­tle things in life that can be the most extra­or­di­nary. Some­times we take for granted the meals, the peo­ple, the trav­els… But when if we just stop for a moment to appre­ci­ate all we have…we real­ize how blessed we are. Thank you for this today, Lance!

  27. It’s amaz­ing to think we focus on the bad things in the world and com­plain that life can be a bad place to be, how­ever it’s the lit­tle things in life that renews our faith in the world.

    Steven Aitchison´s last blog post..The Dev­ils dreams

  28. Bunnygotblog says:

    Lance– love the quote and it is so beau­ti­ful and true.
    We need to always appre­ci­ate each and every­thing that comes in to our lives.
    Have a great week–

    Bunnygotblog´s last blog post..Under Pres­sure

  29. Tabitha Blue says:

    Lance,
    This is awe­some the photo is gor­geous and the quote rocks. I’m all about tak­ing my time to see the lit­tle things lately, in life it seems we miss to much just let­ting it go by!

    :)
    ~Tabitha

    Tabitha Blue´s last blog post..Sun­day Citar

  30. Julie says:

    How beau­ti­ful, Lance. Indeed, every breath is a moment of prayer. A prayer of thank­ful awe. Each one of us on this lovely planet is SO markedly blessed, even those who may believe oth­er­wise. To be aware of that all the time is in itself a won­drous mir­a­cle! May we all be so… Happy week, dear Lance!

    Julie´s last blog post..On That Note

  31. Hi Lance

    A beau­ti­ful post :-) It made me think about my jour­ney of life, where I have been, who I have met? And where my jour­ney will take me next..
    Thanks for this post.
    Gio­vanna Gar­cia
    Imper­fect Action is bet­ter than No Action

    Gio­vanna Garcia´s last blog post..How the first rain­bow was created?

  32. Lisa's Chaos says:

    You match the words and photo per­fectly! Wonderful!

    Lisa’s Chaos´s last blog post..Won­der what chan­nels he gets…

  33. Evelyn Lim says:

    I love the image! It reminds me of the jour­ney that I am on. Each tree may look ordi­nary but is totally unique. It helps to give me shel­ter should I need to take a break and rest. There is also light at the end of every dark tun­nel. Hence every­thing is in PERFECT ORDER!

    Eve­lyn Lim´s last blog post..Mad­ness Is Just a Disguise

  34. Mama Zen says:

    Now, that’s an amaz­ing thought!

  35. Daphne says:

    Lance,

    Thanks for this reminder of the magic in the ordi­nary. Some­times I walk along not notic­ing any­thing much, then sud­denly I’m drawn to a blade of grass and stare at it for min­utes, real­is­ing that this tiny thing is itself a mir­a­cles, and there are mil­lions more like it sur­round­ing me. That thought always blows my mind.

    Daphne´s last blog post..Book Review: Not of My Making

  36. Hi Lance,
    There is beauty, magic and mir­a­cles all around us if we just stop and take a moment to see…

    The moment one gives close atten­tion to any­thing, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mys­te­ri­ous, awe­some, inde­scrib­ably mag­nif­i­cent world in itself.” — Henry Miller

    Sami — Life, Laughs and Lemmings´s last blog post..Mon­day Funny — I’m Too Sexy for My Shirt

  37. Lance says:

    @Jannie — Hey, look who’s here…it’s Jan­nie! I think it’s pretty extra­or­di­nary, how this place we call earth some­how man­ages to func­tion so well! Earth is an amaz­ing place isn’t it! Now, about that wicked-good pas­try, and some cof­fee to boot — how’s that for life get­ting even a bit more extraordinary!

    @Mimi — Hi Mimi. Have a great trip to Lon­don! And yes, here you’ll be trav­el­ing, eat­ing at new places, and stay­ing in places you haven’t before — just another trip to some­place. And yet, it’s pretty awe­some just when you really think about the many new expe­ri­ences you’ll have — and that’s just in three days in Lon­don! Very cool!

