Pivot to Gentle, Curious, Adventurous Perception

The Flow in Nature Reflects the Flow of Life

The way you look at things is the most powerful force in shaping your life. In a vital sense, perception is reality. … There is such an intimate connection between the way we look at things and what we actually discover. If you can learn to look at your self and your life in a gentle, creative and adventurous way, you will be eternally surprised at what you find. John O’Donohue (Thoughts Are Our Inner Senses in Anam Cara: Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World)

Life has a way of presenting us with opportunities when we are open to receiving. I aim each day to live in that openness and curiosity. Waking this morning with fresh awareness of two seemingly unrelated dream fragments, I wondered how they might relate to each other and what messages the dreams offered.

On top of them, Mind recalled a choice that I’d taken with me to sleep: which of two events scheduled at the same time should I attend? Then Mind leapt to analyzing, comparing the two, apparently seeking a rational decision to put the question to rest now even though the events are a few days away.

Feeling tense and pressured (self-imposed to be sure), I paused. That wasn’t how I wanted to make the choice. In the pause, a gentle suggestion rose, “Ask for guidance.” Ahh … I relaxed, pivoting to a more curious, gentle perception of the question. Hmm … What is my intention for joining either event? What guidance am I seeking?

Muse reminded me that ‘back to basics’ is always a good place to start. As I sat quietly, clarity began to emerge. I began to wonder, “What is in my highest good and the highest good of all? Which event will best serve my growth and provide opportunities for expressing my values, for building community, and for more closely aligning my life with Gaia?”

The questions as context further eased my angst and the self-imposed pressure to decide now. They give me clarity for the guidance I’m seeking and opened me to receive that guidance. They offered a gentle path to making the choice and offered an opportunity to be creative in doing so.

I realized that I could let go of ‘missing out’ on something and open to the gifts I’m sure to receive whichever event I choose to attend. That’s the beauty of our thoughts; of allowing them to emerge, to develop, to shift; and to being gentle with self and all that creation presents.

The process unfolded in a short time, but the reminder of the importance of thoughts, awareness, and perspective will stay with me far beyond the making of this choice. May I be continually surprised by where my thoughts lead and the adventures they offer up.

Morning Clouds

Morning Musing on the Deck

Morning in the Woods

The opposite of love is not rage. The opposite of love is indifference. Love engages all our emotions: Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love. Anger is the force that protects that which is loved. We cannot access the depth of loving ourselves or others without our rage. Valarie Kaur (daily quote 5-17-23 in Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service This Nonviolent Life: Daily Inspiration for Your Nonviolent Journey)

Out on the deck! Sun beaming on my face. Cottonwood Creek offering background music with beautiful sounds of flow from the snow melt. Deer nearby. They scattered when I came out. Hummers joyful that the feeder is replenished. Zadie Byrd, content after breakfast, rests as she watches over these woods, ears UP. Stillness this blue-sky morning as the sun rises higher over the peaks.

Thus begins a blessed morning, a blessed day, in this blessed life. How do I express the depth of my gratitude for this, THIS? I wonder, ‘is a simple thank you, felt deeply in the heart, enough?’ For truly this morn, this moment my heart feels it. Appreciation for life, this life, this place, this being that I am radiates in every cell of my body. I am that. I am.

More gratitude for my health as last week’s cold symptoms wane, a lingering cough yet to clear (but moving in that direction!). Gratitude for the health that is this body, this spirit, and its movement to clear and release that which needs to be cleared and released. How we miss this subtle, yet obvious, miracle of LIFE working its magic. 24/7, 365 life is always ‘on’ no matter the calendar or the clock. All Ways! May we go beyond the world’s training of our rational minds so that we can know this, experience this. May I.

I pause to listen to an unfamiliar sound. Animal-like, but not familiar and hard to describe. Not a ‘moo’ or a ‘meow’. Soft, slow, short. Two deer walk up near the Circle of Elders, the sound moves with them. It is them or one of them. I have never heard a deer before. Life’s magic is given voice in this moment.

Before the pause, I was about to write about anger, posing the question ‘how does one feel anger from this place, this gratitude?’ I rarely feel angry and yet I know it has a presence in my life at some layer or level. It sometimes pops out obscuring the love, the care, the curiosity, the true being that I am and want to express in the world, with self, with others, with Zadie Byrd, with all of life. There is little, if anything, to be angry about in my life, about my life, even with its curveballs and setbacks.

As I’ve reflected this week, I’ve come to see that what truly rises my ire is the systems that are unjust, unfair, damaging to people and the planet and have many people trapped in their webs of greed. Perhaps too I am angry with myself for missed opportunities to speak out, do more. Where might I be a greater contribution? What is mine to do? I wonder.

I put the pen down and enjoy for a few more moments of the sun’s warmth, the creek’s song, and the beauty of the woods outback. As I open the computer, the quote above greets me with a new light on anger. The magic of life unfolding!

Cottonwood Creek

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 …

Alive in the Flow of Life

Good Morning Sun & Moon!

