FECKLESS FEAR

"Autumn is the season of change."

~ Taoist Proverb ~

I love the fall and am aware of a self-centered fear in myself that it won't come! Or that it won't come the way I want it to and feel like I need it to... And I'm also aware that this is an annual pattern in me. I get all locked up in catastrophic all-or-nothing thinking- that it will never cool off and that this year is the year the leaves will just dry up and fall off and won't display any of their glorious autumn splendor.
     It's simple fear that something I want to happen isn't going to happen, and I try to avoid my disappointment in advance by fretting over it. What insanity!
     I wonder if anyone out there can relate?

I choose to be fearless. 

I let go and trust in the raw energy of life. 

TWO WAY STREET

"The soul has no secret that the behavior does not reveal."

~ Lao Tzu ~

Having an agenda is over-rated. It creates a bias in us that makes us listen less well than we might otherwise, and be constantly trolling for openings to express our point-of-view.

I stop peddling opinions and step into the raw experience of interaction.

TEACHING STORIES

"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it."

~ Hannah Arendt ~

In my own stories, I am always looking for the lesson. What did I learn? What can I take away? What is the point of what has happened?
     And yet, the stories I most enjoy listening to are not the ones designed to teach me at all, but the ones that spin a yarn and create an experience that I can relate to and laugh about.

Life is not always about the lesson. Sometimes it's just about sharing the ride.

ONIONS

"You learn something every day if you pay attention."

~ Ray LeBlond ~

I am not a fan of onions because anytime I eat them, the taste lingers beyond my desire for it. The flavor overstays its welcome. I am done with onions before they are done with me, and maybe certain experiences are that way as well. They take their time to process when we are ready to close the door and move on.

Daily experience is my greatest teacher. 

KNOWING

"Assumptions are the termites of relationships."

~ Henry Winkler ~

We suffer for the assumptions we make. We think we understand who people are without being curious about them. We come at things from a position of knowing when our knowing is severely limited by our own personal experience, and we close our mind to new possibilities by insisting that the information we have is the only access we need.

The longer I live, the less certain I am about anything.

THE CALL OF THE COUNTRY

"Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds,

Exhilarate the spirit, and restore

The tone of languid nature."

~ William Cowper ~

I used to be a city girl and I'm not so much anymore. I prefer the quiet and space of the country now; the clean of it, and the closeness of the raw earth.

I choose where home is. 

OUR DESIRE TO FIGURE THINGS OUT

"Happiness is an occasional brief glance into how simple it all can be."

~ Robert Brault ~

The answer is generally simpler than we think. Life feels complicated, so we approach it as a problem, or as a series of problems, that need figuring out and fixing. But perhaps that's not really the case. Perhaps life is just what happens and who we encounter and how we show up in the world... today.

Life is simple. I complicate it with my complicated mind.