Living As If ...

Morning Walk … THIS is My World!

Your own life is the parameter of your experience which is your own world. To begin to accept this provides you with the incentive to take responsibility for the power you have over your own world. … Nothing is larger than your world. You’re it. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: An Air of Optimism – May, 2011)

This morning as I began to think about this week’s post I noticed how often the world pulls me to be ‘of it’ not simply ‘in’ it. The world’s systems want me to ‘live as if’ all that happens outside of me is what’s important, that I’m just a little blip on the radar in the flow of life. The world would have me believe that what happens out there, beyond the boundaries of my energy field, is what is important.  The world would have me ‘live as if’ it is all powerful and as if I am not.

I think ‘the world’ has it wrong. Wrong, that is, unless I abdicate the power I have over my world. My power (and yours) is clear in the choices I make and actions I take moment to moment, day to day.  Using that power wisely requires awareness of what lies beneath each choice.

Or, as Ben and Rosamunde Zander wrote in their great book, The Art of Possibility, “What am I assuming that I don’t know I’m assuming that gives me what I see?”  Said another way: what am I living as if?

This insight emerged as I was thinking about whether to make changes in an auto-ship order. As I fell into an ‘either/or’ choice (change or not) I noticed that I’m always ‘living as if …’. Indeed we all are.  A convenience like auto-ship has me ‘living as if’ my need for this product won’t change; life will continue as it’s been. If I receive new information that may change that need in the future, how do I respond?  Do I react hastily without much thought? Yes, sometimes I do.

But this day, I paused, recognizing that my choice would indicate what (or how?) I was ‘living as if’. And, in that moment I had the power to choose to ‘live as if’ some future event would occur soon (and therefore the ‘practical’ choice is to make adjustments now) or to ‘live as if’ it will occur in perfect divine timing and make any required adjustments then.

Thanks to a little old auto-ship order, I realized that when I fail to take time to identify what my ‘living as if’ is (yep, tongue twister!) I can easily slip into reacting to an event (situation, etc.) becoming a victim to ‘it’ and abdicating my personal power by acting without awareness.

As I reflected a bit more, I recognized how quickly the seemingly small choices I make daily can lead me away from my core beliefs IF I don’t make those choices with awareness.  And, it opened the door to re-evaluate some other recent decisions that I’ve made. Hmmm … who knew that ordering a few items used daily could yield such a rich reminder?

So, as you navigate and make choices in the week ahead, I invite you to pause and ask yourself ‘what am I living as if’ by making this choice? After all, life is about your world!

Living As If … the river of life always flows!

The Grace of the Universe - A Rerun

Looking Ahead Through the Portal

This week I’ve been reflecting on change and how I respond to events that life presents, especially events which I didn’t see coming and that present challenges.  Those reflections led me back to the basics of life and law (Universal law that is) and to what is important each day:  choosing how I want to be present and how I want to respond to life.  Employing the law of magnification supports me to remember the importance of my choices and, hopefully, to choose wisely moment to moment, day to day.  May this rerun bring light to your day!

You live by the grace of the Universe interacting with you. You do not live by yourself alone. … The Universe always magnifies your action. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Change – May, 2009)

There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness. Dalai Lama

The grace of the Universe presents the challenge of our times. May we rise to meet it in kind.

Whether we are aware of it or not, the Universe is interacting with us 24/7, magnifying each and every action we take in its own way.

Think about that. Let it sink in for just a moment. Everything you do is magnified. EVERY THING!

Say a kind word, offer a smile to someone experiencing challenging times, listen deeply to another view, share an uplifting post on social media. MAGNIFIED!  Take action on a project; choose to eat healthy, nourishing food; call or write your elected representatives. MAGNIFIED!