    @Jarrod — Hi Jar­rod. Each moment of our life is one we’ll never have again. And it’s uniquely ours. Yet, how often do we let these moments go by, with­out even think­ing about them? Great point, and one worth delv­ing deeper into for each of us — as to how we really take in ALL the moments of our life.

    @Natalia — Thanks much Natalia!

    @Miz — You know, this quote is my first real expe­ri­ence with Jhumpa Lahiri. And I love this one, and what it’s say­ing — about just really how amaz­ing our seem­ingly ordi­nary lives are. Will have to read more of her stuff!

    @Brett — Our lives here are amaz­ing! We have so many oppor­tu­ni­ties, so many places to travel, so many peo­ple to inter­act with. And even if that’s just within the con­fines of the area we live in — really, it’s still pretty amaz­ing how much there is to see and experience!

    @Chania Girl– “Mag­i­cal, bewil­der­ing, divine” — what a great way to describe your days! What we think is “ordi­nary” really is some­thing spe­cial for each of us, espe­cially when we’re con­nect­ing deeply with what mat­ters to us…

  38. Lance says:

    @Jenny Man­nion — Hi Jenny. What an excel­lent point — some­times it takes a solid look­ing back at all we’ve done to really appre­ci­ate how truly amaz­ing our life has been. In our day to day activ­i­ties, every­thing can some­times begin to seem so ordi­nary and rou­tine. And if we can reach a state where we can expe­ri­ence that same appre­ci­a­tion for our life now — instead of look­ing through a rear-view mir­ror on our life — what a great place to be and truly expe­ri­ence! Jenny, thank so much for this thought, and really giv­ing me another per­spec­tive on this quote!

    @Evita — Hi Evita! It was great to have you stop by early today!! This photo really spoke ot me today — the path remind­ing me of the miles I’ve trav­eled. The benches for places I have rested along my jour­ney. And the trees just really made the pic­ture come to life! And I love how you’re touch­ing upon this idea that no one can ever fully know just who they’ve helped along the way, and to what extent they’ve helped them. And that thought right there is one, espe­cially, that I find to be so so pow­er­ful. And it makes me appre­ci­ate more — every­one I come in con­tact with…

    @SpinDiva — I found the image to fit so well to this quote. It really felt like a jour­ney through life, look­ing at the photo. And this jour­ney, the trip through our life — our one shot we get at it — really is filled with so many moments. And really tak­ing in these moments, how pow­er­ful that can be. Thank you for shar­ing about your recent week­end trip — and how really you lived this quote! How awesome!

    @Stacey Ship­man — Hi Stacey. Another great point — this idea that life isn’t all rosy all the time. And still, it all makes us the per­son we are today. As mor­bid as this prob­a­bly sounds, I think about this when I hear of a bad car acci­dent — and how a seem­ingly sim­ple thing — that can change your sched­ule by even just a few sec­onds — can be the dif­fer­ence between life and death. And this thought alone — in a more pos­i­tive spin — makes me truly real­ize that I DO have a hand in cre­at­ing much in this world — some things of which I’ll never know. I’m prob­a­bly get­ting off on a tan­gent now, but this also leads me to think­ing about just how my actions can affect so many down­stream events — includ­ing things I’m com­pletely unaware of. Maybe it’s not really a tan­gent — because this takes me right back to this quote and just how “ordi­nary” can really be way beyond my imagination.

    @Diane C. — This quote was new to me also, Diane. Sim­pli­fy­ing our lives is just such a great way to con­nect with what truly mat­ters, and truly appre­ci­ate that also. And that all really does lead to see­ing the extra­or­di­nary in the ordinary.

    @Karl — I just stum­bled upon this quote a few days ago — and knew right away this would be a won­der­ful thought today. You know — I feel the same way about try­ing to wrap my mind around life and all it’s intri­ca­cies. Life really is extra­or­di­nary! And hard to really and fully grasp just how inter­con­nected our lives all are.

