“Most of us have been given many more blessings than we have received. We do not take time to be blessed or make the space for it. We may have filled our lives so full of other things that we have no room to receive our blessings. One of my patients once told me that she has an image of us all being circled by our blessings, sometimes for years, like airplanes in a holding pattern at an airport, stacked up with no place to land. Waiting for a moment of our time, our attention.”
Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., My Grandfather’s Blessings
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This weekend may you make room to
receive your blessings,
the soft-handed ones,
the flowering ones, the peeking blue sky ones,
the bike on pavement, ball in field ones,
the food filling your belly and water satiating your thirst ones,
the soft bed ones.
May you let laughter soak you
and silence be gift unfilled
with noise and pixillated distractions.
May you release expectations of what blessings look
and smell and taste like,
so you can hold in your eyes, your mouth, your nose
these blessings,
falling around you like spring snow.
Connecting through the power of stories written, spoken and lived
Love it and love you!
Love you, Auntie.
This post itself, a soft-handed, exquisite peeking-blue-sky blessing! So very beautifully expressed Ashley! May your own weekend be filled with such surprising blessings as this one! Thank you so much! xo
“Peeking blue sky blessing” might become a new phrase. I love how you pieced that together. :)
Beautiful this morning, just the reminder I needed.. to let go of my expectations and appreciate what I have.. and, yes, we have softly falling spring snow here today:) xo Smidge
Expectations can be such stinkers. Enjoy the beauty of the spring snow, Smidge, and thanks for your comment.
Beautiful reminder…thank you my beautiful blessing.
And you mine. xoxo
Great reminder & beautiful photo Ashley! May you have a blessed weekend.
Thank you, Becca. You too. By the way, I love the spring snow photo of A out in the dusting and E watching through the window. So sweet.
I am blessed and appreciate things that surround me. I am rewarded on a personal level by experiencing a rich life which fills my memory.
You’re right. There’s such bounty in both appreciating the present moment and the bounty of sweet memories.
Beautiful post. I was friends with Ali in college and feel so fortunate to have found your amazing writing through her. Today is my 35th birthday and I am truly blessed. This post will be my reminder to receive those blessings in the year ahead.
Happy birthday, Kirstin! Thank you! I’m so thankful to have met you here. Enjoy all your blessings! :)
I think I will email this to my 16 yo old daughter who feels emotional and disappointed today, but underneath it, knows how blessed she truly is…
Thank you for sharing that with me, Chris. May your daughter know deep love today.
You have a beautiful way with words which is really soothing. Bless you too my friend :)
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks so much. I’m glad to see you here. Please come back again. :)
“My grandfather’s blessings” and snippets of “Your blessings” ended up in my gratitude journal today :-) I am blessed by you, Ashley. Your beautiful heart is reflected in your writing.
What encouragement. Thank you, Deb.