Love Thy Neighbor and Love Thy Nature

Deer Feeding on Pine Needles and Branches from the Mitigation

… much as Martin Luther King did when he declared, "all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny," and King was right that it's all life, not just human life. Maybe in this day and age, love thy neighbor should also be love thy nature. After all we are all neighbors to nature; we live in a grand neighborhood called the biosphere, the realm of life on earth, and we depend on it. We are it and it is us, from our gut biome to what we eat, drink, and breathe. Love in this case should manifest as active care. Rebecca Solnit

This Tuesday before blog day, I’ve found myself moving very differently in my world today – more slowly and deliberately. Present to each step. Following a flow of guidance rather than my plan for the day. It started early waking from a disjointed dream and hearing a clear message to write The Pivot today.

As I moved slowly through the morning, attending to self-care, watching deer feeding on pine needles from the mitigation, checking in on planetary aspects and earthly events, I sense something shifting deep in me and in how we collectively are understanding and navigating the chaos of our world. I sense love is being called forth in new ways, just as I witnessed it while reading a political essay by American writer and activist, Rebecca Solnit.

The essay, Visions of Life / Agents of Death: On Love Thy Neighbor and Love Thy Nature, is stirring in me not as new perspective to consider, but rather as a clear articulation of how the worldview of separation is currently playing out on the world stage and, simultaneously, right here at home, wherever ‘home’ happens to be for you.

As Solnit shares, the separation worldview is not the only play being written and acted on stages around the globe. In contrast to the separation story, those who hold the worldview that we are all connected AND we are connected to Nature are rising in communities around the world with expanding casts of characters engaged in co-creating a new world grounded in our interconnectedness to one another and to All Life. The worldview that we are not separate but are part of a web of Life that knows not borders, boundaries, and other props of the separation worldview even as they work within and across those demarcations.

None of us are mere observers of these divergent views. Consciously or not, we are actors on the stage contributing to one worldview or the other with every choice we make. Our opportunity in this time is first to understand these divergent world views and how they are unfolding and to be aware of how our choices support one view or the other. And then, from this understanding to choose our parts wisely with clarity and intention. I think Visions of Life / Agents of Death: On Love Thy Neighbor and Love Thy Nature can help us to do just that. So, I invite (no I encourage!) you to make yourself a cup of tea and sit with Solnit for a bit.

A New Friend in The Woods Out Back

In Silence and Stillness

Mitigation Teamwork

Let the one who carries fire sit beside the one who carries water. The Agreement Beneath All Names

As the cacophony of noise and accompanying horrors being perpetrated on Life grows louder and more horrific, I find myself in deep need to be silent, still. Body and soul need quiet and to be quiet. They call for the stillness of deep rest. To listen. Not to the world, but to Life. All Life.

Mind’s pesky thoughts pop in, questioning if quiet and stillness are aligned with these intense times. Perhaps in the so-called rational world we call ‘reality’, this is no time for stillness. For many it’s a time to add to the noise, turn up the volume so you’ll be heard. It’s a time many are called to action, to protest, to caring for one another.

And rightfully so. We each need to listen to and respond to our unique call in this moment.

My soul hears a different call. And as if to be sure that I hear and heed the soul’s call, body chimes in offering up a scratchy throat, minor arm injury, and a dearth of physical energy. “That should keep you quiet and still,” body seems to say.

Silence and stillness aren’t easy. Yet, as I listen, I sense that I’m harmonizing with all the Beings here in the woods in the wake of last week’s mitigation. The work itself flowed easily, with the trees and other Beings who dwell and visit here cooperating with we humans as we communicated and worked closely together. It was as if the tree Beings understood the need and opened to the transformational sacrifice.

And now we are called to recover. To move beyond the shock and jarring of change and into harmony with the present. The trees with new roles as firewood and mulch, not shade. For all, being more visible as old visual barriers are removed.

So this day, as I settle back into the quiet stillness of place, I leave you with a bit more from The Agreement Beneath All Names to reflect upon and, perhaps as I have, to incorporate into your daily practices of contributing to a peaceful world.

The sky above all prayers does not choose sides.

