How BIG Are the Little Things?

Everything is a part of Everything else

Everything operates on behalf of everything else

Everything is interactive, interrelated, and interdependent/symbiotic, and with you

You are part of everything and everything is part of you

You operate on behalf of everything else, and everything operates on behalf of you (Myra Jackson)

Sorting through some papers this past weekend I came across a slide from sometime in 2020 or ’21, the Covid years. It seemed a good reminder on many levels and across all domains so I placed it where I would likely see it every morning.

This morning I needed it to remind me of how I understand our world, indeed the cosmos, to be. I also needed to remember that even though this is how the universe, our planet, and each of us IS, our awareness of our true nature is not automatic. Practice is required to fully embody the truth of who we are.

 I don’t know about you, but I need lots of practice. Of this I was reminded when Zadie Byrd and I popped outside as the day began to dawn. When she finished her ‘business’ I noticed plants with a thirst needing to be quenched.

Turning my attention to responding to that need and my desire to care for them in gratitude for reaping the beauty they contribute to my life; I discovered a hose had been moved and left disconnected by a wonderful helper who washed windows yesterday. Putting the system back together would require a bit more work than simply connecting the hose. ‘Annoyed’ is the gentlest term available to describe my instant reaction.      

But fairly quickly as I huffed and puffed, I realized that this wasn’t how I wanted to begin my day or experience the quiet, peaceful dawn. I wanted to align myself with the beauty that surrounds me, to remember that I am a part of that, and to be in alignment with Her. My huffy, puffy reaction wasn’t coherent with who I am, what I believe, or what I know to be true about life. I wanted to step into this day with full coherence, present to and grateful for my life, for ALL life.

 I paused, asking my heart to lead and my pulse to align with the pulse of Gaia, of the cosmos. Calmer, I reset the watering system and went inside to reflect. The quote above came to mind. I thought about how everything matters, even (perhaps especially) the so-called ‘little’ things.

 These little things grab our attention and sometimes evoke in us out of proportion reactions. They are potent with opportunities. Opportunities to be grateful. Opportunities to express care and love. Opportunities to make refinements, to learn, to grow. Opportunities to BE who we truly are.

These little things impact us personally, contributing to OR working against our health, our happiness, our overall well-being. Whether they are moments of gratitude and bliss or forays into drama, they impact us individually and collectively. They become part of the collective consciousness that is creating our world and how we experience that world moment to moment, day to day. We are responsible for choosing. And every choice matters.

Our heart knows the Truth that Everything IS a part of Everything else. May we invite her to remind us of that truth and to guide us in our choices whether they seem large or small. May I.

Irony and a Thanksgiving Prayer

The Haudenosaunee Flag (image from Naraya Cultural Preservation Council website)

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people. Now our minds are one. Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address – Greetings to the Natural World

So continues the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. It begins in this way

Words Before All Else: Greetings to the Natural World

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S., it is ironic that for some the way to end Covid and prevent future pandemics is to impose vaccines on everyone yet our ancestors brought disease from Europe to these shores as colonizers centuries ago.

Muse startled me awake with that thought this ‘blog’ morning, one day after I’d both read a news clip about the possibility of renewed interest in mandating Covid vaccines for all, and I’d retrieved the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address – Greetings to the Natural World – with the intention to read it aloud each morning before Thanksgiving and perhaps beyond. If you’ve been with me for a while, you may remember last year’s post about this sacred, indigenous gift (find it here).

There are of course many ironies around this holiday that we Americans have morphed from a time of giving thanks for all that is and for what we have to a time of plugging into the consumer culture of getting more. Muse and I will leave such ironies for another time (or not).

Honoring the awareness that what my attention feeds is what grows, I put aside thoughts about vaccines and events of the past, and focus on the Thanksgiving Address, a beautiful prayer encompassing ALL life, reading each verse aloud.

Tears fell as I recited the prayer, touching that place of knowing that all too often in the ‘doing’ of life, I forget the interconnectedness and interdependence that makes life possible. Tears fell too for the treatment of indigenous peoples from the time our ancestors landed on these shores to today, for the agreements/promises made and to this day not kept. Tears for all who experience injustice in its many forms.

