Today Is My Favorite

Majestic Mountain Morning

Curiosity and gratitude: elixirs for life!

The day dawns, calling forth another beautiful day here in the sacred Sangre de Cristo Mountains of southern Colorado.

Settling in as I do most mornings to write, this day’s attention is to the weekly muse and what wants to be shared, explored. A stream of thoughts and images emerge. Enjoying the early morning light, I think of winter and how I am nourished and restored by her short days and long dark nights. I think of our friends in the southern hemisphere moving toward their winter while we here in Gaia’s northern hemisphere have just passed the midpoint of our journey toward the Summer Solstice (Happy belated Beltane!).

In winter there is a deep quiet in these woods, especially when a blanket of snow cradles the ground and all of nature. I embrace winter and allow her to hug me back. I declare that she is my favorite season, and in her quiet, dark beauty she is.

The earth turns and today I wake to early dawning light in these woods. Sunbeams highlight the 14,000-foot peaks long before the sun crests the mountain range and its rays reach these woods 6,000 feet below. As Zadie Byrd and I cross the threshold of the front door, the fragrance of pine trees after a spring rain greets us. ‘Hearing’ these majestic beings through the sense of smell is a true delight. Hummingbirds buzz about and birds high in the trees chime in to welcome the day. I think ‘this is my favorite time of year’.

With the later sunset of longer days, we cross the threshold again at day’s end. Pines still aromatic. Birds singing. Hummers buzzing. The sun sets over the San Juan Mountains to the west, casting a red glow on the Sangres and ending the day with a glorious show of gold.

As I take in nature’s beauty through all my senses, recognizing today as my favorite, I am reminded how grateful I am for life and for being on the planet at this pivotal time. I feel this despite the chaos and injustice in the world. I sense this time is but a phase, like a baby going through its ‘terrible twos’ while having a potent future ahead. We are in a time where humanity and our planet need our love coupled with the patience of the adults who guide that toddler.

I am also reminded of the questions generated by my curiosity: How will humanity get from ‘here’ to our potent future? How might I contribute? What/who are my best sources of reliable information? How would life be if I adopted a lighter, more playful approach to all that seems so serious? What’s for dinner?

Gratitude and curiosity each fuel my desire and my capacity to see beyond current conditions to a future where justice prevails and in which we embrace the planet as our partner. ‘Today’ is my favorite because it is yet another opportunity to employ both curiosity and gratitude with whatever comes my way. They are elixirs for life, infinite in supply, and available 24/7.

What about you? What are you grateful for? What are you curious about? Where/how will you employ these gifts to make today your favorite?

Golden Sunset

Matriots for Mother Earth

Morning Beauty in the Sangres

Once you acquire planetary loyalty, you are loyal to everybody. You are way out of line if you try being loyal to people before you are totally loyal to the planet.  Gregge Tiffen

It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. Baha’u’llah

As I began writing, I was experiencing one of those blog mornings with many thoughts and several themes seeming to want my attention. The beauty of the mountains captivated me on our walk this crisp morning, hinting that nature and the planet would appreciate attention. I sense these mountains, trees, and the wildlife that abound here want my attention, my care. I sense that their kin right where you live want and need the same.

Perhaps their beauty and the sunshine in these woods was more than a hint. In this week following Earth Day I’ve noticed how easy it is to honor Gaia on the day we’ve proclaimed hers and then, like the day after Christmas, to forget. As I reflected a bit more, I recalled a post I wrote several years ago suggesting that we become ‘matriots for the planet’ [read it here]. I remember thinking that I was cleverly making up a word, then happily discovering that the online Urban Dictionary defined ‘matriot’ this way: A person who loves, supports, and defends the earth and its interests with devotion.  Of country, patriot. Of earth, matriot

Last week as I listened in via Zoom to the Global Freshwaters Summit, I was awed and inspired by the activism – public and private – addressing the wide range of issues in the watersheds of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers here in the U.S. I felt gratitude that the event, originally planned as a conference to be held in St. Louis Missouri, was virtual so that I could easily attend. And, I had a sense that the planet was grateful as well that the 400 people from around the globe who participated were doing so with a minimal carbon footprint.

