TREES AND MOUNTAINS

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

~ Robert Brault ~

We have two Norway Spruce trees in the front yard. They're probably a hundred years old, or better, and they tower above the house and rise up with their dripping silhouettes at night, back-dropped by stars. Behind them, across the road, a creek runs year round, and water sings and gurgles as it makes its way downstream. Mountains surround us. The house supports us with it's solid brick interior walls. We work the land, the land works us, and wildlife and wildflowers abound. 

     It's a good setting for a glorious life. 

I am blessed by the environment in which I live. 

FEELING ALRIGHT

"What I assume you shall assume for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."

~ Walt Whitman ~

I lack for nothing.

I am perfectly, supremely ok.

We are all in this together. 

THE ONE WE REALLY ARE

"There is that in me- I do not know what it is- but I know it is in me..."

~ Walt Whitman ~

What is the nature of our fear? 

We seem so small in the universe- mere pinpricks- and yet, 

we feel that all will collapse if we are not in charge. 

But it hasn't collapsed yet.

Life on earth has been here, and will continue to be here,

until it's here no more,

And we will remain trapped in our fear, 

plagued with our dreams of achievement and importance,

until we realize

that the only one we really are

cares not a lick about fear or achievement or any of it.

The one we are at core

isn't worried a bit.

At the source level, I am ever and always secure.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

"I have felt a presence that disturbs me with the joy of elevated thoughts;

a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused."

~ William Wordsworth ~

May 27, every year, marks my sister's Birthday, 

but she's no longer here in the flesh 

to celebrate and eat cake. 

She used to hold her hands together

and blow through her thumbs 

to make the call of a 

Mourning Dove,

And now, 

every time I hear one-

which is generally more often than I care to- 

I remember her.

Happy Birthday, sister--of-mine,

wherever in this universe

you may now be.

The body dies, but the energy remains. 

THE NET WITH SMALL HOLES

"The definition of an addiction is anything you hide."

~ Anonymous ~

The disease of addiction is a net with small holes and catches everything around it up into its jaws. Never enough and deceit are its henchmen and endless is its grasp. Careless, insidious, manipulative, and dark, it hides behind a mask of cajoling bravado and good cheer, and it's easy to believe its innocence, because we want to believe---- but our belief can kill us. Transcendence comes from realizing the truth.

I open my eyes and see. 

BEING CLEAR

"The words you choose to say something are just as important as the decision to speak."

~ Author Unknown ~

Let's make an effort to be specific in our communicating with others. We are so quick to say "always" and "never" and bulk ideas into mass generalities, and it's hard to know what to do with these comments at the receiving end. They are laden with past and future.
     Let's speak clearly from the moment, in the moment, about the moment. Let's stop stressing ourselves and our loved ones out by being vague and instigating hopes and fears we are powerless to affect.

I communicate articulately from the physical and psychological space of NOW.

DIVINE DIRECTION

"Let yourself become living poetry."
~ Rumi ~

If we over-plan, over-schedule, and over-do, we shut down access to the miraculous.

We close doors.

Let's leave room in life for spontaneous action and divine direction.

Let's let life be a gift instead of a chore.

I look to empty space - not fill it. 

WET WEATHER

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~

A rainy day makes it cozy to stay inside.

Or,

If we gear up and go out into it,

The adventure is generally blustery and quite grand!

What cripples us is resistance-

Not liking it,

Feeling limited,

Complaining,

And having internal demands. 

I enjoy the rain!

HOME

"Amen."

There is no greater grace than

A quiet mind and

A peaceful heart.

When we know these,

We have come

Home. 

I open and surrender to receive God's grace. 

STILLNESS

"I am that."

~ Mooji ~

Under the surface noise of manifest life happening,

Behind the emotions and the voices and the physical aches and pains,

There is quiet-

Vastness,

Stillness,

And

Great peace.

We are more than we seem. 

SPONTANEITY

"As you start to walk out on the way, the way appears."

~ Rumi ~

Life dictates our responsiveness. 

We worry in advance what we will say and

What we will do

and how everything will play out,

And we think if we don't figure it out beforehand that

when we get there we will be utterly lost.

But we won't.

Because life itself informs us of the next move

And then the next one,

And it flows the way it flows

Whether we worry about it

Or not. 

Life is best fresh. 

TANK TRAINING

"Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army."

~ Edward Everett ~

Our pup is not quite 4 months old and he weighs 38 pounds- every inch of him solid, paws like oaks.

We named him "Tank" for a reason.

And he's willful- got the confidence and defiance to match his size,

And the gentleness too.

