AOM Meditations: 081920

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“I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. And I don't want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines and sing out loud in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all night laughing and paint my walls the exact color of the sky right now. I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down, and I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift.”

~Shauna Niequist 

(Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life)

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“Our lives are mere flashes of light in an infinitely empty universe. In 12 years of education the most important lesson I have learned is that what we see as “normal” living is truly a travesty of our potential. In a society so governed by superficiality, appearances, and petty economics, dreams are more real than anything - anything in the “real world”. Refuse normalcy. Beauty is everywhere, love is endless, and joy bleeds from our everyday existence. Embrace it. I love all of you, all my friends, family, and community. I am ceaselessly grateful from the bottom of my heart for everyone. The only thing I can ask of you is to stay free of materialism. Remember that every day contains a universe of potential; exhaust it. Live and love so immensely that when death comes there is nothing left for him to take. Wealth is love, music, sports, learning, family and freedom. Above all, stay gold.”

~Dominic Owen Mallary

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"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up - that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had."

~Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

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“Don’t ask what the world needs. 

Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. 

Because what the world needs 

is people who have come alive.”

~Howard Thurman 

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Do not lose time on daily trivialities

Do not dwell on petty detail.

For all of these things melt away

and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time

Live well, and live broadly

You are alive and living now.

Now is the envy of all the dead.

~Emily 

from the film, World of Tomorrow (2015)