The DAILY SPARK Blog

Monasterio de San Julián de Samos⁩, ⁨Samos⁩, ⁨Lugo⁩, ⁨Spain⁩ - Mural of 7 Deadly Sins Being preoccupied with our self-image is like being deaf and blind.  It's like standing in the middle of a vast field of wildflowers with a black hood over our heads.  It's like coming upon a tree of singing birds while wearing earplugs.Quote by Pema Chödrönhttps://pemachodronfoundation.org/about/pema-chodron/REFLECTION:Do find yourself at times preoccupied with your self image?How can you set yourself free?How can you love yourself more... be kind to YOU... flaws and all?

Sculpture along the El Camino de Santiago -‎⁨Pedrafita do Cebreiro⁩, ⁨Lugo⁩, ⁨Spain⁩ It's so much easier to see and process the world if we divide it into discrete bits.  This is non-fiction, that's fiction.  This is a good restaurant, that's a bad one.  This person is successful, that one isn't.  These distinctions are almost always wrong.  Not just wrong, but unhelpful, because by ignoring the stuff in between, we isolate ideas (and people) instead of seeing them as part of a continuous whole.  Slopes aren't necessarily slippery, but they're far more likely to exist than neat staircases.  And then we have to make the very difficult decision of where in the messy middle we're going to place a marker.  FROM:  Seth Godin's BlogREFLECTION:Do you tend to divide... good/bad; helpful/unhelpful; successful/unsuccessful?Are you willing to work within the messy middle?How can you see people and ideas as part of a continuous whole?

I was at the windowwhen a fly near the latchwas on its back spinning-legs furious, going nowhere.I thought to swat itbut something in its struggle was too much my own.It kept spinning and began to tire.Without moving closer, I exhaledsteadily, my breath a sudden wind,and the fly found its legs,rubbed its face and flew away.I continued to stare at the latch hoping that someday,the breath of something incomprehensiblewould right me andenable me to fly.Poem by Mark Nepohttps://marknepo.com/about_bio.phpREFLECTION:Have you ever felt like you were spinning... going nowhere?Did someone offer a breath to help right you?Are you currently struggling? Do you need help? Be courageous - ask for help!Is there someone in your life who needs help? How can you "exhale steadily" to help them fly?