THE RIDDLING QUESTION

"Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?"

~ Rumi ~

We may not be who we think we are.

Our thoughts can be deceiving.

So who are we then?

Why the riddling feeling question?

It's not graspable by the quantitative mind.

Become still, 

Get quiet,

Drop all the stories and the worries and the stressful fretting.

Drop your attachments.

Drop your history.

Drop your future hopes and dreams. 

What remains?

What is it that cannot be dropped?

It is us. We are it. We are... that. 

MEMORIAL DAY

"We come to praise our soldiers."

~ Francis a Walker ~

Honoring courage today.

Honoring valor.

Honoring the bravery it takes to take a stand.

Honoring honor,

And

Because it's the root and the spirit of all of these things,

Though paradoxically,

Nonetheless empirically,

Honoring 

Love. 

Thanks to the ones who stand up. 

PLANT LIFE

"I have found, after a good deal of consideration, that the best place to seek God is in a garden."

~ Bernard Shaw~ 

Sugar Magnolia, Sweet Woodruff, Sweet William, Sweet Annie-

Honeysuckle, Rose.

Tiger Lily, Dogwood, Cattail, 

Butterfly Weed. 

Trailing, hanging, standing, 

Tender, Hardy,

Blazing,

Bulb. 

Being "garden variety" means we are absolutely unique!

THE MIX MASH

"Sorrow like rain makes roses and mud."

~ Austin O'Malley ~

I am grateful that my mother is ok,

And exhausted for all the emotional trauma that being in the hospital has stirred up in me.

And inspired by her positive attitude,

And sad for her departed lung. 

I feel it all.

THE STRENGTH OF THIS WOMAN

"Fall seven times. Stand up eight."

~ Japanese Proverb ~

My Mom is having the lower left lobe of her lung removed 

Along with some lymph nodes

Because of cancer cells present.

A week later, after testing the extracted lymph nodes,

We will know what "stage" her cancer falls into.

In the meantime, she is focused on the possibility

Of breaking the record for most post operative laps

Walked around the recovery unit.

The number to beat is 237.

My Mother is one-of-a-kind.

ENERGY BURNING

"More wood was put on, and the flame danced in a hundred fantastic shapes."

~ Charles Dudley ~

We are like fire.

Some of us are bright and blazing,

Some of us smoky,

Some of us hot embers yet to ignite,

And some of us can't be seen at all,

But underneath, with a bit of digging,

There is heat and smoke and all of it,

And with just a little paper and kindling and a puff of air,

Flames alight.

We are pure potential.

AS IT SHOULD BE

"I do not know what is untried and afterward, but I know it will, in its turn, prove sufficient, and cannot fail."

~ Walt Whitmam ~

So many, if not all, of our limiting beliefs are rooted in 

The idea that

Something is wrong.

Something is wrong with us, with other people, with our circumstances,

The weather,

The potential future,

The world. 

And this means we have something to fix.

And we better get to it.

But perhaps, all is actually as it should be, and on time,

And in its place for the lessons we have to learn,

And our transcendence,

And the play. 

I open to the possibility that nothing is wrong. 

CONVOLUTIONS

"I will bring the health of simplicity to my burdened soul and days."

~ Muriel Strode ~

Too much back and forth kills a deal.

Straightforward.

Simple.

Clear.

These are principles to guide our business dealings,

And our relationships,

And the convolutions of our mind. 

I keep my desire to complicate things in check. 

OVERGROWTH

"Don't water your weeds."

~ Proverb ~

Virginia is a warm and humid environment, and plants grow aggressively-

So much so, in fact, that there's an issue of OVER growth which

Requires great effort to keep in check.

Without any kind of pruning, it's a jungle in no time.

And it's a good reminder for us as well.

Rapid growth unchecked,

Growth for growth's sake,

Will overtake all the delicacy and subtlety of life as we enjoy it.

We must carefully prune and shape our new life learning,

Or it will smother us like vines. 

I take time to integrate the things I learn.

OVERWHELM

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot, hang on, and swing."

~  Leo Buscaglia ~

The definition of the word, "overwhelm" is 

To bury or drown beneath a huge mass, or

Defeat completely. 

We often use that word in today's vernacular which makes me wonder... 

Why are we drowning? Why so defeated?

Is it expectations we have of ourselves or others that can't be met?

Too much to do and too little time in which to do it? 

Is it a mindset? An attitude that can be shifted?

Or some kind of general malaise related to feelings of powerlessness?

I challenge us to consider the question,

And determine for ourselves if the state of overwhelm is a choice we somehow inadvertently make,

Or an absolute truth that is locked fast.

I give myself permission to stop and make adjustments if I can't breathe. 

MAKING ROOM

"Never think too much to act."

~ Arthur Guiterman ~

We spend a lot of time and invest precious energy

Trying to

Figure things out.

"I need to figure it out," we tell ourselves, and everyone around us...

"If I could just figure it out! 

Then everything would be ok."

But the joke's on us.

The solution doesn't come through figuring

It comes through dropping it, whatever "it" is,

And making room for spontaneous action

To arise and move,

Without any figuring at all.

I stop insisting on logic and let life move freely through me. 

FILTERING LIGHT

"And your very flesh shall be a great poem."

~ Walt Whitman ~

I've been observing lately how completely lovely

Light is when it's filtered through tree leaves:

Dapply. 