The Universe is benevolent (at least that’s my belief), but it is not selective in what it magnifies (everything – remember?). We humans were given the gift of free will, the power of choice that the Universe did not keep for itself in this grand design called Life. Make a snarky remark. MAGNIFIED!  Engage in an act of violence. MAGNIFIED!  Protest in anger toward others. MAGNIFIED!  Shut down in fear. MAGNIFIED! 

I’ve been reflecting on this law of magnification in terms of what I want more of in my life as well as the kind of world that I’d prefer to live in.  That reflection brought me right back to where I live, the simple choices I make each day. If I want to be a writer, WRITE. Give the Universe words strung together into ideas and step back to allow the magnification. Know that magnification is happening even when I don’t see it. I’m making adjustments in how I create each day to do just that.

If the world I envision is one of peace, kindness, compassion then my responsibility is to choose thoughts, words, and deeds that are peaceful, kind, and compassionate. Give the Universe THAT to magnify.

Of course, the Universe does not magnify alone.  We are its agents, little magnifiers one and all. My words each week are a magnification of something I read, experienced (usually both!), or am in the midst of considering. You read those words and are inspired to make a change in your life, or to share the post with others, or to delete. Whatever your choice, your action magnifies mine and it offers your own to be magnified.  

The meadowlark sings its cheerful song each morning in the meadow where we walk. The president tweets. Both are magnified by a Universe that magnifies everything. But we, you and I, have the freedom and the power to choose what we magnify. Imagine a world where the meadowlark’s song or the Dalai Lama’s quote is the ‘breaking news’ of the day, and the president’s tweets go mostly ignored. Do the words peaceful, kind, compassionate come to your mind’s eye?

That world is possible if we have the will to choose to put our attention on peace over conflict, kindness over anger, and compassion over judgement. It’s already emerging daily in the thousands (perhaps millions) of thoughts, words and deeds that are peace-filled, kind, and caring. May we choose that path – moment to moment, when the choice is easy and, especially when it’s not.The grace of the Universe presents the challenge of our times. May we rise to meet it in kind.

The River of Life often flows like the spring snow melt on Cottonwood Creek …

Kindness (Revised, Reprised)

Wintry Breakfast for the Hummers

The Universe always magnifies your action. … You are to recognize … that as you act, you are responsible for the validity of your actions in a positive spiritual mode. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Change – May, 2009)

As I settled in to write this morning I experienced a striking sensory contrast: as I gazed out over a snowy, wintry landscape, I heard the summer sound of hummingbirds buzzing around the feeder. Like seeing photos of my new grandson earlier this week and hearing the news that everyone in the family is doing well, the contrast brought a smile.

I’m aiming to smile a lot these days. Not sneering, snarky ‘yeah, right’ smiles (though I notice lots of stimuli for that!). I want to offer genuine, heartfelt smiles for the Universe as it does what it does: magnify everything.  I want to speak and act in ways that are kind:  kind to me; kind to Luke; kind to family, to friends, to neighbors, to strangers, and beyond. 

That’s what I want to see and experience more of in our world: kindness, miles of smiles of kindness.

What we see in the world each day is a reflection and magnification of our individual actions. The Universe doesn’t distinguish good/bad, kind/unkind, loving/hate-filled. It simply magnifies our action, ALL of our action.

Distinguishing and choosing is our job – mine and yours. When I remember that my actions will be magnified, I’m better equipped to choose more wisely.

I wrote about this idea that the Universe magnifies in a post here last May.  In that post I suggested that

The grace of the Universe presents the challenge of our times. May we rise to meet it in kind.

I continue to hold that thought as a prayer in my heart each day as I aim to be my best expression of me in a world that seems ever more chaotic and unkind.  I dream of a world where kindness leads, a world suggested by my friend, the prolific author Rivera Sun in her awesome novel, The Dandelion Insurrection

THIS! Clear, Simple, and Requires Consistent Practice

Did I mention that it’s a snowy May morning?

The Power of Curiosity

What’s ahead on this path of life?