Blow, and you can extinguish a fire. Blow, and you can make a fire. Zen koan found at https://marenschmidt.com/

The idea of paradox has the Muse and me engaged this morning. And as I read the above Zen koan again, I sense what’s underneath each truthful ‘blow’: intention.

Decades ago when I was a college student, a friend nicknamed me her ‘Pet Paradox’. I don’t recall if she ever told me what inspired the moniker, but even in my college year, or perhaps earlier, I could see both sides of most any issue. Sometimes that breed confusion. Other times, clarity. Mostly it led to eventually choosing sides.

Throughout most of my adult life, I’ve expressed a felt sense that ‘holding paradox’ would become an increasingly important life skill. A quick google search offers a treasure trove of ideas, tools, and other musings that I found inspiring to explore.

In a world that seeks to divide in oh so many ways, seeing the whole, singing songs of ‘both and’ as we set aside ‘either or’, and dancing the dances of many rather than choosing sides holds the potential bring into our practice of daily life that which we know deep in our being: WE ARE ONE.

We are interconnected and interdependent with ALL the Beings of Nature, including humanity – those humans whom we love and those whose choices we loath. This is our emerging story as scientific discoveries continue to refute the ideas of separation on which so much of our cultural infrastructure and systems are built. As these discoveries see the light of day beyond the so-called mainstream today’s systems will become less and less relevant. And the creation and emergence of new structures and systems accelerates. This is where the juice, the aliveness of the flow of life, invites us to join and to play.

This is the story of ancients and Indigenous peoples whose aliveness in the flow of life recognized the truth of the unity of all things. Will it be a story that we nurture and grow into realizing the possibility of harmony? Harmony among all peoples. Harmony with Nature, the Earth that provides all that we need.

Each morning as I’ve read the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, Greetings to the Natural World, I feel the potency of recognizing this truth. I deeply feel the intention of these words to give thanks to all that we hold in common – our humanity, Mother Earth, the waters, the plants, the animals, Brother Sun, Grandmother Moon, all that gives us life – and to declaring Oneness as they speak “Now our minds are one.”

I dream of what is possible for a world operating from this place. I marvel at the plethora of actions locally and globally that are creating the scaffolding of a new world. I wonder what magic and miracles will come forth. As I dream, I deepen my gratitude. As I deepen my gratitude, I feel the aliveness of life calling me forth to sing and dance and play from this place. And, I pray that all of our children may sing and dance and play with me.

May we extinguish the fires of destruction and kindle the fires that make the way for new, harmonious growth.

Sunset on Another Alive Day!

Gratitude - How Deep?

The Circle of Elders on this overcast wintry day

To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe – to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that can breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it – is a wonder beyond words. Joanna Macy

Beyond words indeed! I’m experiencing the absence of adequate words as I continue to explore the new depths of feeling that I shared last week (here if you missed it). With the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on the horizon and reading Macy’s World as Lover, World as Self, I’m asking a different question around gratitude. ‘How deep is my gratitude?’ I wonder.

I discovered this to be a very different question than ‘what am I grateful for?’. Yet in the long list of what I’m grateful for are clues to gratitude’s depth. I’m aware of how important gratitude has been and is in my life and of the countless challenges that gratitude has seen me through. Not always pretty, but always getting me through to the other side. Right where I need to be.

In this time of potent possibility and even promise is my gratitude of sufficient depth to withstand whatever challenges lie ahead? How might I deepen it? How might I use this Thanksgiving Day to bring myself to a new depth of gratitude?

Macy’s chapter Grounding in Gratitude in part evoked my questions. The Mohawk Thanksgiving Address that she shares began to frame answers that will evolve over time as I hold the questions with intention.

The ‘Address’ begins …

The People

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

Now our minds are one.

The Earth Mother

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

It continues addressing the Waters, the Fish, the Plants, the Four Winds, the Animals, the Trees, the Sun, Grandmother Moon, and more, much more of that which sustains our lives and livelihoods on this blue dot that we inhabit. I encourage you to read it, let it wash over and go deep in your bones (click here)

This morning after walking the labyrinth in the woods out back I took this holy prayer of gratitude into the nearby Circle of Elders. I read it aloud standing in the Circle. Tears welled up as I was reminded again that I live on lands from which human beings indigenous to the area were forcibly removed. That is a part of my history. Our history for those here in the United States.

As I made my way back inside to the warmth of the hearth, I knew that this Thanksgiving would be a quiet day of gratitude, reflection, and beginning to read the book atop my winter reading stack: An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. I know too that this prayer, grounded in wisdom and understanding that seems lost to our current culture, will be with me for many days to come.

I may read it in its entirety or simply choose one point of focus, but it is now a part of my daily practice, imagining living fully into any one of the elements addressed.

Feel for a moment (or linger longer!) how our world will be when we take on our duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. Is my gratitude deep enough universally, truly and authentically with NO exclusions give greetings and thanks to each other as people? Can I truly include EVERYone? Imagine THAT world!