At the same time, I get that there is another side to this story: revenue, jobs, etc. lost in the travel and hospitality industries; people suffering as a result. We need innovative, integral ideas and creations to bridge such divides. That, for me, is the ‘stuff’ of matriotism. We need to question EVERYthing as well as ourselves.

In the rush to return to our pre-pandemic ‘normal’ will we simply ignore the impact of our ways of life on our planetary home? Or will we take account of how our systems and the choices we make reflect what nature has shown us, particularly over this past year? Author, activist, and friend Rivera Sun shared a documentary that premiered on Earth day – The Year Earth Changed – detailing how nature has responded to our human ‘pause’. Having watched the trailer, (click here to watch) the film is at the top of my ‘must watch’ list. I want to more deeply understand my/our impact on the planetary being upon which my/our life depends. I take a moment to distinguish ‘life’ and ‘lifestyle’, wondering what lifestyle changes I/we can make to demonstrate matriotism: loving, supporting, and defending the earth and its interests with devotion?

Rather than ‘returning to normal’, I wonder how we might pivot to integrate greater consideration for the planet in making decisions?  Perhaps before deciding to engage in business travel for meeting with or speaking to others at a conference, we matriots will ask and evaluate the cost to the planet of a pending decision. Perhaps we’ll learn to better compensate Gaia for her life giving support, offsetting the costs to her well-being of our choices.

I’m not advocating that we stay totally ensconced in our homes and our local communities. Indeed (full disclosure), this week I’m making a day trip to town about 80 miles away to celebrate a friend’s birthday and to pick up some auto parts and supplies that I can’t get locally. I recognize that we need each other. We need play. We need connection. At the same time, we need to recognize and integrate the planetary costs of meeting those needs into our consciousness more consistently and powerfully.

Valley of Contrasts

Pivot to Invest in People and the Planet

Sunset in the Woods Out Back

Your vision will become clear only when you look inside your own heart. … Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. Carl Jung

What is your vision for our world? For humanity? For the planet on whose health we depend? Do you envision a world of peace? Of prosperity? Of social and economic justice? Do you envision, as I do, humanity learning to thrive in cooperation with one another and with Mother Earth? This is the future I want for my grandchildren, indeed for ALL the children around the globe and for future generations.

I found Jung’s familiar quote in a wonderful little book of large ideas and possibilities, Integrating Money and Meaning by Maggie Kulyk, a theologian turned financial advisor (https://chicorywealth.com/). She tells the story of a pivotal question asked by her 11-year-old daughter as she was researching possible stock trades to “make a little extra money”. Maggie recall her daughter wondering “if it bothered me that the way I was making money had no meaningful social purpose”.

The youngster’s awareness and questioning reminded me of a question my young stepson asked me once: “if you’re so interested in being healthy, how come you smoke?”. Wisdom often cuts to the core and James Michael’s question invited me to acknowledge that my choice to smoke was not in alignment with valuing my health. (I quit sometime soon thereafter.)

The wisdom of youth often sees those places where our choices, our words, our actions are not aligned with what we say that we believe and what we want for ourselves and our world. Bless them for their voices. When we are willing to look inside, question ourselves with courage, and listen, we are likely to hear an inner voice that, like the children, points us to opportunities for realignment. May we hear and consider the wisdom of both.

Doing so in the financial arena has been an area of interest for a long while. Over a year ago, I began to ask the question: how can I do greater good with the money in my IRAs while also growing and protecting it for my later years? My small nest egg had been invested in ‘socially responsible’ funds for years, but I was curious: what else is possible?

What about you? Are you willing to ask: What is my money doing in the world? What are my investments contributing to? What are the practices of the companies I invest in? Is my money in alignment with my values? What adjustments am I willing and able to make?