    @Positively Present — Hi Dani. I feel that way too some­times — in awe of my life, and where I am. And it’s not all because of big or grand moments — it really is in some­times the small­est of things that can mean so much. Pretty amazing…

  39. Lance says:

    @Rupal — Great thought isn’t it — that every expe­ri­ence we have, every moment — is what has made us who we are today…

    @Megan — Hi Megan. It’s easy to see our lives as “ordi­nary”, as we go about our rou­tines, our daily activ­i­ties, the nor­mal­ness of life. Yet, that’s what makes us exactly who we are — and look­ing at our life and real­iz­ing where we’re at — that cer­tainly can be mag­i­cal — espe­cially if we allow that thought in. And I think that’s some­thing that is much eas­ier to allow in when we’ve sim­pli­fied our lives down to what really matters…

    @Jim Gaudet — Hi Jim. The photo evokes for me such a feel­ing of a jour­ney through life, which I think fits this quote so well.

    @Tabitha — Yes, there can be beauty in even the chaos of our lives — espe­cially if we’re open to see­ing these moments as part of our life fab­ric. And that they are a part of us — of who we are — not the events them­selves, but “us” in those moments… And it’s all good…

    @Laurie — Hi Lau­rie. Our world is an amaz­ing place — from the small­est plant to the largest crea­ture, all have a part in this cir­cle of life. What God has cre­ated, what we have here — is really so hard to fully com­pre­hend. And it fills me with awe, also — this planet we’re on, and even beyond that into the unknowns of outer space…

    @Suzen — Hi Suzen. That’s a great way to look at it — as see­ing the “ahhhh” in “blah”! Our ordi­nary lives really are extraordinary!

    @Tom Volkar — Hi Tom. You bring up another great point, that when we expe­ri­ence truly authen­tic moments in our life, these are moments that become so deeply mem­o­rable. And the more we can have of these — moments of real authen­tic­ity — the more our lives become aligned with our true being. And that is def­i­nitely an amaz­ing place to reach!

  40. Lance says:

    @Marelisa — Hi Mare. I love the Ein­stein quote, thanks so much for shar­ing it! And yes, it really does fit this so well — every­thing IS a mir­a­cle — espe­cially if we believe that to be so!

    @Davina — Hi Davina. I love this photo too — it reminds me of jour­ney­ing through life, and the benches being places of rest along that life path. And yes, the story of our extra­or­di­nary life con­tin­ues to be writ­ten each day, each moment of each day… And, you’re always wel­come on a bench here in the “jungle”…

    @Nadia — Hi Nadia. Yes, life really is amaz­ing! I too find the ocean, and it’s vast­ness to really bring into focus what’s truly impor­tant in life. Now…if I only lived an hour from it’s beauty! And to your point about not every­thing being pleas­ant in our lives — great point Nadia. Life isn’t all hap­pi­ness all the time. Still, these moments have influ­enced who we are today, and if we accept that — then there is good in it all. And it really does become part of the amaz­ing life we have. And thanks for ask­ing — my week­end has been won­der­ful. I hope yours has, as well…

    @Tess — Tess, I’m so sorry to hear about this story. And I can’t fully imag­ine how dif­fi­cult the days were that fol­lowed. That you were able to share a bit of Larry with his fam­ily, I’m sure that was a gift for them, very much, to hold on to. Large trees can be very therepeu­atic, as they stand tall and have weath­ered many storms. And they pro­vide a level of com­fort, like their branches are extended over us — to pro­tect and hold us in. I’m glad they brought you relief dur­ing these days. And thanks for shar­ing the quote — it really fits so well here to this idea that each moment is some­thing spe­cial. And yes — some­times our life may look small com­pared to oth­ers. But is it, really? We’ve each had expe­ri­ences that have led us to where we are. Some may be more well-known, but our lives, our moments are all pretty spe­cial too. Tess, thank you for express­ing so openly here, for shar­ing some of the grief you’ve expe­ri­enced, and how your life has been shaped. You’ve spo­ken with such heart, and hav­ing you here today means alot to me…thank you.

    @Caroline — Hi Car­o­line. The lit­tle things…yes, that’s it! And these are the things we more likely take for granted — yet, they are what make the ordi­nary extra­or­di­nary. We are truly blessed!

