Pivot for the Planet: From Boundaries to Horizons

Horizons (photo from Emergence Magazine)

If you stay in this place out of fear you will not find the landscape that your imagination is yearning for. The effort of the imagination is to turn the boundary into an horizon because there’s no end point for you. The boundary says, ‘here and no further’. The horizon says, ‘welcome’. Barry Lopez

As the 52nd Earth Day approaches, I wonder what it will take for us to understand that we’re all in this together. That all 7.87 billion of us share this beloved planet, Mother Earth, Gaia, our home.

I’m deeply immersed in reading Anne Baring’s Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul. I find it a challenging read that is providing me with a better understanding of the long and deep influences that have separated us from revering Nature and one another. A deep and massive shift in our consciousness – individually and collectively - is necessary to move beyond the boundaries and barriers and conflicts that our cultural stories of separation have created and, indeed, continue to create.

As I pause, feeling the enormity of the shift toward recognizing our interconnectedness and interdependence and wondering how this shift can occur, Muse reminds me that the shift is simply from fear to love. That feeding the path of love and starving the path of fear is the way. Simple yes. And, not so easy in a world where fear is deftly used to manipulate, control, and dare I mention, profit. And, yet the shift IS happening!

More and more of us are following the advice of the indigenous grandfather who, when asked by his grandson which wolf would win the war between a good wolf and an evil one that was going on inside him, replied, “the wolf you feed.” While the story itself is one of separation and conflict, it offers a reminder that every choice we make is a vote for how life will unfold. Are we ‘voting’ consistent with the life and the planet that we desire? Am I?

Are we feeding our bodies the foods to create and maintain optimum health? Or are we voting for junk food? Are we feeding our minds information and ideas to create and maintain new horizons for the health of our planet, our society, our communities, ourselves? Or are we voting for defending boundaries and what the mainstream still considers ‘news’? Are we feeding our soul stories, imagined and real, of inspiration, compassion, and love? Or are we following the dictates of religion? Are we voting for fear or for love?

More and more, I’m turning away from the old, the tired, the stories and ways that no longer work. I don’t wish to feed these ‘wolves’ and look for ways to disconnect from them without disengaging myself. I want to nourish and nurture new ways of living and BEing here on Gaia, and this week, I’ve found some beautiful films to celebrate Mother Earth that offer both nourishment and inspiration to do just that.

Watching Earthrise, a short film about NASA’s Apollo 8 mission around the moon, I was reminded of those first profound photos of our home from space and that man’s artificial boundaries for nations are non-existent when Earth is viewed from space. You can watch it here. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to wonder ‘what if we saw our home this way?’. 

Barry Lopez quote above stopped me for several moments as I began watching the serendipitously discovered film Horizons (watch it here) on Emergence Magazine’s website. Soul food indeed!

 I’m ‘voting’ for films like these and others from both Emergence Magazine, Films for the Planet to nourish, inspire, support me in making and sustaining the seismic shifts that both planet and people need to survive and to thrive. Let’s make some noise for remaking what is ‘news’! Let’s create horizons of welcome in our hearts, our minds, and our imaginations! Let’s be Matriots for the Planet and Humanity!

Earthrise (from Emergence Magazine)

From the Center of Self

Words of wisdom from a favorite author!

When we start at the center of ourselves, we discover something worthwhile extending toward the periphery of the circle. We find again some of the joy in the now, some of the peace in the here, some of the love in me and thee which go to make up the kingdom of heaven on earth. Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift From the Sea)

The Earth thinks in circles. She dreams in spirals and nautilus shell revolutions. She tells her stories across eons. Her epics are epochs. Rivera Sun (Winds of Change – book 3 in the Dandelion trilogy – www.riverasun.com).

Circling and spiraling amidst a number of atypical (for blog day) activities I’m finally settling in with Muse to discover what wants to emerge in this week’s Pivot.

As winds of change blow seemingly around the globe, here in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of southern Colorado, strong winds are blowing bringing dust, red flag/fire weather watch warnings, and wintry temperatures. Zadie Byrd and I are challenged to get out for our walks and keep them short, focused on her ‘business’ and our safety.

It’s the kind of intense wind that rips shingles from roofs, breaks tree limbs and trunks, and picks up all manner of unanchored debris. Having once been grazed by the outer branches of a falling tree that snapped as a sudden wind came up in the woods, I’m mindful and cautious. I sense something is being cleared. Blown away to make way for the new within me and in the world. That’s what winds of change do.