You can apply curiosity to all your experiences in life. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: An Air of Optimism – May, 2011)

 These words leapt off the page this morning as I began my Thursday immersed in the question: What wants to emerge in The Zone this week?  It isn’t that this is a new idea to me, in fact ‘curiosity’ has made an appearance in no fewer than 66 issues (yep, I was curious and counted them). This week makes 67 … but I digress.

 Being curious is a choice we make, a powerful tool to help us navigate all aspects of life. Is it any wonder that as children before our natural curiosity was snuffed out, most of us constantly asked ‘Why? Why? Why?’ Somewhere along the line our culture, parents, teachers trained us that it is better to know than to ask. So, we stopped asking and started knowing (or acting as if we do, even when we don’t). At least I did. And, although life worked out pretty well, some of the results along the way weren’t so pretty.

 Today, thanks in part to my coach training and 25+ coaching clients to see choices where they think no choice exists, along with my ongoing study of metaphysics, I find myself invoking curiosity quite often. Perhaps it’s become a habit. If so, it’s not one to break, but rather one to nourish so that I can flourish.

 Curiosity is a powerful tool for creating a shift in our personal energy.  Asking yourself a question with a sincere desire to discover an answer can move you from being angry, stuck, fearful (and a host of other low energy places) to being calm, ambitious, loving, and in action (even if that action is simply reflection or research).

 I experienced a reminder of just that this week, after enrolling in a program to give my writing a boost. My excitement quickly shifted to dismay as I read the ‘Welcome Letter’ which included an ‘offer’ for yet another program, which it sounded as if I needed in order to get value from the one I’d just signed up for. My immediate reaction was ‘Ugh! Here we go again …’ 

 Somehow I remembered to pause and take a breath. I stopped myself from holding on to the assumptions that I’d made (They just want more money. This program will never work for me.). Then, I decided to get the facts (i.e. is my success in the program conditioned on the info in the second?). In that pause, I saw clearly past disappointments in programs.

 Rather than blaming the programs, I questioned my level of commitment to make them work for and provide value to me. My answer wasn’t especially pretty, yet it opened the door that allowed me to become clear about my commitment to this one: I will engage fully from a place of curiosity about how I can make the program work for me (rather than expecting ‘it’ to do the heavy lifting that is mine to do). The first day of engagement was fabulous! Curiosity energized the process (and no cat lost their life in the process).

 In an earlier post, I wrote ‘Stress flies away on the wings of curiosity.’ Today I can add that applying curiosity to the experiences in life is a pathway to peace, joy, creativity and satisfaction.

 How will it serve you to be curious today?

Curiosity is never at rest here.

Lifting the Fog of Indecision

A foggy spring day in the Sangres

Weariness can occur as a result of thinking we know but not knowing that causes all sorts of indecision. Patrece on behalf of P Systems (PS 52 Series 11 If So, What Now? Week 31) www.p-systemsinc.com

Earlier this week, the words above landed on me like a bright ray of sunshine breaking through fog. This week’s PS 52 landed in my inbox right on time, adding clarity to my morning journaling and connecting the dots of energy and indecision.

My early morning observation started with awareness that when I speak of ‘my energy’ (as in ‘my energy has been really low’) I separate myself from the pure, raw energy that we all create with/from. Yep, I know, that’s not possible to actually do, but I had one heck of a mental construct supporting my illusion.

I was the victim of my ‘low energy’. I’d been experiencing a sense of feeling scattered, unfocused, and unable (or perhaps unwilling) to exert my will. I felt tired. I remembered hearing Gregge Tiffen share his practice of speaking the words ‘let the energy flow through me’ to energize action. THAT felt like an invitation to life and living fully. I felt an internal energetic shift (it’s truly challenging not to write ‘my energy shifted’ here, but I’m clear that I hold no ownership of energy) head to heart to toes.