Luminescent.

Soft.

And 

Isn't it the same 

With the light

That filters through

Us?

I observe the physical details of ever-changing humanity with great love and delight. 

WOKING OUT

"It's all going to be ok in the end, and if it isn't ok, then it isn't the end."

~ Saying from The Exotic Marigold Hotel Movie ~

Things have a way of working out.

I don't know how exactly,

And sometimes it most definitely doesn't seem like they will,

But then,

They just

Do.

I trust the process.

CITY DOGS

"They are the role model for being alive."

~ Gilda Radner ~

I celebrate the dogs of the city!

Leashed, but not discouraged,

They are as authentic as any beings can be-

Completely adapted to their people and their routines:

Some of them speedy on short legs,

Some of them endlessly pulled this way and that,

Some of them checking on the faces of their owners,

And checking again, "We ok?"

And some of them- the ones I love the most-

Just cruising along, tails lifted and wagging...

Just happy, happy.

Maybe their walkers are serious and engaged in conversation with walking companions

Or distracted by phones.

These dogs don't care.

They are just delighted to be out and about,

And seeing them being so delighted brings great joy to the world.

I am grateful for the happiness of dogs!

ROCK A BYE

"I too have been a mourner."

~ Mary Ann H. Dodd Shutts ~

Trauma is defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience.

And sometimes, our response to this chaos can be surprisingly calm and clear.

We see the situation as if from a distance, and effectively do exactly what's required in the moment,

And then shed a few sobbing tears after the fact.

We feel self-congratulatory- over it- check the box complete.

But stack a handful of traumatic experiences one on top of the other

And the effect cannot be over and done with like closing a door.

Our bodies acknowledge what we've been through even if our hearts and minds

Can't.

Maybe not immediately, but eventually...

A creeping physical tension that won't depart,

A chronic discomfort,

An inexplicable pain.

Out traumas demand acknowledgement,

Forgiveness if necessary,

And grief.

When trauma cries, I rock it in my arms like a baby.

WE NEVER KNOW

"It's not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

~ Edmund Hillary ~

We can generate more than enough self doubt all on our own.

We don't need well meaning others to point out where we may be lacking.

It feels so much better to be believed in,

And trusted,

And encouraged-

Even if our aim seems outrageous,

Even if we're less than perfectly qualified to do what we feel called to do. 

Until we put ourselves out there,

We never know how far we can go. 

I stand for encouragement as a force for good in the world. 

TAKING SMALL STEPS

"Maybe I think too much for my own good."

~ Paul Simon ~

We can think ourselves all the way into 

The achievement of that which we long for,

The art of possibility,

The dream.

And then we can think ourselves all the way out of it,

Backpedaling.

"I can do it," we think. "Yes!"

And then,

"Never mind- no I can't. Who am I kidding?"

Or... 

well... 

maybe...

And all the while, just by taking small steps,

Moving in the direction we want to go,

We are getting there.

It may not play out as anticipated, and I might find a new and unexpected direction as I make my way along the path, but action is the thing that moves me forward: action in spite of whatever my mind may think. 

CONSIDERATION

"Never rob your character to enrich your pocket."

~ James Lendall Basford ~

Let's have

The consideration

Of communication

And completion

In all of our relationships.

Without that,

Trust goes

Missing.

An inconsiderate lack in communication lacks in integrity as well. 

SEEKERS OF MEANING

"To be curious about that which is not one's concern while still in ignorance of oneself is absurd."

~ Plato ~

We are seekers of meaning.

We want to know, "Why?"

I remember when my children were mere toddlers

And they learned that magic question- 

The one that would make me keep on talking and talking.

'Why, Mommy?"

And I'd do my best to explain the answer.

"Why, Mommy?"

And on, and on, and on again.

We do the same thing in our minds., don't we?

We want to know why things happen the way they do, and what it all means,

But such wanting is exhausting,

And eventually we surrender to the simplicity of,

"I don't know."

And feel

Relief.

I don't have to always know why. 

WHO WE ARE

"Truth outlasts the sun."

~Emily Dickenson ~

Relative truth is the result of different perspectives-

Different "takes" on life happenings.

Absolute Truth, on the other hand,

Is always true-

No matter what true,

True for you, and True for me too.

Sounds intriguing, doesn't it?

What IS it?

That which lies before and beyond our conditioned selves,

The quiet, 

The witness,

What looks out from our eyes:

The source 

of 

Who we are. 

We may not know that we know, but we know anyway. 

FRESHNESS

"Outward, and outward, and forever outward."

~ Walt Whitman ~

When we have the courage to try something new for the first time,
And end up loving it,
The obvious next step is to go back and experience it again.
But the second time, we have expectations-
It has to meet the bar we have set from the first go round, 
And it can't, 

Because it will never be the "first time" experience again.
Now, it becomes a measuring up kind of thing. 

So... what to do?

Maybe keep trying new things.

If nothing else, it keeps life 

Fresh.

I am open to all that life has to offer!

WARM EVENINGS

"Right here. Right now."

~ Fatboy Slim ~

Warm evenings are completely delicious-

Soothing for the soul.

And actually, crisp fall days are delicious also-

And winter sunshine through a window.

It seems that life suits the spirit quite well,

And there is so much pleasure to be had by simply 

Experiencing the changing weather,

And the moving light,

And the day!

I am grateful to be alive.