The change I sense within runs deep. A deepening of care – for self, for my canine companion, for friends, and for this community that is my home. The deepening care seems to call forth new strength, resilience, and trust. A felt sense that life is unfolding as it must for the evolution of consciousness, mine individually and ours collectively as a human family that is part of the family of all Beings on the planetary Being herself: Gaia, Great Mother Earth.

In conversation with a friend and spiritual mentor a few days back, I was sharing this deepened sense of trust and greater discernment. “With trust comes greater capacity to love and less tendency/need to judge,” she mused. As I allow that to settle in deep, I feel I’ve made a leap in my being.

In some way I sense that the dog attack has guided me to the center of myself that Lindbergh speaks of. I wonder whether I needed such a dramatic call and quickly set that query aside, grateful that for the support and the rapid rate of our healing and recovery. I find joy in caring for Zadie Byrd and for me as well as in finding ways to thank the small army of friends who blessed us with an abundance of love and care. I find peace as I come to terms with the event and discover that I harbor no anger. Rather I feel compassion for the canine that attacked and for its human. I feel love for those who supported me, creating community, our own version of heaven on earth.

Although I don’t have a nautilus shell to put to my ear to hear the earth, I listen to the wind, to the birds, to the trees. I converse with Zadie Byrd, knowing all of nature has stories to tell and wisdom to share as we navigate the winds of change. May I listen well from the center of my Being to the center of the Being that is Mother Earth.

Mother Earth callling … Am I listening?

Pivot to Allowing Healing

Sleeping Dogs Allow Healing …

… Real healing is, however, another matter. As with all great arrivals in the soul, it comes from a direction that we often could neither predict nor anticipate.  John O’Donohue

I settled in to write early this chilly morning. Body warmed by a fire in the stove. Heart warmed by Zadie Byrd sleeping nearby. Happy to be easing back into my patterns 12 days into healing from the wounds received when Zadie was attacked, I listened and picked up my pen as Muse welcomed me back with a curious flow.

We treat life as something that begins and ends, yet life is a continuum from one vehicle to the next – formless coming to form then morphing again like the butterfly cycling from caterpillar inching its way on the ground, in a bush, to a twig before BEcoming a winged one flying above it all, across continents.

Can the caterpillar imagine the wonder as it participates in this blessed process of deeply living, fulfilling its purpose from the seed planted within?

What if we too would live more simply into our human purpose aligned with The Mother who birthed us, beloved Gaia? What if we stopped trying so hard to dominate and allowed the care of dominion to guide our choices? What if we truly listened to our hearts in the quiet harmony of nature removed from the cacophony of noise generated by our self-proclaimed ‘progress’ and ‘civil’ society?

We have lost so much in our human quest to conquer and colonize. Squeezing sacred tradition grounded through the ages in Universal truth and deep connection to Gaia and the stars from those whose ways were different in their deep connection to and understanding of the web of wholeness that is life, the Cosmos.

As I write, Zadie Byrd continues her peaceful sleep nearby. She knows how to allow healing, inside and out. During these days her deep rest has reminded me that my healing needs the same. Some days I listen to her silent voice and follow her lead. Others my human habit of ‘doing’ pulls me from the task at hand: allowing body and spirit to heal.

What’s needed in this allowing seems to come so easily to my canine companion. I’m learning what ‘doing’ is necessary for our health, well-being, and comfort. And I’m learning what tasks can be set aside.

I’m present to how very much our animal companions give us, especially their gracious willingness to receive our love and care. They allow us to show our love, and they receive it with a groundedness that reflects how life could be on our planet.

Observing Zadie Byrd’s grace and clarity about what she’s needed (AND what she didn’t need!) to support her healing opened me to receive support in ways I haven’t opened to before, allowing healing to accelerate and, I believe, deepen.

I pause, thinking/asking Muse ‘So?’ ‘So what?’ comes the quick reply. ‘Do you really need more to wrap this in some profound, clever way? Or, can you allow it to dangle – complete for now, but knowing that, as in life, more will follow?’

I smile, realizing that today’s beginning is yesterday’s end. Grateful for the reminder that real healing is much like life: a process of discovery with no beginning, no end simply going with its flow.