I felt gratitude for the awareness of what seemed to be deepening into my bones. I was ready to bring on the list of projects and to-do’s so I could focus and take action. I had new clarity about energy and a reminder that it’s my job to direct it. Onward!

But before I dove in, this week’s PS 52 landed in my box, offering even greater clarity. What I’d labeled as ‘my low energy’, weariness if you will, was (at least in part) the effect of not making clear, intentional decisions to take action.  Indecision was leading me to meander wearily through many days, scattering my attention, and, if I was ‘lucky’, accomplishing a few tasks in the process.

I (re)discovered that when I do make clear, intentional decisions, the action (mostly) comes easily. The energy flows through me from one action to the next.  One decision paves the way for another. A course of action becomes clearer. My sense of ‘low energy’ dissipates. My will is strengthened.

I’m feeling deeply grateful and blessed for being shown this connection. And, I’m under no illusion that my new awareness is a ‘magic pill’ or ‘silver bullet’. I’m betting I’ll have days where I simply want to pull the covers over my head to rest. I’m sure to experience days where the path doesn’t seem so clear and choices seem hard. I aim to allow such foggy days to be and to bring to them my curiosity about what they have to offer, for surely they too have purpose. The energy flowing through me is here for me. And, it’s here for you. Let it flow! Let us flow!

And, as she always does, the sun breaks through!

Harmony Matters - Earth Day & Every Day

Dunes at the Great Sand Dunes National Park & Blanca Peak greet me this day!

God is the great mysterious motivator of what we call nature, and it has been said often by philosophers, that nature is the will of God. And, I prefer to say that nature is the only body of God that we shall ever see.  Frank Lloyd Wright (quoted in Life In The World Hereafter: The Journey Continues)

Nature is intimately partnered with us in this physical experience, and that is perhaps the greatest boon of our incarnate existence, as nature is directly connected to and informed by the Universe.  Gregge Tiffen (Life In The World Hereafter: The Journey Continues, 2006)

I’m profoundly blessed and deeply grateful to live surrounded by nature’s beauty and bounty. I step outside my door into a veritable feast for the senses 365 days a year. From a windy, overcast day yesterday to the clear blue sky of this morning nature reminds me that nothing stays the same on this planet, our home.  Nature is always seeking the harmony that IS the Universe. We contribute with our own harmony.

The flow of Cottonwood Creek, frozen just two weeks ago, brings snowmelt from the peaks and reminds me of the natural flow of life. The smell of freshness in the pines tells me that experiences in life are always new. The warm touch of the sun says that coats, hats and gloves can soon be put away and that the wood stove will soon rest until fall. Soon, I’m sure to hear the distinctive buzz of the season’s first hummingbird, and the itch to put seeds in the ground will need to be scratched.

After feeling a bit ‘under the weather’ yesterday, I was delighted to discover a clear, crisp morning as Luke and I set out for our walk. I planned a route – long enough for me to enjoy and for Luke to take care of business – as we headed out into the beauty of the day. Along that planned route, I was drawn off trail to a ridge that we rarely hike. Curious, I veered in that direction.

My first discovery was a disturbing one: off-road vehicle tracks and damaged flora. I checked my judgement and anger and reminded myself to walk gently on the tender vegetation, since I too was not on a designated trail. Reaching the top of the ridge, I was greeted with the vast expanse of the San Luis Valley, and morning shadows on the dunes at the Great Sand Dunes National Park some 20 miles away with gleaming Blanca Peak as their backdrop.

Daily I hold the intention to live in greater harmony with nature. I aim to hear and understand her messages more clearly.  Sometimes I simply enjoy the beauty of what is offered. Other times I take time to reflect on what message nature is sending. What can I learn from what I see, hear, smell, taste, feel?

This morning’s visual feast along with the warming sun reminded me yet again that the Universe is designed in harmony and our dominion over the Earth is to restore and maintain that harmony. With every thought, every word, every deed we are either making a harmonious contribution that supports nature or we are putting nature in the position of taking action to rebalance with our disharmonious  actions.  Our thoughts matter. Our words matter. How we maintain our bodies, our homes and care for our pets and our plants matters. How we walk through life moment to moment matters.

