But soul?
Do you agree with soul?
Not really.
More like you resonate with soul.
You listen to soul.
You look for the soul of something.
You’re aware of what something is doing to your soul.*
Rob Bell

We look around to see what we have for the journey and find at bottom that we possess only intuitions and imagination, We look for courage and yet find little of it.**
David Whyte

How large is my soul?
Not the kind of question
to come up in the everyday,
Though I suspect one that has
everything to do with
the ordinary – soul caring
for mind and heart
and body as they move
through this world
from what is to
what can be,
Nurtured
by these in turn, indirectly–
Maybe soulful
is bravery?

*Rob Bell’s Everything Is Spiritual;
**David Whyte’s Crossing The Unknown Sea.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

Life has much uneasiness; that is certain. Always remember that and it will never surprise you.*
James Boswell

To walk into the beautiful unknown is not to reject home, but to seek its truest form – something ahead, not behind. To walk toward it is to walk through fire. Not to be punished. But to be remade.**
AleXander McManus

That which I am uneasy about
may yet be the making of me–
Not in the blink of an eye
but slowly as I repeat my steps.^

*Quoted in Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals;
**AleXander McManus’ Blue Moments;
^I am thinking that we each have within us the means to move into uneasiness, and a slow, long look at ourselves will find this. Drop me a line if you would like to find out more: geoffreybaines@gmail.com.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

You don’t chase the parade anymore. You’re an old king from some vanished country. You’re harder to programme. You’re not rushing to become anything, and you’re not haunted by the things that you did. You’re haunted by how little of it really mattered in the way you thought it would.*
Bob Dylan

it is the old people who are the bones of the entire healing and spiritual structure everywhere on the face of the earth**
Clarissa Pinkola Estés

In myths
the old people
are where the wildness is
found, being steeped
in the mysteries
they show me
the way.

People today … increasingly struggle with meaning because they have been deskilled in the deepest mysteries of life – mysteries that are deeply human because they could never even register with any other species.^

*Quoted in Austin Kleon’s blog: The air is getting hotter;
**Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run With The Wolves;
^Arthur Brooks’ The Meaning Of Your Life.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

To pass through the River-glass is to leave
something behind.
A name.
Some call it repentance.
Others call it awakening.
Some simply say: Let go.*
AleXander McManus

The recipe for frustration is taking on something that requires a whole person, but only giving it half your time.**
James Clear

My pearl of great price!
Yet I am not worthy of it,
I am not ready for it–
There are things
I must leave behind and
Things I must become–

*AleXander McManus’ Blue Moments;
**James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter: On protecting your mind, the recipe for frustration, and how to spark better conversation.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

Attitudes are skills.*
Seth Godin

For when I catch myself
with poor attitude:
Am I being humble? –
No more and no less
than who I am–
Am I being grateful? –
Aware of all I have, though
may not own–
Am I being faithful? –
Seeking opportunities
to offer who I am and
what I have for
another–

*Seth Godin’s blog: Notes to myself.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

Wherever you are right now,
Observation is free–
Powerful for turning a minute
into a moment.

Every so often,
I’ll be sharing
a portion of the images**
from my colouring book
Slow Journeys in
the Same Direction–
You’re welcome
to print these
for colouring in–
Not quite a labyrinth
but they’ll slow you down.

SOME MORE SLOW JOURNEYS
SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE

To see the world clearly is one kind of bravery. To see ourselves clearly is another.*
AleXander McManus

I want to unfold. I don’t want to stay folded anymore, because where I am folded, I am a lie.**
Rainer Maria Rilke

It is not about
what I will be when
unfolded–
I doubt I will
ever see this
in one lifetime–
But it is in
my willingness
to unfold, sometimes
to be unfolded–
Openness as a state
for encountering
the brave
and generous and
enlightened life.

*AleXander McManus’ Blue Moments;
**Quoted in Anne Lamott’s Hallelujah Anyway.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

creativity is a journey, not a destination*
Bernadette Jiwa

Creativity is
your natural state–
Believing it has to look
like this or that, or have
certain freedoms
hides this from you–
It looks like you,
And your limitations are
why and how
you are creative–
Maybe stop to notice then
follow what you see.

*Bernadette Jiwa’s The Story Of Telling blog: Creativity Is A Journey.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

Outdated maps might be worth less than no map at all.*
Seth Godin

I confess,
I like maps–
They’re works of art
inviting me to stop and gaze,
And then I keep them well beyond
their sell by date,
including the maps about me–
Perhaps it’s time to pick up
the compass
of my talents, energies, and values
again.

*Seth Godin’s blog: Notes to myself.

SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE
THIN|SILENCE FROM A YEAR AGO

We must stay open-minded to have any mind at all.

Nothing opens the mind like the glimpse of new possibility.*
John O’Donohue

*John O’Donohue’s Divine Beauty.

SOME MORE SLOW JOURNEYS
SOME RANDOM THIN|SILENCE