Blessings in Disguise

A Wintery Spring Day in the Woods Out Back

Out of the winter ground a new springtime of fresh possibility slowly arises. In its real presence suffering transfigures and enlarges human beings. John O’Donohue (Out of the Winter a New Spring – essay in Eternal Echoes)

It’s only in the last couple years that I’ve been introduced to the deep, thoughtful work of O’Donohue. A visiting friend recently gifted me with his book of essays and poems, Eternal Echoes. For several days I didn’t go beyond the last verse of the opening poem:

May I live this day

 Compassionate of heart,

Gentle in word,

Gracious in awareness,

Courageous in thought,

Generous in love

The verse landed deep, a longing for how to be in this world moment to moment.

A few days later I opened the book to a random page and was greeted with this:

Your true longing is to belong to the eternal that echoes continually in everything that happens to you.

O’Donohue continues:

Real power has nothing to do with force, control, status or money. Real power is the persistent courage to be at ease with the unsolved and the unfinished. To be able to recognize, in the scattered graffiti of your desires, the signature of the eternal. True prayer … keeps the graciousness and splendor of that vulnerability open.

A few days later, another random opening revealed the opening quote above, especially apropos on this wintry spring day a short five days after Zadie Byrd and I experienced an event that I know we have both feared. She was attacked by a large dog and we both sustained injuries in the process of breaking free. We are on the mend. Resting, healing, receiving love and support, and following ‘doctor’s orders’ as best we can.

My gratitude runs deep as do the reflections that have surfaced so far and are certain to continue. As with all life events, there are gemstones to mined. Or, as the old story of the young optimist cleaning out the barn goes ‘with all this sh_t, surely there must be a pony in here somewhere’. Muse says, ‘yes, there is more to come, much more.’

I know with all my Being that that there are blessings beyond measure in our experience for both Zadie Byrd and me. As are Zadie and me, the spring ground, blessed by snow this day, is fecund with new possibility. Life’s blessings are often disguised.

I leave you with these final words from the page I ‘randomly’ opened to this day:

… Real healing is, however, another matter. As with all great arrivals in the soul, it comes from a direction that we often could neither predict nor anticipate.

… And so it is!

Presence - Up and Over the Divides

Quick Pic of the Divide on a Cold, Blustery Day

The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. Thich Nhat Hanh

Zadie Byrd and I were up and, on the road, early this morning, traversing the Continental Divide at North Cochetopa Pass (10,135 feet), occupied land of the Utes, Cochetopa being the Ute word for ‘pass of the buffalo’. The two-lane road of our route winds through short canyons on either side of the pass, each with distinct characteristics, both beautiful in their distinctness.

As mind wandered in many directions, Muse called me to the present moment, to attending to the drive and to keen awareness of the sense of home I feel in canyon country. Wondering about that, I asked ‘what is it about canyons that is so comforting?’. Immediately I felt the presence of ancestors, life in these mountains across the ages, human life, animal life – I could almost see the buffalo roaming, abundant life with no fences, utility poles, pavement or other modern accoutrements. I sense that I lived in that time and eons before. I felt the infinite nature of life and the reality that everywhere is home.

The felt sense was a gift of the present moment. One only accessible when wandering mind was invited to rest and gems of the moment allowed to rise. The rubble of worry about past and future is just that: rubble. Gemstones are in the awareness of this present moment. So too is attention to the matters of the road, sensing the need to slow down then discovering deer crossing the road around a curve ahead.

The purpose of our trip over and back was for a new veterinarian to examine Zadie’s eye, which has continued to be inflamed. The level of attention and care we received was extraordinary (in contrast to the recent surgery and follow-up), and we returned home back over the divide weary, but pleased and confident that the new approach and protocol has Zadie Byrd on the road to being her bright-eyed self in both eyes once again.

As I settled in with Muse to reflect and write, I’m present to Zadie’s irritation in the left eye, the ‘input’ side of the body. I’ve thought about this throughout this experience, wondering what irritations in me she may be reflecting. What do I need to clean up to support her healing (and my own)? Am I exercising dominion that serves me when I react to the absurdities of elected officials in ways that are perhaps equally absurd? What about when I feel and express annoyance toward another? What am I present to in those moments?

Mind says, ‘surely there is more to say this week …’. Muse says, ‘enough – presence in the moment requires few words or deeds, simply awareness; just BE that’. And so, for now, I BE. Clearer dominion and choices to follow!