So we choose again—

each morning, each meeting, each moment of heat—

to respond instead of react,

to include instead of conquer,

to listen long enough for the deeper truth to surface. from The Agreement Beneath All Names

Honoring the Sacrifice and Gratitude for the Tree

Death and Rebirth in this Transformative Time

Farewell to an old friend …

Parting is such sweet sorrow … Juliet in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

In Hinduism, Shiva is a deity who represents transformation. Through destruction and restoration, Shiva reminds us that endings are beginnings, and that our world is constantly undergoing a cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Karen Salmansohn

The Pivot invites me to pivot numerous times this morning before the heart speaks clearly to guide the direction and focus of today’s Pivot ink. That direction isn’t what came when the pen first met paper early with my restless heart stirring in the wake of courageous voices and their stories speaking last evening at the ‘People’s State of the Union’ on the National Mall. Real people, having found their voices, courageous, some trembling, all enduring the cold night share their experience and show us what resistance looks like. An alternative to the story being told in the Capitol building at the same time.

And The Pivot wasn’t to be about my presence to how the world ‘out there’ is reflecting the inner turmoil many, I supposed most, of us are experiencing in this intense, transformative time where we are witness to the death of systems, beliefs, ways once held dear at the same time new ones, ones that honor Life, are rising. We are gifted with abundant opportunities to look within to examine, to choose to let go of all that no longer serves Life. At least that’s how I’m experiencing and observing this time.

Each of these is a topic worthy of attention and exploration as I engage in my own inner queries and musing. What the heck is this time about for me? For our world? For Life? For the cosmos? Musings for another day.

Yet as I sat quietly then moved about the house, apparently not quite ready to hear my heart’s call, the guidance became crystal clear: Letting go! Saying ‘good bye’ to two large tree beings and many large branches in other trees that need to be removed for fire safety. Being grateful for their service, their beauty, and honoring them for enduring the mitigation process – that of facing death to help protect this home and then, to be reborn, transformed into a new purpose – providing warmth for the home in winters to come.

These trees seem a powerful metaphor for this transformative time we are in, both individually and collectively. And for that awareness, I am ever grateful.

When I made the decision to mitigate a few weeks back, I talked with each tree, apologizing, expressing my gratitude, and asking for their understanding and cooperation. I honored each with a small stone and talked with the tree elders in the woods out back as well as the mountain to ask for their guidance, understanding, and support.

I revisit posts from earlier mitigation on the land in 2014 and 2020 to recall my thoughts at that time. I notice a cycle in the mitigation – six years between each. I’m reminded as I read the old posts how my relationship with the tree beings and all Life in these woods and beyond has deepened in the 12 years that I’ve been blessed to occupy and steward this place.

Now, as mitigation day comes closer, I begin to say my last farewells and consider what gifts to offer each for their sacrifice. Wondering ‘what is proper?’ and ‘what is enough?’, I ask for guidance, trusting that the perfect guidance will come, while knowing that the depth of my intentions and care will compensate for any oversight and trusting that divine perfection will prevail. I’m reminded that endings are beginnings, and that our world is constantly undergoing a cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

What if, I wonder, I/we could trust this transformative time with its cycles of death and rebirth with the same knowing and trust?        

Caring for the lichen and other Life that lives on the trees.

Marking This Pivotal Moment in Our Pivotal Time

My Wood Snake Ally in the Woods Out Back

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today, February 17, 2026, marks what I believe will be seen as a pivotal moment in humanity’s story. A choice point both individual and collective. Immediate and long term. We are deciding our future (and our children’s, grandchildren’s, great grandchildren’s, and great-greats for generations to come) . How will we meet the moment? How will we participate in unfolding the human story?

This New Moon is also the Chinese New Year, Losar in Tibetan traditions. This year we leave behind the Year of the Wood Snake, a year of shedding skin – literally and figuratively, consciously or unconsciously (likely both for most of us).

Having shed what weighs us down, we mount the Fire Horse for what is likely to be a wild and tumultuous ride. Changed in ways we may not yet see, today’s New Moon and solar eclipse invite us to choose the paths we will ride into our individual and collective future.

Will we attempt reform by tweaking old, corrupt systems that, as I’ve said many times, were created in the false story of separation, favoring domination and power over no matter how much we tweak them? Or will we choose paths that lay the old to rest and to compost, creating the void for bringing forth and building new systems aligned with All Life?