Like all of us really, he's a mix of light and shadow.

And in some ways, already more than we can responsibly handle 

without more dog expertise than we have.

So we're taking him to a trainer and he will be there for 3 weeks.

It's the real deal,

And I feel mixed about it-

A bit guilty,

A bit sad,

Hopeful,

And in some ways relieved.

We seek structure for a happy balance between 

Affection and force.

And, God willing,

We will all be better off for the three weeks

And not less so. 

I relax and surrender. It takes what it takes.

SAFE PASSAGE

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."

~ Robert Louis Stevenson ~

Animal trails run all through our woods, 

worn bare

By repetitive journeys of multiple feet.

They make for safe passage between

the prickers and thick vegetation-

Safe passage for whoever might use them,

including me. 

I am grateful for those who have gone before and can show me the way. 

TAKING A SCOLDING

"Sometimes people hear you better if you speak with a voice of compassion instead of authority. They long to be understood more than to be lectured."

~ Dodinsky ~

A woman barked at my friend and me in Whole Foods 

because we weren't following the current cultural rules as she understands them

to her satisfaction. 

Her wrath was jarring. 

She told us in no uncertain terms to get our s**t together. 

And I "get" that she is likely fearful- that the looming Corona Virus has made her edgy and uptight.

It's done that to many of us.

Still though, I am not used to being yelled at by strangers.

We are living in a world of uncertainty, that's true,

But it doesn't mean we can't

Remember who we are at core,

That we have hearts and feelings,

And be kind. 

I drop my arrogance and righteousness and honor the dignity in others, wherever, and however I may find them. 

MIND ATTACK

"Wherever you go, there you are."

~ Confucius ~

Ingrained in me as a historical habit is a desire to bolt whenever I feel frustrated.

I suppose I want to escape what I'm feeling.

I consider all the things I don't like about where I am to justify departing immediately

And build a strong case

To go.

But then I don't go, because some logical part of me remains and

Knows I can't get away from what I'm trying to get away from.

The attack is from the inside.

All I can do is watch it,

Not feed it, and

let it go.

I stop identifying so strongly with my thinking mind. 

SILLY ME

"For the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every day has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously."

~ George Gissing ~

For several months now, in a protective over my plantings kind of way, I have resented heavy wind.

It has felt like a personal affront to my efforts.

And it comes so carelessly, blowing things all around.

But that's what wind does.

Silly me.

I have been trying to control it, and made myself miserable.

When the wind blows, I let it blow. 

CHANGING DIRECTION

"Trust your hunches."

~ Joyce Brothers ~

We have to pick our battles in life.

Generally speaking, we can force our agenda and get our way,

but we often have to push against the grain to make it happen

and there's a cost.

Better, perhaps, to be flexible and easily shift

From one thing to the next

And to trust our intuitive gut 

and follow

the direction

the gentle energetic flow 

is going.

I stop insisting on having my way. 

THE FALLACY OF ACHIEVEMENT

"I couldn't wait for success... so I went ahead without it."

~ Jonathan Winters ~

Growing up, and throughout my young adult years, 

I became progressively driven to achieve what I perceived as success. 

And, at the same time, 

I also felt the urge to seek and find enlightenment as the highest of all human achievements. 

And now, 

I see that there's nothing to achieve, 

not really, 

and that achievement itself as a way to complete our fulfillment, 

is a mirage. 

There is only something to discover, and that has been there all along, 

in all of us. 

It's freedom.

It's whole.

It's divine.

And we are it.

I can play at achieving things in the world, but they do not define or create me. 

As I am already, I am perfect and complete. 

LIFE'S CURRENT

"Nothing is so often irretrievably missed as a daily opportunity."

~ Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

We can unknowingly crush possibility in life by being too rigidly structured.

Some days unfold flowingly in unexpected ways, and bless us with the gift of delight.

I follow the drift of the moment's energy, and am open to changes in plan

OLD TREES

"For I have learned to look on Nature not as in the hour of thoughtless youth,

But hearing oftentimes, the still, sad music of humanity."

~ William Wordsworth ~

The younger a tree is, the more it moves in the wind.

Old trees stand solid and immovable.

A commanding presence

With deep roots,

And the knowledge of ages.

Nature is our perfect reflection. 

WHEREVER WE FIND OURSELVES

"As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve."

~ Eckhart Tolle ~

The past is past.

Let's let it rest where it lies and not pick it up.

Let's be here.

Let's live in this day,

Unencumbered,

Unassociated,

And available for each moment

As it comes.

I am here.