Winding Our Way Through Gunnison Canyon

Peace, Art, and Sunflowers

Symphony of Loves by Alireza Karimi Moghaddam

Sunflowers are a simple miracle. They grow from a seed. They rise from the earth. They are natural. They are bright and beautiful. They bring a smile to one’s face. They produce seeds that are nutritious, and from these seeds oil is produced. … Sunflowers were even used near Chernobyl to extract radionuclides cesium 137 and strontium 90 from contaminated ponds following the catastrophic nuclear reactor accident there.

Now sunflowers carry new meaning. They have become the symbol of a world free of nuclear weapons. This came about after an extraordinary celebration of Ukraine achieving the status of a nuclear free state. On June 1, 1996, Ukraine transferred to Russia for dismantlement the last of the 1,900 nuclear warheads it had inherited from the former Soviet Union... David Krieger (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – from an essay originally written in 1998 and revised in August, 2015)

That meaning and understanding is deepened and deepening today. As the art I shared last week suggests, even amid war, we choose what we see. We choose how to be. A friend recently shared that her Ukrainian and Russian friends “see a future beyond the conflict that is liberating in ways unimaginable.”  Muse reminds ‘that is one of your roles now: seeing beyond what is and living into a brighter future’.

 Looking beyond the immediate danger when you are in it is challenging, perhaps one of life’s greatest challenges. I think of pictures of the Dalai Lama as he was escaping his homeland and see the image of calm, faithful groundedness. Stability from the inside out.

 All of nature reminds me of that. Trees, grasses, winged creatures, furry fauna, and, yes, sunflowers. Now more than ever. Sunflowers that pop up along the roadside with the resilience of dandelions. What in these floras lives too in us that rises to greet the spring?

 Indeed, it is challenging to imagine a world at peace. Yet surely that is the deep longing of us all. So, imagine we must, as it is our thoughts, our imaginings, our dreams that rise as tomorrow’s reality. Sunflowers and art, beauty and nature are salve for the soul, stirring and guiding our deep longings and imaginings.

 Sunflowers remind me of color, resilience, and of nourishment intertwined as food for the body and the soul. Art reminds me of beauty, creativity, and of depth. That and being a long-time fan of Vincent van Gogh’s work is perhaps why I was drawn to the image posted last week and shared again below with words from the artist.

 I was hesitant to share the image last week as I didn’t know the source. My heart (in apparent consultation with Muse) though, said ‘yes’. What opened from that choice was a discovery of the work of the Persian artist, Alireza Karimi Moghaddam, whose fascination and love for van Gogh comes through powerfully and appreciatively in his art.

 When I learned who the artist was (thank YOU dear Pivot Reader!), I found a recent post with the image (Colors vs. War) and the artist’s words in apparent response to the invasion of Ukraine:

 When politicians are busy making a mess creating endless ugly taint,

When the jungle's rules are coming back with all the quaint

We can not turn our backs, just talking and making a complaint

Our bullets are colors and flowers, and more than ever, restraint

So that future generations will know among all the constraint

We tried to sow the seeds of hope with eyes full of the plaint

The ruins will be rebuilt as what the dreams willing to paint

And values would be back, and history will force us to reacquaint

‎

Discovering Moghaddam’s work and background opened me to an old memory of judgement about the Iranian people, based on an experience I had decades ago teaching a class with many Iranian students. Although I felt I no longer held the judgement, I looked in the dark corners to be certain, to clear any remaining judgements, and to forgive. The work of imaging a different world requires us to shine light in our dark corners and to do the work of releasing attachment to old ‘stuff’ lurking in the darkness. Like the miracle that is a sunflower, shining light in dark corners is the prelude to the miracle of imagining a different future.

 This week let’s plant sunflower seeds in the ground, in each of our hearts and in hearts around the world, especially those who experience the darkness that leads to violent choices. Let’s imagine a ‘symphony of love’ being heard around the globe to move us moment by moment, step by step, thought by thought, image by image to a peace-filled future.