In this moment, this week, and the week’s ahead we are blessed with planetary alignments that can support us in choosing the latter. They are calling us into active participation. Our task is to listen with care and discernment about who and what we listen to. And then, to act. To rest. To act again, rest again. And then, to rinse and repeat.

I invite you to join me during this auspicious New Moon Day in looking ahead and setting clear intentions for the world you want to participate in co-creating in these pivotal times.

Personally, my intentions will be focused on how I will support regenerative efforts locally, regionally, and globally. I see a world longing for just, fair, community-based economic, agricultural, legal and other systems and practices not only for we humans, but for All Life. I intend to listen, to learn, to seed, and to nurture what wants to emerge, finding and supporting aligned allies that are already engaged in these efforts. Perhaps creating new ones. Step by step. Day by day with an open heart and curious mind.

The future human story is ours to write. This is our opportunity to help bend the moral arc of the universe toward justice that is grounded in the truth of Oneness not in the false story of separation. Yes, we can! Yes, we will!

May you be well, happy, and at peace. May all beings be well, happy, and at peace.

My Fire Horse Ally for the Year Ahead!

Simple Thanks - A Path to Oneness

‘Stick’ - A New Friend from the Woods Out Back

Have you ever really tasted a French fry? Gregge Tiffen

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for this food.

Thank you, body, for receiving this nourishment.

Thank you to all hands who toiled to bring it to this place.

Thank you to the soil.

Thank you to the water.

Thank you to the Sun.

Thank you to Mother Earth.

Thank you to the Source of All Life.

This morning as I sipped my Chinese herb formula and spoke my prayer of thanks, I experienced a deep sense of the vast networks that support me, support us all – those networks of Nature and those created by we humans. In that moment I was reminded once again of how interconnected we are. Of the Oneness that is.

A simple, sincere ‘thank you’ was the magic of this moment of peace, of presence to the moment. Not rushing. Not pushing. Not scrolling a screen. Setting aside thought about what was to be written this week. Allowing. A moment of peace.

This prayer of thanks recently evolved from thanking only the food and my physical body to include all that’s required of many and of Nature for it to be on my plate. The complexity of getting all these ingredients here is mind boggling if you give it just a bit of attention. And that’s what brought me to this moment of peaceful presence to Oneness with All that IS.

I’m experiencing peace more frequently at mealtimes these days. Setting aside scrolling, reading, or watching an informative YouTube video; at many meals I simply give thanks and eat. Chew. Taste. Watch thoughts come and let them go. Chew and taste again. Appreciating each bite.

The experience reminded of Gregge Tiffen’s French fry question years ago in a workshop. I understand the question more deeply now. How much joy and wonder do I miss from each of my senses by not being fully present in the moment to see, to smell, to feel, to taste, to hear? To know and sense beyond what can be known?

As I consider these questions, I’m reminded of a retreatant who lived here at the Dragonfly House for several months many years ago. Our paths crossed infrequently as we each lived our rhythms and she prepared meals at different times than I. She prepared her food and ate in silence each day. Mindfully, I would now say. Although I didn’t think much about it at the time, she was showing me a different way to be with a meal: fully present. Mindful. I’m certain gratitude was an ingredient in her mindful ways.

One of my most mindful times is when I’m building the morning fire in the woodstove, carefully attending to stacking the tinder and kindling just right for a quick, hot start. Recently, using kindling from the woods, I picked up a piece to add. It wasn’t just a straight stick, but one with many offshoots, and when I looked, I saw a friendly being joyfully walking. ‘Stick’ now graces the mantle by the stove.

If, as we have witnessed over the last many weeks, mindfulness can fuel the steps each day of two dozen Venerable Monks on their 2300 mile Walk for Peace facing obstacles all along the way, imagine what it can do for each of us. For the human collective. For Mother Earth and all her beings. For the cosmos that is our home.

As Arundhati Roy has said so beautifully, Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing. Let’s quiet our busy minds and be a part of breathing life into another world, one that is peaceful, just, thriving world for All Life. Together.

