Pivoting to Unity Consciousness

Mothership Over the Sangres

Unity consciousness is a state of enlightenment where we pierce the mask of illusion which creates separation and fragmentation. Behind the appearance of separation is one unified field of wholeness. Here the seer and the scenery are one. Deepak Chopra

 The ultimate metaphysical secret, if we dare to state it so simply, is that there are no boundaries in the universe. Boundaries are illusions, the products not of reality but of the way we map and edit reality. And while it is fine to map out the territory, it is fatal to confuse the two. Ken Wilbur

 Sometimes pivots happen in a flash (or a blinding flash of the obvious!). You experience an ‘aha’ moment that has you, and in the next moment you hold a new perspective. Other pivots are a process, much like changing the direction of a big ship, that occurs over time and distance. One day you’re living from that new perspective. The next, well … not so much. Muse smiles.

 Lasting pivots require practice, attention, and awareness. Daily. Moment to moment. ‘Yep,’ agrees Muse.

 In our world where our language and crumbling systems are built on the illusion of separation, the pivot to unity consciousness seems daunting. Our language has not yet incorporated what science now tells us about the unified field that we are part and parcel of. Our systems, long invested in securing borders; maintaining control; and depending on ideas such as right/wrong, good/bad, we/they, are so ingrained that we are challenged to break free of them.

 These are the musings that rise as I reflect on life’s experiences this week.

 As I journaled one morning, curious about what a couple electrical breakdowns were reflecting, I began to feel the pressure that the world’s systems are under and how my own body’s power systems are likely experiencing the same. The clear message came: ‘TRUST! Trust the enfoldment – all of it, especially that which you don’t prefer. Expect the not to be expected and be light in the dance of intensity and change.’

 I took a breath, letting the crystal clarity of the message settle in as I witnessed dawn bringing light to the woods out back. The boundary between those woods and me evaporated. I am there. The trees and landscape are here. There is no ‘here’ or ‘there’. In that blissful moment the illusion of separation vanished. In that moment I experience the reality that I AM ONE with ALL that is.

 As I sat with the experience, the stream continued to flow:

• I am One with all life and ALL is life.

• I am One with the landfill as surely as I am One with the beautiful peaks.

• I am One with the entities of corporate/degenerative agriculture as surely as I am One with regenerative farmers and ranchers.

• I am One with the war mongers as surely as I am One with those who work for and live in peace.

• I am One with the plastic in the oceans as surely as I am One with the whales, dolphins, and all beings in the seas.

• I am One with those who spread hate as surely as I am One with those whose words and deeds uplift and spread kindness, love, and light.

• I am One with disease as surely as I am One with health.

 This is what I/we know deep in my/our bones, my being. May my words speak this truth. May my life reflect this knowing as I map, navigate, and make choices in the territory of life’s gifts and experiences. May the illusions of separation fall as reality of who I am/we are deepens in my/our awareness. So Be It!

Resilience! After Winter Comes Spring

Pivot from Complaint to Curiosity

Dust Storm on the Plains

Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather, whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not. Anonymous (of British origin)

 A complaining tongue reveals an ungrateful heart. … The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. And the realist adjusts the sails. William Arthur Ward

 The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Albert Einstein

 Other than when sailing in Galveston Bay decades ago, the perceptible movement of air at rather high speeds has never been a favored weather event. Years later living on the high plains among west Texas cotton fields and now here in the mountains above the drought-stricken San Luis Valley, I grapple with how I might make peace with the 20-30MPH winds gusting to 45-50MPH and the dust that is stirred up as these winds blow.

Muse, tapping on my shoulder, suggests this just could be an opportunity to listen more deeply to Nature and to hear her voice. I do wonder what the intense wind is offering. What is the bigger picture, macro, to my experiencing this wind here in my little micro space in the woods? My attention shifts from the default of complaint to my deep curiosity about our planet. What IS this wind saying?

How do I listen to this voice of the Earth, Gaia, home? For I sense that she wants our attention … umm MY attention. Is the intense wind in some way a reflection of the chaos we are embroiled in as humanity? Is she asking that I/we look in the mirror at our habits, our choices and how they are connected to weather extremes? Is she suggesting that we haven’t heard her whispers in gentle breezes, so now she must increase her volume?

 Are we throwing complaints at her not intending harm yet causing harm because we don’t truly understand our part in creating the chaos all of Nature is reflecting?

 What would it take to be as grateful for the wind today as I was seven years ago when Nature delivered a much needed 15-inch dump of spring snow? What is the wind moving that can’t move on its own? What if this wind is what’s needed to move seeds to a new home? Or, to keep pesky mosquitos at bay? Would there be stunningly beautiful sand dunes to enjoy in the nearby Great Sand Dunes National Park if wind had not played its role in the symphony that created that beauty? Heck, would there even be a park at all? And what about the growing use of wind as a source of renewable power?

I discover gratitude is nourishment for curiosity, much healthier than complaint. What if Nature truly is reflecting our human behaviors? Everything IS connected, you know! What if Nature’s extremes are inviting us to listen – to develop the willingness and capacity to truly hear one another? What if our responding to Her invitation is key not just to the human family of disparate beings with varied gifts and divergent opinions getting along, but also to working in greater cooperation with Gaia, our Mother, our home?

What might be possible for our world if we eliminated complaints from our menu of habits? Where might curiosity lead us if we dare to ask bold questions and let our imaginations wonder? What does Nature have to say? Are we listening? Am I?  