 You can see more of Alireza Karimi Moghaddam’s work here:

 https://mymodernmet.com/van-gogh-illustrations-alireza-karimi-moghaddam/\

 and here - https://www.fancyvangogh.com/ (his store!)

and here - https://www.boredpanda.com/illustrations-vincent-van-gogh-alireza-karimi-moghaddam/

Colors vs War by Alireza Karimi Moghaddam

Pivot to Inspirations and Provocations

I call this ‘Painting What You See’ (found image, unknown source)

In the greatest cultures of the ancient world there was a stairway between the human and the divine. The Earth and the cosmos were addressed as "thou," not "it". People felt they participated in a great cosmic mystery of which they were a part. People experienced the divine as imminent in the material world. Nature and the cosmos were ensouled with divine presence. Ceremonies like those performed at Stonehenge ... connected Earth with heaven and strengthened the sense of participation in a divine reality.  Anne Baring

What if I really believed everything is in divine order? Quanita Roberson

Over the past week or so I’ve intentionally put my attention on that which informs, inspires, and provokes me to reflect. I’m not ignoring the multiplicity of crises that we are each a part of. And I’m doing my best not to feed the fear and separation from which our crises arise. Not looking to be distracted or entertained, but rather to be informed and guided more deeply to understand and act in ways that honor Nature, humanity, and the divine.

I wonder how I can live more fully into my instinctive knowing that Nature, humanity, and the divine are not separate. Isn’t that what maturity is? How can I grow up?

The exploration has taken me on several tracks, discovering new (to me) voices profound in their wisdom, reminding me that way back in college days (decades ago!) I wondered what it would be like to become a philosopher. Perhaps that’s a seed now breaking through the soil of my life.

Early this morning as I wandered over the week’s landscape and began to wonder (in truth, I felt quite unclear and a bit worried) where Muse and I would go with today’s post, Muse directed, “just sit down and WRITE!”. Ah, yes, pick up the pen and allow the words to come. To flow. Allow the joy of discovery that rises when I step into the unknown.

For surely, we are in a time when we are called to make peace with the unknown. Befriend her. Perhaps even embrace her with our hint of ‘knowing’ that we are co-creating the story, not observers or victims on the journey. How am I participating in this co-creation?

How will the disparate thought threads from my exploration weave together? Heck, will they?

Something has shifted in my awareness about our language: that so much of it is formed around the masculine. The scales of language today are weighted with the yang energy favored in our culture. Is it any wonder that conflict and war continue to prevail? How can we balance the scales, perhaps even tip them toward yin energy? The feminine? The caring of the Great Mother?

This awareness has me want to be care-filled rather than habitual in choosing the words I write and speak for surely my habits of language were all too often curated by the prevailing energy.

That means slowing down. Discerning what is mine to do, to say. Letting go of all that is not. Perhaps some of the disparate threads don’t belong in this weave. Perhaps they are not mine to weave. Release and trust the wind to carry them where they need to be. They will return if meant to be.

It means that my habits need new curators, mid-wives for birthing new words, new ways, new habits, new stories that we so long for. Perhaps my explorations are indeed a search for impassioned, caring voices of The New to inspire, provoke, and to share when Muse and I settle in to write. Muse nods in agreement, reminding me that the above quotes are from new (to me) sage women each with deep connection to the divine and each taking care in the words they speak. I discovered them listening in to an amazing Humanity Rising panel discussion on feminism and democracy (click here to listen). I’m adding both of them to my curator team.

Likewise it means observing and listening to Zadie Byrd with expanded senses. She seems aligned with this direction, as she indicated to our animal communicator in a session this morning, sharing that she doesn’t care for the energy of the traditional veterinarian who did her eyelid surgery and has been doing the follow-up to clear her eye of what seems to be some sort of infection. “I want to see the ‘herbal vet’,” she said. “I like her energy. It’s freer.” Seems Ms. Byrd is to be on the curator team as well, perhaps as mascot.

Life and learning continue to unfold. Moment to moment we choose where to put our attention and what to paint from where that attention lands. I feel the divine as I grok and aim to live more fully into being part of ‘a great cosmic mystery’.

What if I really believed that everything is in divine order?

Snowy Peaks! Blessed Moisture! Grateful Heart!

Pivot to Re-Ordering Life

Elk Herd in the Neighborhood

The nonviolent person does not seek an impossible compromise with the times, nor a prior, intemperate synthesis for the times. The nonviolent person sees life in terms of a choice toward change, involving a re-ordering of life. Daniel Berrigan

This quote popped into my box (thank you once again Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service for your Daily Inspiration!). It seems apropos for this time of war – yet another war that makes no sense. War has never been the answer. It never will.