The Morning Fire

From Scattered Thoughts to Peace

Full Moon Morning

Scattered thoughts like a herd stampeding go nowhere, fast.

This is going to be my peaceful day.

The two collide as I wake feeling confused, a touch annoyed, attempting to grasp the details of a dream. Monkey mind jumps in quickly this morning – things that need attention: a bill that needs to be paid, research re a potential dental issue, checking maintenance records on the car.

Pause. Breathe. Stretch under the covers. Another breath. This is going to be my peaceful day. Ahh … it’s Wednesday. Blog day. I set the agitation aside … at least for a moment. Then as I rise, it wants to follow.

I do my best to decline because deep in my being I know that our world cannot be a peaceful one unless we are individually at peace. While I’m not likely in this life to reach the heights of inner peace that the Venerable Monks of the Walk for Peace are demonstrating to us each and every day, that deep peaceful place in me is not unfamiliar territory. I have visited the territory; or, perhaps, that place of full, peaceful presence has visited me.

And, as the Monks have reminded me, I know its requirement. Practice. Practice. Persistent, consistent practice.

Consistent practice is not my strong suit, yet practicing peaceful presence is a challenge worthy of taking on. We see its effects in the thousands demonstrating peacefully in Minneapolis just as we see its absence in the angry reactions of ICE. We experience its effect when we face a conflict in clear response, not angry reaction and when we walk through the day with clarity and purpose.

Scattered thoughts do not, have not, and will not manifest peace – individually or collectively. They manifest confusion, anxiety, annoyance, reaction. That’s what serves those who are intent on maintaining hierarchical, power over structures and their positions in them. This offers yet another reason to practice.

This truth about scattered thoughts I know in my being, and yet I hold a story that my scattered thoughts serve me in some way (After all I have almost 76 years of experience!). As if while I’m doing ‘this’ I think about what’s next or something I need to attend to later is efficient planning. It is not! It’s mind destroying, and it is absent of peace in me and as a positive, peaceful contribution to the greater whole. To Life.

And so, I aim to shift my story. To be more consistent in practicing mindfulness, peaceful presence and turn the tide to clearer, more peaceful presence. To full attention to this moment, this gift, this NOW. I’ll be calling upon the Grandmother Tree and other Beings in The Woods Out Back to support me. Their steady presence is a consistent reminder to just Be Here Now!

Grandmother Tree in the Woods Out Back

Tending the Fire of Peace

The Morning Fire is Lighted

The sky above all prayers

does not choose sides.

So we choose again –

each morning, each meeting, each moment of heat –

to respond instead of react,

to include instead of conquer,

to listen long enough

for the deeper truth to surface.

Myra Jackson (excerpt from The Agreement Beneath All Names)

I sit by the fire early this blog morning cozy, safe, grateful. Prayerful for those in harm’s way, those grieving loss (as we all are as we witness seemingly impossible horrors on our doorstep), those in fear, for those who protest and the Venerable Monks walking for peace. I’m prayerful for those on the path of angry action, reaction, greed, domination, demonization. May love pierce all hardening in all of our hearts to soften, open, and call all to higher service. May the light of love cast out the darkness of separation so that All know that we are One.

I’m prayerfully present to witnessing the extreme contrasts present in our world offering us pointed choices for the path we will follow each and every moment – inclusion or domination, harmony or conflict, demonizing or humanizing, judgement or discernment, kindness and compassion or cruelty and caring.

Rather than choosing sides, this week I’ve put my attention on tending the fire of peace, inner peace. Full presence. For it is that peace, and only that peace, from which I can choose again. And it is only being fully present in each moment that I hold that power, power that is in each of our hearts. No matter how dim.

Inspired by the monks on the Walk for Peace, I’ve become more aware of how busy my mind is with such purposeless thoughts that create the internal environment for reactivity rather than response. Letting them go is easy, while keeping another from entering is more challenging. Being fully present to the nourishing bowl of soup is a quest. Can I be fully present to its yumminess without the static of thoughts about what I need to do next or the sad state of the world? Or the distraction of watching a YouTube video? Can I simply be present and grateful? Can I focus fully on this moment with awareness of all that it offers?

Can I do the same when I next walk in the woods out back? When I hug the Mother Pinion Tree? When I gaze at the mountain? Of course, I can. How deeply will I practice?