In asking such questions, I’ve discovered a number of resources and possibilities that I want to share this week in celebration of Earth Day:

• Watch the story of Marco Vangelisti’s journey from investment banking to a commitment to “aware and no harm investing” (https://ek4t.com/marco-vangelisti/). If this theme resonates and you want to learn and act on more, I highly recommend Marco’s website resources and his classes.

• Wake yourself up to the cost of investing solely for the sake of wealth accumulation and see how RSF Financial supports community building  (https://moneytransforms.com/).

• What about investing in underserved communities to create an economy that works better for all: (https://www.mycnote.com/). [Small Print/Disclamer:  I’m providing these resources for you to check out and, if interested, do your own due diligence.]

Humanity is at a pivotal point. Examining our money, including why and where we invest, and our values can lead us to make personal pivots that are not only good for us, but also for our communities and the planet.

A Place for Going Within - Labyrinth in the Woods Out Back

The Web and Flow of Life

Good Morning Sun!

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. Chief Seattle

Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force. Lao Tzu

Last night as I was easing into sleep the words ‘web of life’ popped into my awareness, seeming to indicate both the title and focus for this week’s muse.  Having received a generous and unexpected gift earlier in the day, I was filled with gratitude not only for the gift and the givers, but for the web of life that I am a part of. The people. The places. The events. The flow. The mystery. The web that is woven moment by moment, choice by choice, ever evolving, ever changing. Infinite.

This morning as I began my usual morning routines and practices, Zadie Byrd caught my attention, signaling that she needed something different – to be outside and go on our morning walk before my routines. I’m paying close attention to her these days, as she’s showing some new behaviors that may indicate increasing pain. My job is to observe and listen to Zadie’s flow and to mine.

Responding to what I sensed she needed took me out in the early morning light, one of my favorite times of day. As we walked, I thought about the flow of life. How at times I flow easily with what life presents. And, how I sometimes resist. I saw clearly not just what feels better in the moment, but how the energy of flowing with what life offers me weaves a web of ease, of peace, of abundance, of generosity, of acceptance. And, perhaps, even a touch of grace.

Now as I write, the phone rings. Recognizing the number, I answer the call (it’s my neighbor and I want to be sure that she is okay). As we begin to close our quick conversation, she asks the question that seems to be top of mind for many people: ‘did you get a shot?’.  Curiously, I noticed that unlike many others, she didn’t ask if I got ‘my shot’, as if there is one (or two) out there with my name on it.

When I first started being asked the later question, I bristled a bit. My internal reaction (‘it’s none of your business!’) pointed to a deeper sense of the conflict between what the culture says that I ‘should’ do and what my body and my intuition have to say about what is right for me. I hadn’t yet reached a firm commitment to listen to my body which, at least for now, says ‘no’.  

My desire is to weave threads of health and well-being that are more grounded in nature, the planet, and Universal law. I want to flow as the energy of life flows, naturally.  I want to make choices from a better understanding of the reality that we alone are not weaving the web of life.

Just as she is speaking through earthquakes, extreme weather events, and volcanos, Gaia speaks through the virus. What messages might it offer in support of humanity’s evolutionary growth? How might we question and listen from this perspective? How might we pivot toward greater consideration of our planetary home?

May we listen anew to the web and flow with life rather than endlessly trying to avoid some of its greatest gifts. May I.

A Bit of Fresh Spring Snow on the Mountains

The Continuum That Is Life

Heart in the flow of life - Cottonwood Creek 4-2-2021

Life everlasting … . … World without end. Amen

These two phrases from my youth when I was engaged in the Methodist Church came front and center in my awareness this morning as I was journaling, curious to discover what message wanted to form for today’s post.

The phrases startled me a bit until I realized that they had emerged in a stream of consciousness about life as a continuum of events, each of which is a gift: an opportunity to learn, to grow, to add to our base of knowledge and wisdom. This morning I felt their truth.

