END OF AN ERA

OK..., here it is... the final blog on blog spot.

The first one was February 12th, 2011, and almost every weekday since then... 

It's been a long time.

And I'm going to let Walt Whitman close it down for me.

I discovered him in college and have always found his writing to be

Lyrical, and also inspiring, and pointing to TRUTH...  so...

Here's Walt:

"You are asking me questions and I hear you,

I answer that I cannot answer, you must find out for yourself.

Sit a while dear son,

Here are biscuits to eat and here is milk to drink,

But as soon as you sleep and renew yourself in sweet clothes, 

I kiss you with a goodbye kiss and open the gate for your egress hence.

Long enough have you dream'd contemptible dreams,

Now I wash the gum from your eyes,

You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life.

Long have you timidly waded holding a plank by the shore,

Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,

To jump off in the midst of the sea, rise again, nod to me, shout, and

Laughingly dash with your hair."

That's all, folks!

PEACE OUT.

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GARDEN PHILOSOPHY

"My garden is my favorite teacher."

~ Betsy Canas Garmon ~

I have never lived in a place long enough to see how the gardens I plant

Work out over time...

And now I am leaving a new batch of profuse plantings at our farm in Virginia-

Another leaving-

But so many of them are massive already!

There are Hollyhocks 9 feet tall!

And other plants that were thriving last year are rather smothered out this year

By the aggressive growing of neighbor plants that are on a roll.

Some things thrive in a garden, some get eaten mercilessly by bugs, or deer,

And others die.

But it's a never ending evolution of gracious harmony in the growing and the thriving and the dying

All mixed with God's grace.

Plants experience the journey of life just like we do!

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WHAT KIND OF GOODBYE?

"So long, fare thee well,

Pip, pip, cheerio..."

~ Oliver ~

Goodbyes come in all shapes and sizes.
There's goodbye with relief,
Goodbye with despair.
Goodbye for now, goodbye forever,
And goodbye until we meet again whenever that may be...
There are phone goodbyes,
In person goodbyes,
Quick ones, long ones, 
Ones with smiles,

Ones with tears...
And we are reaching a goodbye here.
After ten and a half years, only 2 more days of these blogs in this way.
Will it be goodbye forever when it's done?
Or see you tomorrow in a new way?
You have a choice.
To see you tomorrow, meaning after Wednesday, sign up HERE. 
And if it's goodbye forever, then happy trails to you, and glad

We got to stop a while together

On this path called 

Life. 

I decide how I say goodbye. 

OPENING WIDE

"Intuition... points the way."

~ Florence Scovel Shinn ~

Following flowing energy can satisfy the spirit more

Than checking items off a strategized, prioritized to-do list.

Getting things done is one thing,

And opening wide to life's curiosities and invitations 

Quite another. 

I look to see and feel to know.

THE BEAR

"We only part to meet again."

~ John Gay ~

A bear crossed the road in front of me as I came around a corner and

Down a hill, 

And, it being a quiet country road with no one behind me,

I stopped, and rolled down the car window to

Check him out: a big bear with lustrous black fur...

And he stopped too,

And turned his head to check me out.

We sat there together 

Looking at each other

In this extended 

PAUSE... 

And then I eased forward in the car, he turned and started moving off into the woods.

And the moment was over.

Driving away, I felt shifted by it, 

Gifted by it,

And one with 

Life. 

Our days are a series of magical encounters. 

MAKING SENSE

"Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding."

~ Ambrose Bierce ~

When things don't make sense to us, it's natural to want 

To find an explanation or a "reason"

That will make them

Make sense....

At least to our brains, if not our hearts. 

It's because of this, and that.

"Oh, ok."

It always feels better when things make sense.

And yet, so many things-

And people-

Just

Don't.

I'd rather admit to not understanding than forcing logic onto something that is intrinsically non-sensical.  

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SHOWING UP

"Silentness is not silence."

~ Jose Garcia Villa ~ 

We can be carried along pretty merrily by life,

And be feeling pretty good:

Solid, confident,

And then something comes along to derail us.

It never fails.

And the only thing to do then is to

Feel the feelings.

Identify the misperceptions,

Remember who we really are, and

Keep showing up.

I watch myself being disturbed, and trust the learning that will come. 

THE NEW VIEW

"You beautiful trees! I love every one of you as a friend."

~ Lucy Maud Montgomery ~

I used to long for expansive mountain views

That stretched on and on and on...

The broad rolling skyline!

And it is exquisite, for sure.

But the view I prefer to live with these days 

Is closer in,

Feels secure and lovely in a way the 

Big mountain view does not.

Light through leaves and pine needles,

Dappled, luminous, soothing, and

Kind. 

Home feels like a hug. 

INTEGRITY

"Hold integrity sacred."

~ The Myrtle, January, 1884 ~

Doing what we say we will do,

Being on time,

Responding to inquiries from business associates and friends,

Saying please and thank you-

These simple things make all the difference.

Without them, the world stumbles and lurches,

And it becomes irritating and nearly impossible to get things done.

Integrity is the force that 

Makes things 

Happen with ease. 

You can count on me. 

