Sunrise Serenity

Sitting with my coffee in the early morning quiet. I can’t fully express just much I love this. It is the most centered and peaceful moment of the day. Watching out the window as the sun comes up I think it’s the time when the day still belongs to nature; we haven’t cluttered it up yet with our noise and nonsense. I actually feel like nature is allowing me to be a part of their morning. As my friend Dan says, "I love the early morning period before anyone else gets up. The day changes when they do." Indeed so. By 9am the secret of the early hours is over. For now though, I will simply cherish the moment and be humbled by my part in it. 

Life and the Cosmos

All LIFE co-exists and flows together as ONE. Mother Earth is our shared home, an evolving self-regenerating landscape that connects, nurtures and sustains all of us, together. She recycles water and air, atoms and molecules. Sharing equally with ALL.

LIFE is meant to be lived like a dance, like music, like a creative and collaborative work of art that is ever evolving. That's what LIFE is.

Nature, our home (aka, Eden or Gaia) is a Living Community, more like a planetary cell or cosmic womb than a lonely rock spinning through space.

In Nature and our Universe, everything is shared, everything flows and keeps circulating. Atoms from the stars formed our planet and continue to be recycled endlessly.

The air we breathe, the water we drink, the molecules that circulate in your cells, these are all part of a greater story of Cosmic Creation (and Regeneration). A story that lives on *within* YOU.

Right now in your body (as well as the air that surrounds you) there are relics from the whole history of our Cosmos. Atoms that are billions of years old, that were once parts of stars and interstellar clouds, dinosaur bones, redwood forests, oceans and mountains are at this very moment moving within you.

Deep down YOU are Nature, YOU are the Universe, taking this temporary human form.

Many past cultures celebrated the mystery of life with creation stories and mystic teachings. They did not understand all the details (the science), but did recognize the creativity, interconnectedness, and sacredness of EVERYTHING.

What was true then is just as true now. It just requires that we look at our lives more deeply, go beyond the surface. Look beyond economics, politics, technology, wars and conflict to see with our imaginations (and hearts) the underlying connections that mainstream storytellers tend to ignore.

To see LIFE this way isn't hard, but it does require a shift in consciousness. To see unity where others see conflict, see deep creativity where others see destruction. See the potential for peace, balance and harmony where others see only chaos, conflicts and battles.

Your life, all of Earth history (and the whole Universe) can be experienced as a unified work of Cosmic Art. Constantly changing, evolving, moving and creating. It's here, all around us, and within us.

Move beyond the matrix of fears and beliefs that society's gatekeepers uses to hypnotize, confuse and confine us. Breathe deep. Look up at the stars. Listen to the birds. Watch the clouds that move through the sky. Drink water and eat food slowly, mindfully.

Turn off your television. Turn off your phone. Touch the miracle, present right HERE, right NOW in this very moment.

This is what in Zen they call our "original face," the ONE that created ALL of us, that existed far before "you" or "I" were ever born.

– Christopher Chase

Empathy and the Mouse

A few nights ago I was taking my dog Rufus out for his last walk of the day. In the lobby of my building I noticed a teeny tiny mouse in the corner. Looking closer it was apparent that he (why I assign him male gender I don't know) was dead. After our walk I got a small box from my apartment and went down to get the poor little guy and remove him from the lobby. As I was walking down the sidewalk with the box toward the dumpster I came to the intersection of my two streets. I live in a very ecologically- and beautification-conscious neighborhood. It's not uncommon to see a neighbor with a 5-gallon bucket or grocery sack out picking up garbage, etc. 

But I digress. 

Neighbors have created small gardens in the square space at each of the four corners of the intersection where the right angle of the curbs meet the right angle of the sidewalks. Some have flowers, some have native prairie grasses. One neighbor made an herb garden at one corner, free for neighbors to use! In the Fall and Winter people leave the dead plants and leaves from the trees as cover for animals and for natural fertilizer in the Spring. Standing at the corner by one garden I realized this little mouse should be returned to nature. So I scooped some of the dead leaves and plants away and covered him up. I thought it was much more respectful than tossing him into a dumpster in a cardboard box.

Being the empath that I am, when I got back inside I got all choked up. Here was a little mouse minding his own business, living his life, and somehow he met his demise in my building's lobby. I felt so bad for him, but at the same time so good that I did something respectful for him in the end. It probably sounds silly, but for the rest of the evening I played more with Rufus than usual, held him a little tighter, petted him just the way he likes a little longer, and made sure he was all curled up and covered up at bedtime at my feet in the bed where he loves to sleep. I thought about that mouse all night and hoped he knew that someone cared enough to do something kind for him in the end. I've not shared this story with any friends. One, most wouldn't understand it. And two, most of them aren't attuned to the kind of empathy and compassion vibe enough like I am to NOT make fun of me for it. 

That little mouse was a wonderful reminder to me. We don't take time to care about anything. We're just a shitty species who thinks that everything here is for our convenience. That both angers me and disappoints me. I've decided in the Spring I'm going to commit to tending to one of the corner gardens in some way. A little beauty and love for my neighborhood, little critters, insects, and the plants themselves. My tribute to a tiny mouse that helped me not to forget a huge lesson.

Song of Myself

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars,
And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren,
And the tree-toad is a chef-d’oeuvre for the highest,
And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven,
And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery,
And the cow crunching with depress’d head surpasses any statue,
And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.”
― Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, 31

The Message of the Hosta

I woke up early this morning and decided to take a walk before before walking the dog. The weight of this week's Supreme Court decision and a few other personal things have been weighing more than heavily on my mind. On my way out the door for my walk I noticed this Hosta.

It's always been there. Steadfast in its beauty like a silent, loving doorman bidding me safe travels as I leave and welcoming me home when I return  with its brilliant greens and beautiful flowers. It was a kind and gentle reminder that in these nationally and personally trying times there is such simple, elegant beauty all around to lift us up and remind us to never give up hope; proceed with a kind and gentle spirit. The beauty of nature and its messages are all around us. Not for us to take, but for us to share in and be a part of. We would do well to take slow, mindful walks each day, notice the beauty around us, and accept the gift that's being offered us. 

Moving Forward

As the pandemic has eased considerably, here are wise words to keep in mind going forward.

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”
— Arundhati Roy

The Optical Delusion of Being a Human

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

– Albert Einstein in replying to a stranger who asked for consolation on the death of his son.

The Pacific Northwest

There‘s something about the PNW that I find calming. My deeper mindful spirit and sense of presence is always stronger here. I always feel more in touch with the better parts of myself. The PNW has a hint of mystical to it that permeates everything. PNW’ers seem to be more in synch with nature and its power to keep people centered in a kind of natural spiritual groove. I like this and it suits me well.