DIGGING IN THE DIRT

"If you want me again look for me under your boot soles."

~ Walt Whitman ~

I love the smell of dark, rich, Virginia soil, and the feel of it, the heat it contains from the day's sun, or the moisture from rain. I love digging in it and planting flowers and vegetables. Living in New Mexico, I've missed it, and am grateful to be back where I can wash it out from under my fingernails and bury herbs in it, and begonias, and anything I choose.

I ground myself in rich soil.

A WINNING APPROACH

"I've met so many people, often the scum of the earth, and found them, you know, quite decent."

~W. Somerset Maugham ~

When we approach people without an agenda, with curiosity and a willingness to be present, and to listen and share authentically, relationships generally go better for us. When we come with blame in our hearts, or suspicion, or insistent demands, we tend to trigger defensiveness in them, which triggers defensiveness in us, and makes for hostile feelings all around.
     Love people. I guess that's the bottom line. We all have something of value to contribute and compassion a plenty to exchange.

I genuinely care about the people I meet. 

DE-CLUTTERING

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful"

~ William Morris ~

"More" often seems like the best solution. If a room doesn't feel "right," add something to it- still not right? add something else... And then there's just the daily accumulation of paperwork and "stuff" that comes into our lives that we leave in piles around the spaces where we live, not to mention spiderwebs and dead flies and dust-bunnies.

     It's a whole new fresh world when we eliminate excess instead of re-organizing piles- when we delete and diminish and discard and clean. We can re-new our spirits no less than our houses, and get energy moving again in the right direction.

I keep the space where I live clean and clear.

ADAPTATION

"Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed."

~ Irene Peter ~ 

Adaptation takes time, and it comes after resistance and discomfort. Finding our way in unfamiliar territory is a Marco Polo kind of situation. We call out and wait for a reply, an echoing of something familiar, something we can hold on to, something we can follow... and we do this again and again until we adjust. We create new familiarity, and, in a halting three steps forward two steps back kind of way, over time, we find a way to get comfortable, and we find a way to make things our own.

I trust that I can adapt with grace to new situations.

BEING

"Hear blessings dropping their blossoms around you." 

~ Rumi ~

Things will always demand doing, but it's up to us to demand every so often that we simply be.

I am. 

GRACIOUS LIVING

"Make me an instrument of your peace."

~ The Prayer of St Francis ~

Gracious living is being patient with delays, being grateful for the generosity of others, being slow to anger and quick to forgive, and being authentically self-expressed. Flexibility is part of it, and listening from the heart; having compassion, and remembering that whatever we feel inclined to condemn in others, we have likely done ourselves.
     We live in  a rushing world that's alive and pulsing with judgment and condemnation. Let's not add to it. Let's be light energetically, and balmy, like a gentle breeze on a tropical beach instead of a pounding and punishing dust storm.

I show up with love and forgiveness in my heart.

LETTING GO OF EGO

"When we fight with life, life fights back."

~ Eckhart Tolle ~

When we are able to surrender to the journey, we are blessed with peace.

So why don't we do it?

What do we have to gain by being defiant, rebellious, unhappy, and upset?

I let go of my ego and go with the flow.