"When I think of the moments I have felt most alive, they all have the quality of joining all-of-what-I-keep-inside with everything-outside-me in a way that makes me forget myself....[like] moments of being immersed in great music or great open spaces." --Mark Nepo
We'd rented a house right on the Chesapeake Bay and the view from the 3rd floor balcony stretched even farther....
And if you stood farther back in the house in the living room you felt you were out to sea on a ship....
Nepo says Joy is the feeling of the Oneness we experience when we get in touch with that inner self...."it is the risk to be fully present that opens us to the Oneness that flows through all things."
Expansive views have a way of making one fully present! It is why I also love the views from mountain tops just as much....
Nepo notes that as infants we are one with everything and that in time we learn how to distinguish between ourselves and others, between the world we carry inside and the world we move through. Then we spend a lifetime trying to get back in touch with that primary state of Oneness. This makes me think of a quote by Charles Dickens and illustrated by Mary Engelbreit....
May you find ✻Joy✻ in the aliveness of your moments!
Me again, Cathy. I'm working my way through your archives - but work should NOT be the word I'm using. Because it is nothing like work. A pure pleasure. And wow, are you good at finding wonderful accomodations on your trips. I've only read a few of your posts so far and wish I was a tag-along everywhere you've gone so far! Looking forward to reading much more! God bless.
ReplyDeleteThe Internet is WONDERFUL for finding great places to stay. This is the one time I splurge. If something is just too expensive, I go just before or after the most expensive seasonal rate is in effect and I stay only 2 nights or 3 nights rather than the whole week. I'd rather do that once a year, than stay somewhere that doesn't inspire me. This particular place was a real God-send. It was even more than I'd hoped for.
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