Tag: inspiration

Inspired and Connected

What gets you excited, inspired and feeling connected?

For me, it can be something as simple as a sunrise!

I pass The Wrekin every day on my way to where I work. It can be cloudy, hidden by mist, ominous, and sometimes, as on this day, spectacular.

A reminder we are an integral part of our beautiful world, connnected, whether or not we choose to accept it, and whether we choose to destroy or preserve.

And who would choose not to defend a planet that we can be so connected to, and that can be so awe-inspiring?

So Many Colours!

So many colours surround us!

It is June, and we are surrounded by wild flowers everywhere, in Shropshire and beyond!

Most of these wild flowers were just growing on the side of the road, or in a hedgerow, and how many times would we all have driven or walked past them?

And yet each is a tiny miracle all of its own!

Wouldn’t it be good to stop and gaze at these little beauties once in a while and be reminded of how beautiful this world can be?

Flowering amongst the weeds

We each have our wounds.

We each have our share of pain.

But is there anything more wrong with you than with others who have lived, and suffered, and struggled, and rejoiced?

We are all part of a complete yet ever-expanding human community.

We flower amongst the weeds.

We have our imperfections, and our strengths. Our moments of weakness, and our moments of inspiration.

Like flowers, we stretch towards the light that is goodness and truth.

Truly we flower amongst the weeds.

Singing for Hope with Thomas Hardy

In the darkness of a January morning in Shropshire I heard a song thrush calling. 

It’s easy to recognise because of its beautiful and strong repetitive song.

You can listen to its song here.

There’s a great poem by Thomas Hardy called ‘The Darkling Thrush’, which I always think about in the darkness December and January, which ends like this:

At once a voice arose among

      The bleak twigs overhead

In a full-hearted evensong

      Of joy illimited;

An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,

      In blast-beruffled plume,

Had chosen thus to fling his soul

      Upon the growing gloom.

~

So little cause for carolings

      Of such ecstatic sound

Was written on terrestrial things

      Afar or nigh around,

That I could think there trembled through

      His happy good-night air

Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew

      And I was unaware.

from ‘The Darkling Thrush’ by Thomas Hardy

Well, there can sometimes seem “so little cause…written on terrestrial things” for hope at the moment.  And yet despite the darkness, even in the darkness, we still can find things to appreciate and enjoy.

Many psychologists recommend keeping a Gratitude Journal to help us focus on the good things in life.  And maybe it makes Lif4Gd if we can manage to stay focused on moments of joy whilst also accepting the suffering around us.

See if you can notice a few things that bring you joy today. It’s a great discipline to try to find a few things every day.

If you would like to read the full version of Thomas Hardy’s poem, it is available here.