Harmony matters. This earth day, I’m rededicating myself to my own personal harmony, within and without. What about you?

The vast, beautiful San Luis Valley

Three Legs of the Stool of Life

Warm, spring weather gives way to snow …

Freedom awaits on the other side of self-awareness and self-love. (Rev. Jane Beach - Science of Mind Magazine, Daily Guide for April 5, 2019)

These words caught my attention one morning last week as I read the SOM Daily Guide, part of my morning ritual.  They’ve stayed with me, aligned as they are with my beliefs and understanding about their importance to living a good life. Yet, despite that alignment, I sensed something to be missing. A solid stool needs three legs.

I hadn’t given the idea much thought until this morning as I began to put attention on this week’s post. What’s been my focus this week? What’s had my attention? The answer came quickly: self-care and rest.

 As I generally do on blog day, I opened one of Gregge Tiffen’s booklets to see what would catch my attention as a starting point. I opened it to the last page.

The spiritual purpose of sleep is to refurbish in order for you to create. … Life responds to you! (Gregge Tiffen - The Language of a Mystic: Application – April, 2009)

Hmm, I thought as I turned to the preceding page.

Ask your body what it needs in terms of stamina and maintenance. (Gregge Tiffen - The Language of a Mystic: Application – April, 2009)

Although I knew this post would flow from what I’d read, I didn’t sense the direction. I felt empty and tired so I set aside my journal, curled up and dozed in and out of awareness and with a sense of going deep within.

When I woke a short while later, I gulped. Self-honesty was the missing ingredient that I’d sensed. For some time I’ve ignored the awareness that my body will be healthier and happier if I eliminate sugar from my diet.

Honesty has become a premium in our time. Self-honesty has become like a lode of uranium. To the person who is willing to dig for it and carry it to the surface, the life rewards are abundant. (Gregge Tiffen - The Journey Continues: The Legacy for Generations – November, 2010)

I want a strong, healthy body, and I love chocolate.  The internal conversation around sugar is the same I experienced more than three decades ago when I (finally) quit smoking: I want to stop, but … I want to be healthy, but …. I discovered that the truth was I only desired to ‘want to stop’.

I needed to shift: from ‘wanting to want to stop’ to truly desiring to do so. Making that shift gave me the clarity to prioritize my health and to honor the request of my precious (and at that time precocious) young step-son who clearly saw the hypocrisy of smoking while saying and doing other things to be healthy.

In hindsight, I see how the three legs of self-awareness, self-love, and self-honesty were at play in coming to that choice. From that awareness and the dose of self-honesty that fell in my lap this morning, can I summon the self-love to fuel my will and honor what my body so clearly needs? Will I stop the game I’ll stop when _____ (this batch of cookies is eaten, this chocolate bar is gone)? Will I leap from ‘wanting to want to stop’ to ‘truly desiring  eliminating sugar’?

What are you ‘wanting to want to’ do or to stop? Are you ready to join me in making the leap?

Interesting shapes naturally mark this trail in the woods.

A Reflection on Awareness

Life is awareness. Gregge Tiffen (The Journey Continues: A Taste of Devotion – April, 2010)

Consciousness equals awareness. … When you begin to enjoy life, you begin to learn, but you can’t learn under pressure or negativity. … Consciousness sees everything as joy and harmony. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: The Hidden Worth of New Wealth – April, 2011)

I’m drawing a blank this morning as I reflect on and open to what wants to be shared this week. Sometimes when I’m not aware of the topic as I begin my day, our morning walk calls it forth. Not on this day.

While I appreciate the emptiness and spaciousness of not knowing, I yearn to honor this weekly commitment and to be in the rhythm that’s evolved since I launched ‘The Zone’. It’s Thursday, and that’s blog day in my world.