In that stream, I recognized how frequently I devalue and rush through an event, a task, etc. so that I can get to ‘what’s important’. Or I begrudge something that I need to do. I fail to recognize that whatever is in front of me at that moment is important. Whatever it is, in that moment IT is the gift.

These life experiences, events in our lives, choices we make, are the ground from which our knowledge, our understanding, our wisdom grow. Not just in this life, but in our continuum of lifetimes. This truth I have learned in my many years of exploring metaphysics. We have access to all the learning that we have garnered over many lifetimes. While we may not have awareness of this knowledge, it is in us, in our cells. Indeed, it IS us.

As I sat with this stream, I felt deep gratitude for being reminded that I grow with and through every experience in my life. I felt a wholeness of me with life that I have not experienced in this way before.

I recognized how that oneness or wholeness deeply supports me in ‘getting things done’ from the ‘no rush/no push’ approach that I adopted last summer. I have no need to ‘get this done’ so I can ‘move on to something important’. If it is in front of me to do, it is important to my learning and growth.

I sense that this is self-motivation at its core, its essence. And I know that I have all the time I need in this continuum of lifetimes. So Be It. And So It Is!

Water, Roots, Rocks - Cottonwood Creel

Practicing The Way of Love

Champions for Love (PHOTO CREDIT: Bob Fitch Photography Archive, Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries)

Nonviolence is based on the assumption that human nature … unfailingly responds to the advances of love. … An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.  Mohandas Gandhi

Nonviolence is an absolute commitment to the way of love. Martin Luther King Jr.

Many threads and thought bubbles dangle in my awareness this morning as I sit with the muse: endings and beginnings when, in the reality of Universal law, all life is a continuum; how the planet is responding to our oh so human choices; my own oh so human choices; grieving destruction in the woods nearby; the power of language; transforming self and beyond with the practice of love.

Of all these, the transformative power of love and making love a sacred practice in life are the threads I want to weave this day as the 23rd Gandhi King Season for Nonviolence nears completion.

My heart is filled with gratitude for having discovered this annual ‘season’ beginning on January 30th (the anniversary of Gandhi’s death) and ending 64 days later, April 4 (this year, the 53rd anniversary of Dr. King’s death).  Sixty-four days each with a theme to consider and incorporate into creating a culture of peace, of love, of nonviolence.

Seven weeks ago at the outset of the ‘season’ I suggested making life a sacred journey of nonviolence. Today I invite us to make life a sacred journey of love, of peace, of truly transforming ourselves and our culture with the power of love.

Each of the 54 themes bringing us to the final 10 days offers a clue, a path, an idea to weave into daily life. The final 10 themes do the same: responsibility, self-sufficiency, service, citizenship, intervention, witnessing, release, peace, commitment, celebration.  

Of all the daily themes, love and peace are two that come forth as overarching elements. Without love, responsibility can become blame (others) or burden (self). Without love, service, intervention, witnessing can be acts of butting in.  Without love, citizenship can become battle for who is right; release, an act of insincerity; and self-sufficiency, a path to greed and fear of not having enough. Without love, peace is ever elusive.

Love is the power, the transformative energy that both Gandhi and King called forth in their words and their actions. While the idea is simple, using love’s transformative power is not always the easy choice.

As I was reminded while listening to Josh Reeves, Lead Minister at Mile Hi Church in Lakewood, Colorado, in a beautiful talk this weekend: love is a practice that requires practice.

In his talk, Love Like That: Love That Reveals, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5sl5HeeSg0&t=70s] Reeves shares his personal mantra for practicing love to transform what life brings your way: 

I experience fear, but I practice love.

I experience anger, but I practice love.

I experience hurt, but I practice love.

Life offers events and experiences that give us opportunities to pivot, to choose differently. As I reflected on experiences that can bring me to thoughts, words, even actions I’d prefer to shift, I added some pivot points of my own:

I experience irritation, but I practice love.

I experience those whose views I loathe, but I practice love.