    @Steven — Hi Steven. It’s easy to get caught up on the neg­a­tiv­ity band­wagon. And yet you bring up such a great point — we are renewed by the lit­tle things — a thank you, help­ing some­one pick up some­thing they’ve dropped, a help­ing hand around the house, etc, etc that makes all the dif­fer­ence. Lit­tle things…big effects.

    @Bunny Got Blog — Hi Bunny. Appre­ci­at­ing every­thing that comes into our lives — not always easy, that’s for sure! But when we do…I think that IS when we start to really see how extra­or­di­nary ordi­nary is.

  41. Lance says:

    @Tabitha Blue — Hi Tabitha. Life can fly by, and we get caught up in it — and don’t take the time to appre­ci­ate the “now”. I’m guilty. And so this one’s not only one I like — it’s also a quote I am gain­ing so much from — both from the quote and all the won­der­ful com­ments. Just like this here — tak­ing the time to see the lit­tle things. Somet­ing I can cer­tainly focus more on in my life. So, Tabitha, thank you for stop­ping by and shin­ing your light here…

    @Julie — Hi Julie. Every breath…wow. That there is a pretty amaz­ing thought. Every breath. Some­thing to be in awe of. Julie, this thought is really pretty amaz­ing as I sit here and think about it — and what that really means. I’m think­ing right now about my body, and how amaz­ing it is — I breathe in and I breathe out. I wig­gle my fin­gers. I twitch my nose. All so sim­ple and mun­dane — and all so amaz­ing and awe­some! We are truly blessed, each one of us! Thank you for this Julie, this thought is very deeply moving…

    @Giovanna — Hi Gio­vanna. The life jour­ney each of us has been on — the peo­ple we’ve met and the places we’ve been — is so amaz­ing! And where we’ll be going — what lies ahead for us — unknown, and yet most def­i­nitely filled with extraordinary!

    @Lisa’s Chaos — Hi Lisa. Thank you!

    @Evelyn — Isn’t that image so enlight­en­ing! With the sun at the end, the trees lin­ing the path, and benches along the way — it just feels like it fits to this quote so well! Oh, I like this angle you’re going with Eve­lyn — that each tree is unique — just like every moment of our life is unique — and our expe­ri­ence with it is unique also. And leads us toward the extra­or­di­nary in our “ordi­nary” lives. All, as we move toward the light, what a great place to be head­ing toward…

    @Mama Zen — Thanks much Kelli!

    @Daphne — Hi Daphne. Whoa. I love the blade of grass anal­ogy. Some­thing so small, and cer­tainly what seems ordi­nary — is a mir­a­cle, some­thing that has sprouted from the ground beneath. And then all the other mir­a­cles around us — includ­ing our­selves. Life, I think, is a mir­a­cle!! How amaz­ing — all the life forms here on earth! Daphne, thank you for this today…

    @Sami — I LOVE the Henry Miller quote! It fits per­fectly with this quote today, and just how truly mirac­u­lous life is! Slow­ing down enough to truly appre­ci­ate all of this — that’s a great place to get to. And when we do, when we really feel how con­nected every­thing is, and how many mir­a­cles are right around us all the time — life does become pretty extraordinary!

  42. bewil­dered” — yes, absolutely, and also “in awe”, “amazed” and “very grateful.”

    Vered — MomGrind´s last blog post..10 Ways To Hate Your­self As A Woman

  43. Thanks for this. What this brings up for me is how many of the meals I’ve eaten, walks I’ve taken and so on have had a rushed qual­ity about them — and there always seemed to be a good rea­son for it at the time, but recently I’ve come to see that my best mem­o­ries are cre­ated when I take my time.

  44. Hi Lance,

    What an awe­some photo. It’s gor­geous. I also love the quote. When we really stop and con­tem­plate all we’ve expe­ri­enced and the peo­ple we’ve met, it is indeed extra­or­di­nary. It’s just a mat­ter of slow­ing down enough to appre­ci­ate all we’re blessed with.