Early this morning as I began to read and think about the post, the quotes above from Gregge Tiffen drew my attention. I typically see a connection to some experience I’ve had or observation I’ve made and the post flows from there. However, this day there’s a gap between my experiences and Gregge’s wisdom. What awareness am I missing? Surely that holds the key.

Late last week, I traveled to visit a friend to celebrate a new year, the beginning of the last year of my seventh decade on the planet (you do the math!).  I scheduled a couple activities, had a list of things I wanted to do, and trusted the trip would unfold perfectly. It did, although not exactly as planned.

The weather forecast (high wind and snow in the mountains) along with an awareness that my energy was lagging on the day before we planned to meet friends for a hike in the mountains, led me to suggest an alternative. That choice worked perfectly for all, the canines who got to run, romp and get plenty dirty and for their peeps who took great joy in observing the purity of their play. Once again, Cool Hand Luke fulfills his role as teacher, having much fun in the process!

Other activities, including time out to rest, fell beautifully into place. I was honored to help a friend make some adjustments to the beautiful labyrinth (a complex, heart-shaped one with amazing energy!) she recently built. We laughed, talked, and enjoyed great food and a bit of March Madness with another friend. We shopped, discovering an unannounced sale just getting underway (a sale we would have missed had we kept to the original plan). I departed at a perfect time to miss heavy urban traffic and enjoy and easy drive home.

It’s easy to grasp life’s joy and harmony when life seems to be going our way.  It’s not so easy to trust that all is well and to look for the harmony when life throws us curveballs. And, yet, I’m discovering more and more that life is about just that: awareness not just of conditions that we’re a part of, but awareness of what consciousness knows as the perfect unfolding of our lives in all their conditions and forms.

Our human task as we learn to navigate our bodies through life on this physical plane is to remember what consciousness knows:  joy and harmony are present in the very essence of life. We do that step by step, day by day, experience by experience. Another week, another blank filled in. Awareness. Life.  Joy. Harmony. Color me grateful!

Keep Your Faith!

And there was light!

Evil thrives in darkness. We must let our courage and conviction shine, so that not even the smallest shadow shall find a doorway in which to hide. … No sacrifice is too great. No undertaking is too demanding. No commitment is too excessive, in order to maintain faith. Gregge Tiffen (It’s Springtime: Flow With The Power of Nature – March, 2007)

Light! Light! Light! The world needs our light, the light of our faith, the light of understanding, the light of knowing that we are here in this moment in time as a small, yet integral, part of an unfolding Universe. The darker the world seems, the more brightly our light is needed. The more we sense fear, the greater we need to love.

That is how we change the world. That is how we learn and grow.

Reversing its letters, ‘evil’ becomes ‘LIVE’. LIVE! Live is life. Life is light. In Universal terms, life is also abundance, beauty, harmony, joy, love, peace, power.

Evil is none of these. Indeed it is their absence. From ancient times to this moment, history is replete with the horrors of evil. Hence, the conviction of faith and strong beliefs along with courage are necessary for us to say ‘no’ to evil and ‘yes!’ to live life in its truest sense.

History is overflowing with examples of this choice as well: the love exuded by the man known as Jesus; the sage wisdom of the Buddha; and in more recent times the sacred, loving activism of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and elders who the peaceful ‘Water is Life’ movement at Standing Rock.

While we know these names, it is wise to remember that throughout history countless others have taken a stand for light as well. You have. I have. Each of us in our unique ways dared to shine a light to break the darkness where evil dwells. 

Daily we have innumerable opportunities to do the same. We do so when we choose kind thoughts and speak words that match them. A patient smile while standing in a slow moving line radiates light as does a sincere, quiet ‘Thank you’ when we are served.