As I look beyond this Season for Nonviolence, I celebrate these seven weeks and 64 themes of reflection and focus toward creating a world where love is understood and practiced in its purest form. I make a commitment to myself to deepen my understanding and to add new pivot points to peace into my practice.

Mother Earth Speaks. Are We Listening?

Taming the Beast

Spring Snow Cuddles the Grasses

The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny – it is the light that guides your way. Heraclitus

That war is an essential part of life is a point of divergence between my views and those of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. His quote however aligns with my belief that we become what we think. We experience where we focus our attention. If we hold the belief that war and violence are necessary in life, our thinking will follow that belief. Then as our actions follow our thoughts, war and violence are the reality we create. The key is that we are at choice as to whether our ‘soul is dyed’ the dark colors of violence or the brightness and light of nonviolence.

Choice was one of the themes this week as I continued to follow the Gandhi King Season for Nonviolence and to reflect each day’s theme in terms of my own life and life experience. Each week has deepened my understanding of, appreciation for, and commitment to contributing to the seismic shift that seems needed to have nonviolence be humanity’s default operating system. Remembering that I am always at choice in what I think and how I be is key. I’ve needed to bring that understanding to the fore often this week as I experienced feeling unsettled and even agitated, as if picking up the disruptions of both humanity and the planet.

In the wake of two mass shootings in a short six-day period along with significant earthquake and volcanic activity, I’m grateful to engaged in the Season for Nonviolence during this time when it both Gaia and humankind are erupting. I feel a personal connection to both mass shootings. My daughter-in-love is from the Philippines and my grandchildren carry that lineage. While all violent targeting of others lands heavy in my heart, the events in Atlanta brought them closer to home. The shooting in Boulder, the community where I lived and worked when I first moved to Colorado, likewise felt personal as I sometimes dined in the shopping area where it occurred.

On some level, the simple themes for each day seem inadequate to support a collective shift to nonviolence. Yet no brick is insignificant in building a home and no act of caring is too small to matter. As I’ve so often written, EVERY thing matters. Every thought. Every word. Every deed. EVERY one!

Like choice, each day’s theme in its own way is an important thread (yes, I’m mixing metaphors!) in the fabric of nonviolence: giving, action, equality/equity, advocacy, honor, and ecology. Strengthening one builds others. Giving, whether ‘things’ or oneself in service puts attention on our interrelatedness each as one of the One. Taking heart-centered action no matter how small it may seem ripples far beyond where your eye can see and lives forever in the Universe.

I don’t know about you, but I’m challenged to see and hold some of those with whom I strongly disagree as equal. While my heart desires to cross the vastness that divides us, I hold back unless I know that I have an adversary whose heart is likewise open. How and where might I open more dialog with those whose life experiences and views are so different from my own? How can we advocate nonviolence in the face of those whose ways are violent, honoring the words of Thich Nhat Hanh: When someone stands up to violence a force for change is released. Every action for peace requires someone to exhibit the courage to challenge violence and inspire love.

In his words I notice themes for earlier days in the Season: courage, inspire. A reminder that no thread stands alone in weaving nonviolence into the ecology of our culture and of the planet. Every choice we make creates the environment in which we live. Our daily habits determine much more than we dare imagine. How willing am I to look ever more deeply at my choices?

The beasts we meet are many on the path of nonviolence. May we meet each one with the loving desire to tame whatever deters us from being the nonviolence we wish to see in the world.

Fuzzy Buck Agrees! Nonviolence Please!

Honoring World Water Day 2021

The Water of Cottonwood Creek Trickling Through the Snow

Water IS Life!

Honor the water today (and everyday!). The theme for World Water Day 2021 is ‘Valuing Water’. Each time you pour a glass from the pitcher, make a cup of tea, boil and egg, turn on the tap, flush your toilet, take a moment to value the water.

This morning as I mixed my ‘tea’ of Chinese wellness herbs with warm water, I thanked not only the water in my mug, but the water that sustained the plants as they grew and the ocean waters across which they travelled. I thanked the water in which I cooked my oatmeal and the water the helped grow those grains. As I write, I’m aware that I missed thanking the water that was required to make the dishes from which I eat. Look around you and consider for a moment the role of water in everything. Water is indeed life!