    Bar­bara Swafford´s last blog post..The Biggest Chal­lenge Of Blogging

  45. I have read a cou­ple of Jhumpa Lahiri’s books. She writes beau­ti­fully. Great quote pick, Lance!

    Every sen­sory mem­ory becomes part of an incred­i­ble tapes­try. What a bless­ing to have the life we have today!

    Jewel/Pink Ink´s last blog post..On Ver­sa­til­ity

  46. Yes, of all plan­ets vis­ited, I like this one best. For sure. :)

    And let’s be nice to this one — it’s the only one with beer.

    Jan­nie Funster´s last blog post..Got Gra­vatar? No? It’s Easy!

  47. Lance says:

    @Vered — Life is amaz­ing isn’t it! Espe­cially when we really real­ize this at a deeper level.

    @Chris Edgar — Hi Chris. So well said — it can be so easy to rush through life — but where is it get­ting us, and what are we miss­ing along the way? When we really think about this — tak­ing the time to slow down and truly appre­ci­ate all that is in front of us, at this moment, is a beau­ti­ful thing.

    @Barbara — Hi Bar­bara. I love this photo too — it seems so life-giving. And with a tree-lined path, benches along the way — it really seems to fit this quote so well! And that’s the key, isn’t it — tak­ing the time to stop and really grasp that which is in front of us — extra­or­di­nary for sure!

    @Jewel — Thanks much! Do we always appre­ci­ate the life we have? I’m sure that I don’t. Not all the time. And when I do — it really is incred­i­ble! This reminds me to spend more time appre­ci­at­ing all that I’ve been given…

    @Jannie — Earth is a pretty great place, isn’t it! So…this is the only planet with beer, you say? So now I know…you’ve trav­eled to many a far away galaxy! I knew it — you are OUT OF THIS WORLD!

  48. Hilary says:

    Hi Lance .. a won­der­ful thought — that we’ve all expe­ri­enced so much .. and so much to draw on. Tess has a really sad story .. that must have been the most mon­u­men­tous period of her life .. but it sounds as though the fam­ily were so help­ful to the griev­ing par­ents. We all have sad things in our lives .. I have .. but they don’t sit in my con­scious­ness nor­mally — we are so lucky to have our soul to guide us through and to ensure we remem­ber the good things.

    So many have suf­fered so much .. wars, ter­ror, cru­elty and then to lose it all via a fraud­u­lent scam­mer .. that is too ter­ri­ble to con­sider — what won­der­ful words “I’ve risen from the ashes before and I’ll do it again” … we all need to remem­ber Ellie Weisel in these times ..

    Thanks Lance — Hilary Melton-Butcher
    Pos­i­tive Letters

    Hilary´s last blog post..Pas­try Rocks … ?!

  49. Sagan says:

    Life and every­thing can be so sur­real some­times. Real­iz­ing that THIS IS IT is exhilarating.

    Sagan´s last blog post..Guest Post: The Trans­for­ma­tion to a Warped Body Image

  50. imhkki says:

    nice thought

    imhkki´s last blog post..Dura­cell bat­tery show

  51. Dr. J says:

    I have been for­tu­nate to be able to take joy and amaze­ment in the lit­tle things. I am always grate­ful for this gift!

  52. Mark says:

    Great photo and very pow­er­ful quote.

    Life is but a dream …

    Mark´s last blog post..Un-Boxing Spir­i­tu­al­ity

  53. LisaNewton says:

    As I travel local as part of what I do, your quote speaks vol­umes. I’m con­stantly bewil­dered by what I see, where I see it, what I eat when I’m there, and just the plain old joy I feel each time I dis­cover or redis­cover something.

    Even though it’s Mon­day, your thought of the day rings very true.….….….….….….…:)

    LisaNewton´s last blog post..Walk­ing in LA

  54. Carla says:

    Even though I don’t go very far most of the time, I am still intrigued by what I find and what I see and encounter, ever a few miles away from home. Some­times, it doesn’t even feel like “home”.

    Like my mother used to say when I was young, “you’re only bored because you want to be.”