Tending the hearth fire that warms my home is much easier than tending the inner fire, taming its tendency to react with judgement to that and those with which and whom I disagree. I’m taming the fire from which snarky thoughts, though rarely spoken, emerge and pollute consciousness – mine and ours. I’m taming the fire of worry about an unknown future and embracing not only what’s possible, but that which seems impossible, knowing that together we make the impossible not only possible but real.

Practicing presence helps.

Join me?     

The Mountain from the Woods Out Back

Cultivating Peace Amidst Fear

New Moon Peace Mandala

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me …Jill Jackson-Miller and Sy Miller

Waking this Wednesday morning, blog day, I wonder what can be written as a step toward peace today. What is mine to speak into a world where many are locked in fear as incomprehensible and lawless violence is perpetrated while others stand in witness, resistance, and service to those targeted? Into a world where the Venerable Monks continue their walk, each step, each smile, each word a demonstration of peace? A world of contrasts, choices.

I’m present to deep questioning. How does one stay informed without falling into the grip of fear or grief or into reactive anger that serves no purpose? For surely, we need to be aware of what is occurring in our world, alert to any need to respond to what life presents us. And we need to grieve not only the victims of terror, but what is dissolving and being dismantled before our weary, perhaps teary, eyes.

I write aware of the comfort and sense of safety being in this small rural place provides and, at the same time, with a knowing that what happens to one impacts us all.

Just as I viscerally experienced Sunday’s strong solar flare and the geomagnetic storm that followed, I feel some sense of the terror and trauma of the mother in Minnesota who feared going out to get needed medical attention for her very ill children, waiting until 4:30am when it felt ‘safe enough’ to take one child to the hospital. My heart aches for a friend who shared in a recent message that she both ‘trusts and trembles’ for what her diverse urban community may experience.

She reminds me that trust is key to peace. Trust that something greater and more beautiful than we can see is not only possible, it is unfolding as we witness the dissolution of the world we’ve known. It is unfolding one step at a time, co-created by those with deep care and vision for new ways forward.

As I pause the pen and watch several mule deer amble by in the woods out back, I call on the trust that I’ve developed over the years. I walk in spirit with the Venerable Monks and turn my awareness to each breath. I remember that our world will not be at peace unless each of us is and sing silently to myself Let peace be on the earth and let it begin with me. I remember that only nonviolent action can bring lasting peace and that any victory of ‘might makes right’ is transitory.

We are in a time of deep, transformative change. Historical cycles tell us this. Earth cycles tell us this. Planetary cycles and alignments affirm this truth. And, if we listen closely, our bodies tell us this as well.

This is our moment to stand strong, to set and guide this transformation in the direction of the world we want to create, a world of peace, loving kindness, compassion, and care for All Life.

Onward!

In the Woods

Assignment - Peace

This will be my peaceful day. Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara

I wake this morning with the horrors of this past week heavy in my heart and present to angst that seems to want to settle in and gnaw on me all day. Perhaps beyond. Then I remember the wise invitation of Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara in a talk a few days back: Each morning on waking take a breath and give yourself an assignment – ‘This will be my peaceful day’.

My heart lightens as I breathe those words and their gentle yet potent possibility in with a prayer that peacefulness becomes the reality for all. For Life. Peace within begets peace without. Moment to moment breathe that in and out for the moment, this one, is all there is. The next breath is for that moment.

This will be my peaceful day.

The words wrestle with my observations of world events, with my concern for friends and family in neighborhoods where the horrors are present. For all who may be in harm’s way where vigilance and care are required. How might I behold both Peace and the actions of those not at peace in a caring way? Ignorance is not bliss, rather it is choosing blindness to that which we’d prefer not to see.

Inner battles, traumas, conflicts cannot be fought in the streets or on battlefields nor settled in the halls of governments and the courts. The grappling these require is an inside job. Me to me. You to you. Each individual heart to that heart. That is the peace that will pass understanding. That is true peace that will last. Heaven on Earth.

It’s that seemingly impossible possibility that has inspired me each day this week to both attend to my inner work and to follow the venerable monks on their Walk for Peace as they make their way to Washington, D.C.