Gaia’s waters are connected. Streams to rivers. Rivers to lakes and oceans. Oceans to one another. The water that flows through each of us, connects us to Mother Earth and to one another. Water IS indeed life!

Last week, I sat with the waters of Cottonwood Creek near my home. In preparation for joining others to celebrate and honor water, I asked the waters ‘what shall I say?’ about you, my favorite body of water. Water’s response came in the form of the poem below. Flow with her wisdom!

I FLOW WITH THE SEASONS

No matter where you are,

Without regard to what you do,

Or even how you be,

I am the water of a nearby mountain stream.

I flow with the seasons.

As the last aspen and cottonwood leaves fall along my banks

in the crisp autumn breezes,

I flow gently along

Knowing that even with the coming freeze

I will flow beneath the ice and snow that covers me.

I am the water of Cottonwood Creek.

I flow with the seasons.

Gentle and restful

Beneath the frigid surface

I silently – to your ears – honor the darkness

And winter’s oft unrecognized beauty.

I am the water of a stream in the woods.

I flow with the seasons.

As winter breaks her icy grasp, I surface from time to time

Preparing for the spring melt, my offering of greater flow.

Yet preparation is not required

For as the trees begin to bud new leaves

I am here, ever in tune with these changes in the ecosystem of life.

I am the water of Cottonwood Creek.

I flow with the seasons.

As my frozen waters melt I flow,

Extending beyond my banks, claiming whatever space I need

For the water that flows beyond my usual bounds.

This is when I speak my fullest voice.

I do so with joy for the verdant flora that thrives in my wake.

Leaves of the trees shadow me and the creatures that come to drink:

Families of deer, a bear, lynx, mountain lion,

An American piper bobbing at water’s edge.

Even your pup who comes to take a drink of my cool water

 as you, Dear Human, drink in my beauty through your ears and eyes.

Can you taste me?

I am water in the constant, yet ever changing, mountain stream.

I flow with the seasons.

Even as I flow I notice your presence, your reverence,

Your recognition for water’s music in the symphony of life.

I am the water of Cottonwood Creek.

I flow with the seasons.

Allow awareness of my rhythm to permeate your being.

Feel me in your bones and the flow of the veins in your body,  

Breaking through the oh so human impulse to deny

These cycles of life.

I am water, moving from peak to valley to clouds and back.

I flow with the seasons.

Will you?

Water, like all of nature, the seen and unseen life, the flora, the fauna, deserve to not only experience our expressions of gratitude for the life they sustain, they each and all deserve a voice and to be heard as we go about making decisions in daily life. May we listen! May we hear! May it be so. And, So It Is.

The Water of Cottonwood Creek Flowing Free in the Morning Light

Mastery on the Path of Nonviolence

Snow Bird

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. Leonardo da Vinci

Mastering nonviolence is not a destination. Rather it is a journey of commitment to practicing the diverse qualities that counter the learned violence in so much of our culture. I’m discovering that one may never truly master nonviolence; rather, you commit to it as a way of life.

I was reminded this week that nonviolence is not separate from life’s events nor is it a task to be completed and forgotten. Nonviolence is a way of being in oneself and in the world. My canine companion, Zadie Byrd, was puny and caring for (and about) her distracted me from attention to the Gandhi King Season for Nonviolence theme for several days. I noticed however that her condition didn’t deter me from awareness of old patterns of unkind, violent thinking as they attempted to creep in. That awareness felt like progress on the path.

When I finally turned my attention to the themes, mastery was the first to catch my attention. Mastering nonviolence, like mastery of anything, is a commitment to its ways.  Practice. Experiment. Learn. And, as you honor that commitment you begin to master some of those ways, laying to rest the learned violence of your past.