I’ve been thinking about borders. How is that we humans are so preoccupied with borders? What in our story of separation has us believe that they are real? On some level we know they are not, but borders and ‘we/they’ have been ingrained in us as important to our identity. What if we reframe our identity to Earthlings? Gaians? Heck, even Humans!

Early this morning Zadie Byrd and I make the 60-mile journey to the vet (her eye irritation hasn’t eased since surgery two weeks ago). We crossed the Rio Grande River at a point that was once the western boundary of the Republic of Texas, reminding me that borders are mutable. Countries come. Countries go. I wonder what quality of life we could create if we gave up the idea of maintaining and expanding borders. Of pivoting from the constraints of borders and defending them to creating community with one another and with Nature.

For surely Nature and the planet do not give one whit about the artificial lines we humans draw on maps and then defend at the cost of unfathomable life, limb, and treasure. Astronauts who have spent time in space speak of a deepened understanding and appreciation that we all share this planet as they look down at ‘home’. How might we take up that perspective?

How might we re-order life around sharing our planet home and its bounty rather than the continuing the historical practice of mine/yours? Win/loose? Bad/good? Haven’t we suffered the trauma of this approach sufficiently to genuinely want to end violence?

How might we re-order life to care for our planet home, shifting the use of our treasure to help her restore from our abuse? What if the trillions of dollars spent on so-called ‘defense’ were re-allocated to support life in all its forms?

While my heart aches for the trauma of all who are in the path of the war in Ukraine, I’m putting my attention not on who will be the victor. For in war, any victory is temporary. Rather I’m asking deeply, how do we re-order life, individually and collectively, to end these cycles of violence? What thinking do I need to shift? What beliefs do I need to challenge? What choices toward change can I make?

If your thinking and sensing is moving in this direction, here are a couple essays that I’ve found helpfully thought-provoking this week:

·        Charles Eisenstein’s The Field of Peace (click here)

·        George Lakey’s article The Dangerous Assumption that Violence Keeps Us Safe (click here)

And, I leave you with these words of wisdom from Thay:  The individual has to wake up to the fact that violence cannot end violence; that only understanding and compassion can neutralize violence, because with the practice of loving speech and compassionate listening we can begin to understand people and help people to remove the wrong perceptions in them, because these wrong perceptions are at the foundation of their anger, their fear, their violence, their hate. —Thich Nhat Hanh

Rocks are different on the west side of the valley …

Gifts of an Unexpected Pivot

Early Morning Fire on a Blustery, Cold Day

What would life be like had my ancestors chosen to live in harmony with the indigenous peoples here? Would we live in greater harmony with Mother Earth? With one another? What a pivot that would be!

When I looked out upon waking this morning my heart sank as the multiple of inches of snow forecast had yielded barely a trace. Mother Earth so needs a thick white blanket. I too would relish a snowy day by the fire.

Muse whispered blog thoughts as I began to stir and go about the morning ritual of building a fire. Rarely a routine, mindless task, I build the fire as sacred action – a blessed way to begin each winter day, literally on my knees as if kneeling in prayer. This brings me to deeply felt gratitude. Appreciation for the trees and the forests, the cycles of life, and all those who had a hand in getting these logs to my door.

As I settled in to write I thought of an African tribe’s practice of keeping a fire burning for generations as an unbroken connection to their ancestors. It is the wife of the tribal chief who carries this sacred responsibility. A feminine role of care connecting past to present and being present to the utilitarian gifts of the fire: warmth and cooking. Simply living. Simply life. Connection with those who have walked before. Connection with Earth. Being present now. Care. Simply living. Simply life.

I say a silent prayer that we so-called civilized humans won’t impose our “civilized” ways on them as has been done so often in history. Muse wonders with me: what would life be like had my ancestors chosen to live in harmony with the indigenous peoples here? Would we live in greater harmony with Mother Earth? With one another? Herstory would weave a different path. Can we truly pivot to live from the feminine? What a pivot that would be!

These are the wonderings that stir in me in this time of turning, of death, of rising new. Crevices of exploration that come when I step off the treadmill of doing, of accomplishing and simply allow myself to be. Muse nods in knowing agreement. These are the swings in my soul’s playground when I allow Muse to push the swing and simply sit and observe Zadie Byrd, sleeping in her ‘cone of courage’, allowing healing. Stillness and gratitude add to my warmth on this cold, blustery morning.