I’m in awe of their commitment – walking miles and miles each day whatever the weather. Most days they people along the way to visit during their lunch and evening rest stops and offer a talk to share their perspective, their wisdom. Not as attempts to convert or convince. Simply demonstrating mindfulness and peace. Step by step. Breath by breath. Day by day across 2300 miles.

But what calls forth my tears as I watch isn’t listening to the wise words of Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the monk leading the walk, but the outpouring of support in communities along the way. Tears well up as I read the post of state senator in Georgia who, after witnessing the monks being confronted by a man with differing beliefs, said that she was forever changed. Watching hundreds, perhaps thousands, walk with them across a bridge in Columbia, South Carolina. Observing the reverence of people lining their route and the protection being proudly provided by law enforcement in each community. Bearing witness to the monks’ compassion shown for many individually and all collectively. Their frequent expressions of gratitude. And yes, their care for Aloka, the Peace Dog walking with them each day until sidelined by an injury requiring surgery generously provided by a veterinary clinic along the way.

Out of care and respect I share only what is posted on the official Walk for Peace social media pages. Here’s a beautiful song inspired by the walk that they shared yesterday.

As a post I saw earlier this morning asked, “If they can walk 2300 miles for peace, can’t we walk away from anger and hate?” Yes we can! Will we?

Pivot to Inspiration

Curious Mule Deer Watching

Blog day! The first of this calendar year!

Early this morning as I snuggled under the covers feeling gratitude for waking again from a good rest and for Life, I began to think about this first post of the new year and what has inspired me, nourishing my deep knowing that despite appearances to the contrary, a new world is emerging as the world we know continues to devolve and dissolve.

Then as I began to move about, building the morning fire, caring for my wrist injured in a fall, and preparing a mug of warm lemon water I felt tears begin to well up, not only in my eyes but in my whole being. Grief.

Grief for the horrors and suffering not just of we humans but of all Life. Grief for the grasp that systems of separation continue to hold over us. Grief …

I give my grief and its tears a place rather than attempting to shoo it away or deny its validity. For sure these times warrant grief. Grief for the suffering. Grief for the loss. Grief for the unimaginable perpetration of violence. And, yes, grief for the simple acts of letting go that we are invited into in this time – beliefs, habits, people, places, things that no longer serve who we each Be. It’s a lot for sure.

After a bit, the grief passes, ending its visit – for now. By simply giving it a place and my attention for a few moments in time I invite the return of light and the many paths of possibility opening in what is emergent as we begin this new cycle within the many cycles of Life.

And that brings me to what I want to share this day … So, take a moment and breathe with me – a slow deep inhale, inspiration; a gentle pause, then a gentle blowing the breath out, exhalation. Continue as we pivot to another inspiration, that of being stimulated to do or to feel something …

Inspiration. Many folks embrace a word for the year. Perhaps ‘inspiration’ will be mine. It certainly has been a focus as I’ve eased into the new year. Inspiration nourishes.

Each and every day I’m inspired by the beauty of ‘place’, of the Life that surrounds and breathes with me here in these sacred mountains. Whether I’m being watched by curious mule deer or I’m delighting in watching goldfinches flit about, I’m inspired. Simply gazing at the peaks that rise above these woods inspires me to take another breath. And another. And to step more deeply into aligning my life, my choices with All Life.

I’m inspired by activists like my friend Rivera Sun who each day demonstrate their commitments to peace, to justice, to kindness, to nonviolence, and to feeding our brothers and sisters. I’m inspired by the venerable Buddhist monks Walk for Peace from my hometown in Texas to our nation’s capital. Mile upon meditative mile each day they walk in peace, for the sake of peace. All in their own ways with their own unique expressions are calling forth a more beautiful world. My inspired heart joins them in the call.

I’m inspired by the many community leaders and builders here in my community and across the San Luis Valley.

And I’m both inspired and called to action by my young friends at Earth Regeneration Alliance and by the online community, The Living Commons that they launched this week. Here’s their brief year end/year beginning summary that just might inspire you as well.

Inspiration. What inspiring encounters have you experienced in this first week of the new year?

Inspiration. Let’s breathe together and BE Inspired!

Sacred Sangres