I’m grateful for the awareness Muse’s thought brought me and even for the sadness evoked. I’m grateful for how the ironies seemed to both broaden and deepen in me as I read each verse and opened to that sadness. Sadness for our culture’s lost connection with the Natural World of which we are but a tiny part. Sadness that we continue our colonizing ways, not just of lands and peoples, but of the very gifts of Mother Earth, Gaia herself. Sadness for cultural ways that try to colonize us each day of our lives.

The sadness lifts giving way to wonder as Zadie Byrd and I embark on our ritual morning walk this cold morning. The sky is bright blue, and the air, crisp and still. All is quiet except the occasional squawk of a Clark’s Nutcracker. Zadie picks up a scent of interest and we zigzag across the road and then off road into a grassy meadow.

As I often do, I wonder first how I might deepen my awareness of ‘all my relations’ and honor that in the daily choices I make. And I wonder how might our world be if everyone could connect with the beauty of place in a deeper way?

The Naraya Cultural Preservation Council says of the Thanksgiving Address:

When one recites the Thanksgiving Address the Natural World is thanked, and in thanking each life-sustaining force, one becomes spiritually tied to each of the forces of the Natural and Spiritual World.  The Thanksgiving Address teaches mutual respect, conservation, love, generosity, and the responsibility to understand that what is done to one part of the Web of Life, we do to ourselves.

I intend to recite it as part of my morning practice each day until I feel it more deeply in these bones. I invite you to join me.

Mother Nature (image from Naraya Cultural Preservation Council website)

From Institutions to Inner and Interdependence

Dawning Sangres

This Huston Smith quote (thank you Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service for your Daily Inspirations!) evoked a nod of agreement, a chuckle (as in yep), and a long sighing ugh! Its truth runs deep in me. I could even add to Smith’s list of institutions and systems that serve neither humanity nor the planet. (Were Smith alive today, he likely would as well.)

Decades ago, I withdrew from religion and (after some years of aimless wandering in the territory) I began to forge a spiritual journey that continues with unexpected twists and turns to this day. The journey – heck, I might even accurately call it a quest – has guided me in numerous ways, many of them away from what we call ‘mainstream’ beliefs, culture, institutions, and such.

I tend to see ‘things’ – indeed life – differently than most of what I observe in the mainstream and many with whom I’ve engaged. Years ago, a revered leader in coach training circles dubbed me a ‘contrarian’. I wear the badge proudly.

I’ve long had the ability to see ‘both’/all sides and to accept the paradoxes that result, though I find it harder in today’s polarized culture as the sides dig more deeply into their positions. Institutions, as they are constituted by people, suffer and are failing as a result of this polarization. We’ve lost willingness and capability on all sides to listen, learn, cooperate.

And so, as institutions fail and fail us, I seek to find my own way. Seeking guidance and advice from others whom I trust and with whom I feel an alignment of values, I find myself making decisions from the inside out. I always aim to choose from my heart (and being human, sometimes falling short). I call this way ‘innerdependence’, strength from within to move forward in life; trusting self over institutions; depending on self-knowing, guidance from within. (Dr. Google, Webster, and Word inform me there is no such word. Hmmm…well, there IS now.)

Speaking of now, about now you may be wondering ‘what does this have to do with institutions?’ (I was wondering too as Muse guided the pen across the page!). We’re glad you asked!

As my innerdependence and self-conviction have deepened, I have been nudged (and, sometimes, pushed) to pull away from supporting institutions of all flavors (government, corporate, economic, education, etc.). They are not only failing us – you and me – they are failing, unsustainable, many breathing/gasping for their last breaths. I’m choosing to envision and to discover systems that are sustainable and that recognize in their designs the interrelatedness of all life. Interdependent. Cooperative. Life valuing. Life enhancing. Life generating.

I am clear that the future I want to see emerge is not ‘more of the same with some tweaks that (maybe) make ‘it’ better’. I envision and, by my choices, I call a world that works for all as we each follow the inner knowing of our unique roles, purposes, and gifts. From that individual innerdependence, new systems and structures rise. They recognize and honor our interdependence with one another and with all life as well as the interconnectedness of all life – from the unseen and microscopic to Mother Earth herself and the vast universes beyond.

