A SNACK AND A SIT DOWN

"We go all wrong by too strenuous a resolution to go right."

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne ~

Irritability rises when I'm hungry, 

or thirsty, 

or when I've over-done it and I need a break, but I'm not taking one.

Silly me.

A snack and a sit-down would recover me my happiness lickety split.

I stop pushing beyond reason and take care of myself. 

THE FREEDOM TO BE

"My heart filled with love, flowing over with joy, my own little drum that I like to march by!"

~ Gunda Fijje-Nolan ~

If people want to change us 

and don't appreciate us for who we are 

and how we are, 

authentically, 

and in our souls, 

then we should spend our time 

with other people. 

It's ok to be me. 

STEPPING BACK

"Harvest a moment to be free."

~ Terri Guillemets ~

Time away from a project may be as important as the project itself.

Distance gives us insight,

renews our energy,

And keeps things fresh.

I keep my perspective, and step back every so often for the broad view.

INTO THE SUN

"Hoe while it is spring, and enjoy the best anticipations. 

It is not much matter if things do not turn out well."

~ Charles Dudley Warne ~

I planned a garden in almost full shade, and then had to move it- not far.

And after I prepped it and planted all my delicious shady loving plants, 

I watched all afternoon as the sun beat down on the new bed...

Life requires flexibility.

NO COMPLAINTS WHATSOEVER

"Too blessed to be stressed."

~ American Saying ~

I heard a teaching story recently.

A man was irritable and unhappy

And he sought council from a wise medicine woman.

She told him 

every time he felt unhappy 

to say,

"Thank you for everything!

I have no complaints whatsoever."

And at first, it didn't work for him,

But eventually, he got it.

I am grateful for the grace in my life. 

TREES AND SHRUBS

"All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind."

~ Martin H. Fischer ~

I am creating a landscape design for our, as yet, ungraded yard, and I want it to be established and mature and beautiful already, which is building tension in me, and pressure, and stress. I recognize that it's all self-induced, and somewhat insane, and have been struggling with it nonetheless.
     When I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep for thinking and fretting over plant placement and incoming weather, I realized pretty clearly that I have gotten myself all tangled up in this project, and it's time to free myself.
     It's within my power to let go, and to allow for the beginning stages of the process to be what they are, and feel satisfied with small steps and small shrubs and the stumbles and uncertainties that come with building anything new.

I create my garden slowly, and from scratch.

MOTHERING

"One lamp- thy mother's love- amid the stars

Shall lift its pure flame changeless..."

~ Nathanial Parker Willis ~

I am a mother and I have a mother, 

and the mother relationship from both sides evolves over time. 

Like the weather, it's sometimes clear and sometimes cloudy,

Sometimes booming with thunder,

Sometimes cracking with lightening,

And sometimes clear and soft as a new snow. 

I have compassion for my mother as she ages,

And for my children as they become adults,

And my role in their lives seems to be loving and letting go,

And more loving, and more letting go,

And boundaries,

And listening,

And patience,

And courage,

And faith. 

I own my part in the ancestral bloodline.