Mother’s Day Snow 2015

Present In the Flow of Life

The Labyrinth in the Woods Out Back Awaits …

Scattered thoughts like a herd stampeding go nowhere, fast.

The Eyes of the Future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time.  Terry Tempest Williams, Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert

Muse wasn’t successful getting my attention in the early morning quiet that is typically ‘our’ time. I’d been thinking about regeneration and, wanting that to be this week’s focus, decided to do more reading online. Now, after our morning walk and breaking fast, I find myself challenged to engage Muse. Reminded I am of a ditty penned in a workshop 33 years ago - Scattered thoughts like a herd stampeding go nowhere, fast - for this morning finds my thoughts scattered from the macro of mostly discouraging world events and exciting possibilities of designing life in alignment with regenerative principles to the micro of life’s daily details. Today those ‘details’ are focused on preparing for Zadie Byrd’s second eye surgery tomorrow.

Somewhere between the two – yet very present this day – is a deep sadness that runs from micro to macro, from me and my cells to Mother Earth, Nature and ALL her beings. I choose not to let it be the driver of this (and hopefully any) day while recognizing that on another day grief and sadness may need to be tended.

Writing this thought, I’m reminded of a story shared by author, activist Terry Tempest Williams in a recent talk. In conversation with three rather powerful men (think Presidential cabinet types) she asked where their grief lived. Two responded sincerely about their deep feelings of concern. The third replied that he wanted to ‘keep the conversation positive’ and said to Terry, “You are married to sorrow.” She replied, “No. I choose not to look away.”

Her response highlights for me one of the strengths of the Feminine: choosing not to deny, to look away from the degradation of Nature, of Mother Earth, of one another; yet not getting entangled in the muck. A tricky and delicate dance this is, a dance that calls forth a key element of Divine Feminine energy, aka ‘Love’: seeking, finding, as well as creating new paths forward individually and collectively. Love acknowledges. Love questions. Love collaborates. Love co-creates. Love acts. This love is not gender specific, found only in the female form, etc. The love of the Divine Feminine simply IS.

Muse chuckles noting that these thoughts don’t seem ‘scattered’ at all, and I’m aware that my earlier sadness has lifted. Zadie Byrd, back in her ‘cone of courage’, sleeps nearby, her way of preparing for tomorrow. The wind has calmed and the labyrinth in the woods out back awaits my presence.

This 454th (yes, I’m counting) post has found its way to the page, the page of my journal and the pages of my life. Regeneration in action on a micro scale! Engaging Muse is a journey into the unknown, taking the first step, writing that first word, and discovering where the flow will lead. Present to the present while holding curiosity and wonder about what we can create for the time beyond.

Sleeping is the Best …

Pivot to Harmony - Earth Day, Every Day

Moonrise Over the Sangres

Our role with nature is to work in harmony with it to bring its elements to the highest degree of their manifestation. Gregge Tiffen

 … a shared love of Nature was the most political act of all. Terry Tempest Williams (Refuge)

 Two years ago, on the 50th Earth Day, I pivoted my weekly blog from ‘The Zone’ to ‘The Pivot’ because we need new stories, new ways of being to navigate our world toward justice. Not just justice for we humans, but justice for ALL beings, especially our home, Mother Earth. One day is not enough to care for Mother Earth, our home.

 One day is not enough to care. One day is not enough to bring justice. Earth-care like self-care requires our attention and awareness, our presence, 24/7. Or, as author Terry Tempest Williams says, Earth-care IS self-care.

 As I’ve reflected on this 52nd Earth Day and listened to many women thought leaders share reflections and actions from their hearts about the state of our world, our Earth, ourselves, the word harmony rises to surface once again as it has in past Earth Day posts.  Harmony within. Harmony with one another. Harmony with Nature. Harmony with Mother Earth. [Check out Women Working for the Earth Summit for replays. Or KGNU Boulder’s Connections interview on Earth Day.]

 I’m not suggesting that we should always agree or forego our beliefs for the sake of harmony. Indeed, harmony requires that we speak our voice. To follow this course would compromise our harmony within.  I’m not suggesting that we think only positive thoughts or simply look away from that which triggers our anger, our angst, our grief at what is lost and what we are losing daily. That would undermine our integrity.

 Muse suggests that we/I need to engage more deeply with all of life in harmonious ways. The Universe is designed in harmony and our dominion with the Earth is to maintain and restore that harmony. With every thought, every word, every deed we are contributing to harmony that supports Nature and the Earth or we are contributing to disharmony, putting Mother Earth in the position of taking drastic action to rebalance. 

Our thoughts matter. Our words matter. How we maintain our bodies, our homes and care for our pets and our plants matter.  Even how we sleep matters.  Every thought I have and every word I speak never dies. My thoughts and yours contribute to mass consciousness moment by moment, day to day. The planet responds to that consciousness. That is her design.  

 Harmony matters. Let us make each and every day Mother Earth Day by depositing thoughts of harmony into the bank of the collective consciousness. Let us face the challenges of injustice with love and with courage rather than fear and rancor. Let us question our daily choices with curiosity and care rather than rigid fundamentalism of any flavor.

 May I experience and live harmony within. May I live in harmony with others, especially those with whom I disagree. May my choices moment to moment reflect Harmony with Nature and Harmony with Mother Earth. This is my prayer for self and humanity.

Full Moon over the Woods Out Back

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