These are the gifts offered up as I break my decades old habit of saying ‘yes’ too often, jumping in to participate in activities that bring me no joy and are not in service to my Becoming.

Muse smiles, happy to observe the dots I’m connecting and, I suspect, impishly wondering how I will live into these choices in the days (weeks, months, years) ahead. I’m curious as well.

That’s where this post was going to end. Draft written, it was time for our morning walk. As I’m preparing to head out, the phone rings. Finally, a return call from our vet, who I’d called a couple days ago when I noticed redness in Zadie Byrd’s eye. I wanted to know if this was normal after surgery.

“No,” said the vet. We should look at it …” Although she said it wasn’t urgent, I sensed that for Zadie’s well-being and my peace of mind, we should go in today, regardless of the winter storm advisories and warning and reports of icy roads.

I fell into a bit of a spin. Mind warning me of the weather and associated risks. Heart saying, ‘go anyway’. After a few breaths and a short walk, the inner knowing rose: All will be fine it affirmed.

And it was just that: ‘fine’. Perhaps our angels cleared the way. Icy road conditions reported earlier had cleared. Two and a half hours and 120 miles under our belts, we are safely home with drops for Zadie’s eye and confirmation that the issue is minor and should clear in just a few days. I had pivoted from the morning plan, Wednesday morning’s blog commitment, to care for my sweet pup.

On the drive home, my thoughts returned to the blog. Muse pointed out that I’d done more than a simply pivot from plan. My early disappointment around the lack of snow held no regard for the hazardous driving conditions that such snow brings. Hey, I’m home by the fire, no problem. But, as I met the need to care for another, my disappointment shifted to gratitude for the clear roads that made our journey safe and easy. Such is the way of an unexpected pivot. What is dark in one moment becomes light in the next. This IS life.

Let Sleeping Dog Heal

Zadie Byrd's Zinger

Sun Setting on a Very Full Day

When we see difficult circumstances as a chance to grow in bravery and wisdom, in patience and kindness, when we become more conscious of being hooked and we don’t escalate it, then our personal distress can connect us with the discomfort and unhappiness of others. What we usually consider a problem becomes a source of empathy. Pema Chodron (daily quote for Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service’s Daily Inspiration for Your Nonviolent Journey – 24 January 2022)

As I began to think about today’s post, Muse, ever wise, sensing my weariness and knowing that my primary focus this day is caring for and keeping my eye on Zadie Byrd who had eye surgery yesterday, gently tapped me on the shoulder and suggested ‘go easy this day. Share Zadie’s lesson, you know, the one where she turned the tables on you …’.

I readily agreed. Her lesson was potent, playful, and caught me just as I started down the road to criticism and judgement. You know, the one I shared last week? (click here if you missed it). Zadie’s Zinger stopped me in my tracks, elongated the choice point of discernment, and ultimately gave me a chuckle. I suspect that Muse was chuckling too – if not in outright guffaw mode.

Out for our walk one rather cold morning this week, I heard, at some distance from us, the unmistakable voice of someone speaking loudly on their cell phone. Ugh! I suspected that meant they were paying no attention to their canine. Then, just as judgement was about to kick in full blown, Zadie Byrd looked at me, and I heard my voice speak, ‘not yours!’, a cue I use with Zadie when she begins to react to something that we don’t need to tend to. In a flash, my well-practiced litany of criticism stopped. Zadie had zinged me at that choice point of discernment where the opportunity for love waits patiently. In doing so, she gave me the opportunity to pivot from my costly litany to a laugh and to love and appreciation, sprinkled with compassion and care for those missing the morning’s beauty and the joy of canine teaching and connection.

After a full day of travel and waiting when we arrived home from the veterinary hospital late yesterday, I just wanted to come inside and unpack all our ‘stuff’ from the trip, but wise Zadie Byrd had a different plan. ‘Let’s catch the last rays of sun before it disappears,’ she seemed to say as she plopped down facing the fading light and resisting my coaxing to come inside. So, I joined her and, after a few moments, realized that I was basking not only in the sun’s healing rays but in the success of the day and in all that love offers when we are open to receive.

I’m truly, truly grateful and feeling very blessed as Zadie Byrd sleeps nearby. And I may just join the chorus of snores soon.

Catching Some Healing Rays!