Begin to live fully into any one of this week’s other themes: compassion, cooperation, accountability, uniqueness, openness, or disarmament, and you will travel far on the road of nonviolence. It is that simple, and, as the saying goes, not necessarily easy.

In choosing nonviolence as a way of being in life and putting attention on the daily themes during this year’s Season for Nonviolence, the interrelatedness and connection of nonviolent qualities becomes clear. Each is an element of the whole, the way of nonviolence. Evoking and practicing just one strengthens all others and builds nonviolence from the inside out.

While I may not be able to disarm the world of its weaponry, I can envision a weapon-free world. I can choose guitars over guns and to disarm myself of words used as weapons of attack against another. I can withhold support for companies and organizations that benefit from violence and war.

While I may not be out on the street demonstrating compassion for those in need, I can recognize the pain of the world that we all carry and greet everyone whose path I cross with a caring smile. I can gently touch my hand to my heart and radiate compassion in all that I do.

Though my expressions of who I am may not rank as best sellers or front page news, I can honor my uniqueness as an instrument playing the grand symphony of life, where expression of our individual YOUniqueness is all that the Universe asks of us.

With spring on the horizon, I feel myself emerging from winter’s inward focus, desiring to connect with others, and looking forward to opportunities for cooperation in strengthening community.

For these and for all my choices, I can be accountable to how my thoughts, my words, and my deeds reflect the nonviolence that I wish to see and to be in the world.

Trickling Beneath the Snow - Spring is on the way!

Graciousness in the Face of MIMEO

Woke to a Surprise Snow This Morning …

There is hardly a more generous gift we can offer someone than to accept them fully… Elizabeth Gilbert

To which I would add: that includes fully accepting YOU for who you are. But I digress from the exploration of graciousness that I experienced and the insights of this sixth week in the Gandhi King Season for Nonviolence.

The theme of graciousness moved me most deeply this week among the many beautiful threads being woven into the fabric of nonviolence during this 64-day period marking the dates between when Gandhi and King were each assassinated.

‘Am I willing to make gracious concessions on things that do not matter while I also stand firm in my convictions about those things which do?’ was the essence of the question posed on day 37, graciousness the theme.  Doing so invites (indeed requires) me to detach from my opinions. Say what!?? ‘But my opinions are my armor, my protection …’ I reacted. Then, taking in a breath I realized ‘… and my opinions maintain the illusion that I am separate from, maybe sometimes even better than, another.’

For me that can take the form of stewing in unspoken words of criticism or popping off a snarky comment for what I perceive is someone else’s mistake, a MIMEO: Mistake In My Eyes Only. And, although whatever I observed may indeed be in error, it is unimportant in the grander landscape of life. When I detach from my opinion, letting go of my need to be right, I open the door to allow graciousness to enter. I embrace that grander reality that we are not separate and, although we are each unique, we are all the same.

This is not in any way to suggest that we look the other way and maintain silence in the face of those values and convictions that we hold dear. Graciousness is not about sweeping under the rug or ignoring injustice, inequality, racism, poverty, dishonestly, etc. It is about speaking to those very things from a grounded, clear place with care.

To me, Meghan and Harry demonstrated graciousness in their interview this week with Oprah – speaking their truth, sharing their experience, and revealing aspects of the Royal Family and the British Monarchy that are generally hidden from view. Such revelations about influencers and institutions are likely to continue and to point us to changes needed to sustain human life on the planet. May we reveal with grace.

A commitment to graciousness invites us to speak and act on what we wish to change in the world from a place of love not fear; dialogue with rather than spewing our views at another; choosing mindful kindness over unconsciousness animosity; and seeking understanding instead of our own sense of righteousness.

This week’s themes or threads – love, kindness, mindfulness, dialogue, understanding and graciousness – add to the strong and beautiful fabric of nonviolence. Each are concepts and ways of being that model how I want to participate in life and how I dream life can be on the planet and we move step by step toward creating a world that works for all. And they point us to the theme for today: unity.

And Had a Beautiful Warm Fire to Break the Chill - Grateful!