My dream is not just for some distant, imagined future, this world is emerging NOW, being built NOW in thousands (perhaps tens and hundreds of thousands … maybe millions) of initiatives. As I pull away from mainstream institutions I’m creating and opening doorways to discovering amazing initiatives underway to co-create this future. Local, regenerative food systems and agriculture. New, innovative investment vehicles designed to do good in the world. And much, much more.

As I explore and choose to plug in, I will be sharing these discoveries. Meanwhile, I invite you to reflect on where your time, energy, and money are plugged in? How are they supporting the future YOU want to see in our world? For yourself? For the generations to come? For humanity and for our planet?

Evening Sky

Beauty Abounds

Monsoon Season in the Mountains

Beauty abounds

Beauty surrounds

Wrapping me in a blanket of serenity.

 Since last week’s post I’ve been keenly aware of the abundant beauty in my life in oh so many forms. Shortly after posting I opened mail picked up late the day before to find a gift: John O’Donohue’s Beauty: The Invisible Embrace. The gift alone was beautiful but coming on the heels of posting that investing in beauty is an investment in my soul I knew I’d received an immediate return on my investment in the post. Since then I’ve been present to simply noticing the word ‘beauty’ in various media on a wide range of topics.

For me this time of year is tender with beautiful memories: summer fun at the lake; beloveds who left their bodies in summertime – my mom, my dad, my cousin, and Cool Hand Luke; personal growth that I’ve experienced in summers past. Beauty.

There’s profound beauty in the changes I witness in Zadie Byrd over the past year. Unlike last season’s monsoon thunderstorms when she panted, trembled, paced, and sought shelter in the bathtub, she now takes them in stride – a bit pensive, but easily calmed by a flower remedy or a few drops of CBD. This season I enjoy the sound of rain on the roof, watching rain fall on the earth, and being alert to the possibility of a rainbow. Beauty.

An afternoon thunderstorm followed by showers late into the night adds moisture to these thirsty woods and mountains.

Rain falls

Sun shines

Wrapping me in a blanket of serenity.

Rocks glisten

Ground softens

Wrapping me in a blanket of serenity.

 Muse calls attention to my wandering mind as it wonders ‘is this rain enough to ease the extreme drought?’ or at least move the needle from extreme to severe or even simply ‘drought’? Man measures. Nature simply IS.

Birds sing

Hummers flit and feed

Wrapping me in a blanket of serenity.

 Muse nudges again as mind wanders again to multiple projects that I want to move forward – continuing the landscaping; organizing and releasing books, papers, and other ‘stuff’ that once upon a time I couldn’t live without; completing my will and other legal directives …

Creek roars

Sun rises

Wrapping me in a blanket of serenity.

 It is challenging to see beauty in the ravages of war, during personal hardship, in political upheaval and rights being taken away, in half-truths and outright lies, in hate speech – overt and covert. Yet, while they may be dormant and need tending, I know the seeds of beauty are in the midst of all. How might we tend, nurture these seeds? How might I?

Beauty abounds

Beauty surrounds

Wrapping me in a blanket of serenity.

 I was heartened yesterday to discover that the theme this year’s local July 4th celebration is ‘interdependence’ and features a local food hero who is one of the driving forces in organizing a regional food hub that provides access to locally grown foods around Colorado. The season’s first CSA (community supported agriculture) box arrived last week, chock full of fresh, Colorado grown and produced, food – beets, cherries, salad greens, quinoa, eggs and more. Nutritious, delicious, bountiful beauty.

Perhaps it is time to change the moniker of July 4th from ‘Independence Day’ to ‘Interdependence Day’ for as surely as each cell in the body does not operate with total independence of the others, we do not operate, survive, and thrive without one another in the various communities of which we are a part. Perhaps such reimagining is an evolutionary step forward in caring for Mother Earth, Nature, and one another. How beautiful could that be?

Yesterday’s Rainbows