RIGHT SIZED

"Something it swings on more than the earth I swing on..."

~ Walt Whitman ~

The thing with arrogance in any form is that 

We give ourselves credit for things that are actually

Beyond our personal control.

As such, the boom must fall,

And leave us humbled,

Re-positioned, and 

Right sized,

Admitting that we 

Went too far. 

I am both more and less influential than I can possibly understand. 

ENOUGH

"Infinitely will I trust nature's instincts and promptings."

~ Muriel Strode ~

Sweet.

Bitter.

Smooth.

Rough.

Hungry.

Angry.

Tender.

Tough.

Loving.

Laughing.

Crying.

Stuffed.

However we are,

Is perfectly

Enough.

I accept the way life moves through me.

HAPPENINGS

"The why and wherefore passeth human understanding. 

That's just the way the Lord's got it arranged."

~ Cid Ricketts Summer

Days,  meals, meetings, phone calls, crises...

They all just happen the way they happen.

No amount of wanting guarantees any particular kind of outcome.

I accept the unfolding adventure of life.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

"Humor is the good natured side of a truth."

~ Mark Twain ~ 

A while ago, I booked a flight to Los Angeles to see my son, Nick,

On an airline I have found to be pleasant and reliable.

Last week, I received an email from them telling me that my return flight has been changed

And now,

Instead of getting in at 4pm I will be getting in at midnight,

Which is not the end of the world, but not exactly convenient,

And I still have a fair bit of time before the trip so I called today to talk to someone.

When I asked the computer voice if I could please speak to an agent,

I was transferred to another computer voice that let me know I was in the cue,

and very pleasantly mentioned that the wait time would be approximately

Six hours and eight minutes.

I hung up the phone and burst out laughing.

What else is there to do at that point?

When life is preposterous, which it often is, I can be amused by it.

I don't have to let it twist me into knots. 

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THE WAY IT IS

 "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid."

~ Frederick Buechner ~

The quote above is TRUE in that

Beautiful and terrible things DO happen,

All the time, to each of us...

Sometimes both in the same day.

And somehow, all of it plays out.

Always.

So, in hindsight, no need for fear.

We survive. We evolve. We pick ourselves up

And become useful to others who 

Come along behind.

We are resilient, and our pain makes us beautiful,

And grows us in compassion,

And throughout it all,

Known to us, or

Unbeknownst,

We are carried

And filled

With the Grace of

God. 

Living is life, and life is up and down and all around. 

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BAGGAGE

"History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up."

~ Voltaire ~

We come at life so FULL of our history:

Trusting or suspicious,

Dragging or lightly,

With happiness or dread.

It makes for challenging interactions-

Very few of them 

Completely clean or

Clear. 

I accept the potentially convoluted history of new people I encounter.

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FLOWERING CHANGE

"When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills."

~ Chinese Proverb ~

Would you miss this blog if you no longer received it?

July 1st, Google Blogspot is disabling the email sending feature,

So to keep getting it, you need to sign up here. 

I considered stopping writing it,

I considered all kinds of options,

And decided on this one. 

It's where the energy led me- 

I believe there's value here- and if you do too,

Become a Daily Enlightenment's "Member."

And in the new format, you will get an image every day 

To accompany the words... 

There will be a couple weeks of blogs posted in both places

And then,

Just there. 

I gracefully accept the inevitable process of change. 

PARTY INVITATION

"I am the sunlight to the soil of my own soul."

~ Muriel Strode ~

We are so good at fooling ourselves.

It's a game we love to play-

We invite energy we don't want and then wonder why it's showing up,

Like announcing a party and then

Being mad and bewildered when the guests

Arrive.

I take responsibility for what I attract. 

HOT OR COLD?

"Cussing the weather is mighty poor farming."

~ African American Proverb ~

A butterfly bush that grows 10 feet tall in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Grows 5 feet tall in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania:

Shorter growing season- less sun. 

But in the Pocono Mountains, because of so much delicious rain, 

A pine tree grows 100 feet tall,

While in Santa Fe, it's a shrubby bush.

And we are like that.

Some of us are more vital in the heat, and some in the cold,

Some in the mountains, and some by the beach.

Are we a tumbleweed, or dune grass?

The knowing is inside each one.

It's up to us to answer the invitation.

I don't pretend to be something other than I am. 

RISING FROM THE ASHES

"Fire is love and water sorrow."

~ Proverb ~

When we are burned out,

We are like a forest fire, quenched.

And from this black singed earth grow the 

Most impossibly fresh green sprouts.

They are exquisite,

And beautiful,

And new. 

Life renews us as it must. 

THE UNKNOWN

"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral."

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~

We claim not to like the unknown,

But if we're honest with ourselves and consider it truly,

I think we will find it's actually quite enjoyable.

If we don't know how something will play out,

We can imagine it going any way we desire,

Any way that pleases us to imagine.

Once it's done, once it's known, there's no more imagining,

There's only the dealing with whatever has happened,

And even if it's rough, or tough, or tragic, there's still fun possible

In the unknown of that.

The game then becomes, what are we going to do now?

Mystery is a delightful form of play.