We shine light in the darkness when we receive and return the love of our pets and of all the flora and fauna of nature. And, who among us has not experienced the shift of a good belly laugh (or, even a slight chuckle)? We shine light when we sing, whether alone in the shower or in harmony with others.

These seemingly small acts are, in fact, huge. When taken collectively, they have the power to crack open hearts and shift mass consciousness to a higher vibration from which evil gets no support.

Up close and personal, choosing light is important as well. Each of our seemingly small acts of light strengthens our personal capacity for compassion in the face of evil. Each builds our conviction and our courage to be bold in choosing light, to keep the faith. We hold the power to shine the light of life in the darkest shadows where evil dwells. May we do so moment to moment, step by step.

Need of a little inspiration to shine? click here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yUK0S_cEXY     

Morning Light Filters Through the Woods

Elk, Meadowlark and the Setting Moon

Almost Full Moon Setting on Spring

Springtime.  It is the season to shake out the metaphysical carpet and throw off the heavy, winter blankets that may still seem so cozy even as the fresh breeze calls us outside. It is time to let our mind and spirit, still groggy with winter stories and pictures, move out to embrace the fun of spiritual adventure and inner blossoming. Gregge Tiffen (It’s Springtime: Flow with the Power of Nature – March, 2007)

Happy spring! Although snow is in our forecast overnight, today is the first full day of spring for those of us in the northern hemisphere. I may throw off the heavy winter blankets, but it will be a while before I pack them away. And, yet spring is in the air: warmer, longer days and the first hints of green grasses and wildflowers breaking through the ground into the light of day. The hard, frozen ground is giving way to the softness of sand and soil.

I too am opening to spring’s softness, breaking through my own cozy wrap of winter and beginning to envision how I’d like to see the next few months unfold.  As I do so, several tweaks to my home as well as business ideas have my attention – all in the planning stages now, but activity will soon ramp up.

And what, you might be wondering, does that have to do with elk, meadowlark and the setting moon?

Yesterday an early morning drive to take a friend to catch the daily bus to Denver gave Luke and me the opportunity to hike a trail that we love, but only do so occasionally.  Although the morning was cold (a chilly 13 degrees Fahrenheit) and the sun had yet to crest the 14,000 foot peaks, I was happy to have a special walk on this day of spring’s arrival.  I was curious to discover what would get the attention of my senses so that I might later reflect on any meaning and messages to consider.

On our trip to the bus stop we were heading west, observing the almost full moon as it gently moved toward the horizon. By the time Luke and I reached the trail, it was hazy and just beginning to meet the treetops. I sensed that this beautiful, almost full moon was setting on winter and calling forth spring.

Strength, Power and Nobility Embodied

As Luke and I set out on our walk, our first encounter was a large elk herd 200 yards or so from the trail. I stopped, watched and listened as they became aware of our presence and began to chatter. Their high pitched voice belies the strength and power of these amazing creatures. We watched them as they watched us. Those closest moved away, closer to the rest of the herd.  Luke sat patiently as ‘mom’ snapped pictures.  The herd settled, seemingly judging that we were not a threat, and I assessed that it was safe for us to continue.

A bit further along the trail I heard the unmistakable cheerful song of meadowlark.  Again, I stopped, listened and looked, but never spotted this cheerful character whose voice never fails to give me a smile. As the loop trail turned and we were headed back toward the car, a ray of sunlight hit the snow on one of the peaks. Such beauty!  I suddenly realized how cold I felt in the early morning shadow of the mountains. I picked up my pace and Luke happily followed suit as we trotted toward the car and its promise of warmth (and, for Luke, a treat!).

I felt deeply blessed by the presence and gifts of the moon, the elk and the meadowlark song, knowing that as I reflect more deeply over the coming days, the spiritual part of the journey will continue as the gifts of inner blossoming will show themselves ever more clearly. For now, I’m content with my curiosity – wondering how this experience will inform me as I spring into the projects ahead. Happy spring!

First Rays Hit the Peaks