Author Archives: Laura Dobson

“To be free is not to have the power to do anything you like; it is to be able to surpass the given toward an open future.” Simone de Beauvoir

“Expect Life!Do not live too far in the past or the future; live now.In each moment, expect a miracle: ten kinds of birds at the feeder, and the tracks of a fox in the snow.Pick up a magnifying glass and scrutinize that crocus. See the pollen at the center of the daffodil, life’s dust, death-defyingContinue reading “Thought for the day, Sunday 8th January”

“Helping, fixing, and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.” Rachel Naomi Remen

FEAST OF EPIPHANY (COMMEMORATING THE WISE MEN BRINGING GIFTS TO THE INFANT JESUS) “Amid all the noise in our lives,we take this moment to sit in silence —to give thanks for another day;to give thanks for all those in our liveswho have brought us warmth and love;to give thanks for the gift of life. WeContinue reading “Thought for the day, Friday 6th January”

New Year’s Resolution by Fred Lamotte, “Don’t go, just arrive.Rest the mind in the heart.Dissolve your pronouns in ‘Thou.’Talk to the animals.Smile for no reason at 3 A.M.Instead of asking,“what have I attained?”let everything around youbecome exceedingly awake,raindrop, silence, stars.Discover the secret treasurein the place where you already areby not searching.Breath happens.Just arrive.”

“Today our planet is at perihelion, that point in Earth’s orbit at which it is closest to the sun. It’s not an event you’re likely to notice, but it’s one of the subtle geometries that enfold us every day and make life possible on earth. When you look up at the stars tonight, think aboutContinue reading “Thought for the day, Wednesday 4th January”

“True education is a kind of never ending story — a matter of continual beginnings, of habitual fresh starts, of persistent newness… The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.The chances, the changes are all yours to make.The mould of your life is in your hands to break.” J.Continue reading “Thought for the day, Tuesday 3rd January”

“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in… So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. You’d better rearrange your beliefs, then. Because you certainly can’t rearrange the universe.” Isaac Asimov, born on this day in 1920

Prayer for the New Year by Carla Grosch-Miller, “Be gentle with me, God.Open the way before me.Provide refreshment:clear water, fresh breeze. Still my anxious, striving mind.Bind my aching, yearning heart.Focus my straining, hoping energies.Accomplish within me what You can. Give to meperseverance in work,direction in darkness,the strength to standand the wisdom to walkwith grace,that IContinue reading “Thought for the day, Sunday 1st January”

“The particular mind of the oceanFilling the coastline’s longingWith such brief harvestOf elegant, vanishing wavesIs like the mind of timeOpening the shapes of days. As this year draws to its end,We give thanks for the gifts it broughtAnd how they became inlaid withinWhere neither time nor tide can touch them. The days when the veilContinue reading “Thought for the day, Saturday 31st December”