    Carla´s last blog post..Pic­tures of Boli­nas, CA

  55. avtcoach says:

    I am often bewil­dered at how fast time passes and how much of life has passed. This year marks 30 years since high school grad, my youngest is 21, and 28 years of mar­riage. I do have moments when I look back at how fast it went but I am also thank­ful for all of those days. I am still amazed at the changes in our world even since my youth. I can only be joy­ful for the com­ing years and expe­ri­ences. Thanks for the photo!

    avtcoach´s last blog post..Inspire and Be Inspired

  56. FatFighterTV says:

    It’s amaz­ing when you really stop and think about all the many things you’ve done in your life, isn’t it? And yet it still passes so quickly! Love that picture.

    FatFighterTV´s last blog post..Ker­nel Season’s “Get the Party Pop­ping!” giveaway

  57. Henie says:

    Lance!

    I am mezmer­ized by the photograph!:~)

    If you think noth­ing glim­mers, just look at your soul! And when you look in the mir­ror, know that you are look­ing at the great­est mir­a­cle of all!

    Henie´s last blog post..Soul­Burst

  58. Lance says:

    @Hilary — Hi Hilary. We all have had a life­time of expe­ri­ences, each unique and each hav­ing some impact on us. Thank you for read­ing here today, espe­cially through the com­ments. Tess shared a very per­sonal story, and one that adds so much mean­ing to this quote, and to life. Tess, if you’re back here — thank you for that. And yes, sad­ness is some­thing all expe­ri­ence to some degree, and that’s part of who we are too. The quote by Ellie Weisel, these are words that speak deeply of com­ing back from dif­fi­cult expe­ri­ences. As dif­fi­cult as life can some­times seem, there is always light out there for us… Thank you, Hilary, for this won­der­ful comment.

    @Sagan — “THIS IS IT” — when you say it like this, life really is now. It’s not some­thing that will hap­pen tomor­row, or next week, or when I turn a cer­tain age. Now is what we have…

    @imhkki — Thanks much!

    @Dr. J — Great point Dr. J! The lit­tle things in our life, the things that hap­pen every day — if we can truly appre­ci­ate these, then we’re in a great place…

    @Mark — Thanks! Our life is now, and it is very much real…

    @LisaNewton — Hi Lisa. Right here, close to home — the things we see every­day, or the things we have missed and are now see­ing, or the new within our neigh­bor­hoods — it’s all very much part of our expe­ri­ence with life. And there really is so much to dis­cover right where we’re at — and that’s pretty wonderful!

    @Carla — Hi Carla. There is so much to dis­cover, so much we haven’t “noticed” even right where we live. And it’s because there really is so much out there — much of it ordi­nary, and yet really — extra­or­di­nary. Espe­cially if we let that which we expe­ri­ence really enter into our heart and soul. And Carla — your mother is a very wise lady…

    @avtcoach — Hi Coach. Wow, that’s a great point. When we look back on our life, even when we recall times where life seemed to slow to a crawl — look­ing back, it all seems to have gone so fast. It seems like just yes­ter­day that I was get­ting mar­ried, and hav­ing babies crawl­ing around the house. Now, I’ve been mar­ried 15 years, and my youngest child is nearly done with ele­men­tary school. It does seem so hard to believe. And then it also makes me real­ize that life con­tin­ues on — it doesn’t stop, slow down, or speed up — and I’m here with this one oppor­tu­nity to live my life — how will I choose to do that? A great ques­tion to think about. Thanks much!

    @FatFighterTV — We do have a lot of expe­ri­ences we’ve lived. And yes, in look­ing back, it all has gone so quickly. Which makes me really want to savor the moments I have, as well as truly live as my heart speaks to me! Great thoughts on this Sahar, thank you!

    @Henie — Hi Henie. Yes, isn’t the photo amaz­ing — and I just love how it goes with this quote, a path, with the benches, light near the end of the tree-line boule­vard. It all seems so fit­ting. Oh, that really is a won­der­ful thought too — we are all mir­a­cles — each of us! And that’s pretty awesome!

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