Although a touch disappointed that my local ‘family of friends’ will not to gather this Thanksgiving, I feel deep gratitude and potency for the day ahead: a day to simply be with myself, my thoughts, the ever-present Muse, and (of course) my sweet canine, Zadie Byrd.  As it always does, the flow of life takes me right where I need to be. A deep bow of gratitude to Life.

From the Winter Reading Stack …

The Web and Flow of Life

Good Morning Sun!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Bit of Fresh Spring Snow on the Mountains

Honoring World Water Day 2021

The Water of Cottonwood Creek Trickling Through the Snow

Water IS Life!

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

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

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

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

I FLOW WITH THE SEASONS

No matter where you are,

Without regard to what you do,

Or even how you be,

I am the water of a nearby mountain stream.

I flow with the seasons.

As the last aspen and cottonwood leaves fall along my banks

in the crisp autumn breezes,

I flow gently along

Knowing that even with the coming freeze

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

I am the water of Cottonwood Creek.

I flow with the seasons.

Gentle and restful

Beneath the frigid surface

I silently – to your ears – honor the darkness

And winter’s oft unrecognized beauty.

I am the water of a stream in the woods.

I flow with the seasons.

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

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

Yet preparation is not required

For as the trees begin to bud new leaves

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

I am the water of Cottonwood Creek.

I flow with the seasons.

As my frozen waters melt I flow,

Extending beyond my banks, claiming whatever space I need

For the water that flows beyond my usual bounds.

This is when I speak my fullest voice.

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

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

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

An American piper bobbing at water’s edge.

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

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

Can you taste me?

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

I flow with the seasons.

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

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

I am the water of Cottonwood Creek.

I flow with the seasons.

Allow awareness of my rhythm to permeate your being.

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

Breaking through the oh so human impulse to deny

These cycles of life.

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

I flow with the seasons.

Will you?

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

The Water of Cottonwood Creek Flowing Free in the Morning Light

Patience and Rumi Wisdom for This Day

Labyrinth in the Morning Light

What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle. Rumi 

These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them. Rumi

Before this day, the morning after election day here in the U.S., dawned I woke thinking about patience: the need to be patient as all votes are counted, the need to be patient with uncertainty, the need to be patient with myself and the swirls of thoughts and feelings, the need to be patient with each other … each and every ‘other’.

As I waited for the darkness outside to lighten so that I could venture out to walk the labyrinth in the woods outback, I was drawn to Rumi. What did he have to say about patience?

Patience is not sitting and waiting, it is foreseeing. It is looking at the thorn and seeing the rose, looking at the night and seeing the day. Lovers are patient and know that the moon needs time to become full.

This day I find it difficult to see the ‘rose’ amid the thorn. Indeed, thorns seem to outnumber roses. I have no doubt that soon the sun will rise, but how will I light my day in what feels a dark time? How will I pivot to my deep knowing that the Universe is unfolding in divine perfect order, despite and interpretations I may have to the contrary?

I take my swirl to the labyrinth. Coyote, the wise jokester, howls in the distance. I chuckle wondering just what he may know that I haven’t yet discovered. I walk slowly toward the center, hand on my heavy heart, asking that heart to be open and to light the path ahead. Reaching the center, I thank the four directions, Mother Earth, the sky and all above. I begin the slow walk out, the heaviness of my load lightened just a bit.

Questions begin to form: How will I stay present to the perfection of this time and of however events unfold in the days ahead? How will I invite the darkness to inform me, to be my candle? What are the messages of the pain I feel? Of the pain I see in others? How will I remember to make choices from a loving heart and from understanding that this time is just a blip on the infinite timeline of existence? How do I live the truth that every blip matters to my/to our evolution, learning, and growth?

‘This’ time, these events, my swirls of thoughts and feelings matter. My sadness, my anger, my worry each matter. So do my love, my compassion and my patience. My curiosity matters. My care matters. My gratitude matters. My thoughtfulness matters. My questions about how to be and how to participate matter. Yours too. All our swirls of thoughts and feelings matter as does how we BE with them and what we DO in response to the world that we are in and the world that we are co-creating with each (and every) other and with Source.

I’m at peace with having more questions than answers in this moment. I don’t know how a collective pivot toward love (click here if you missed last week’s post) might unfold. I’m curious about how to create economic systems and systems of governance that work for all. I’m curious how I will navigate the coming days and beyond and what may emerge in this space in the weeks ahead. And, yes, I’m curious about who will win the Presidential election and how that result will be met with each of us.

Sunset on Election Day

Living in YOUR Rhythm

Home Sweet (Away from) Home

Conditions become chaotic when you are not in a position to manage the harmonics of your core energy to create. Gregge Tiffen (The Journey Continues: Time Travels – July 2010)

I’m reminded of this Gregge Tiffen wisdom as I look out at the multi-faceted chaos in our world. And, as I walk through current events in my life.

Maintaining order is an inside job. Peace within creates peace and order as we walk through the events presented to us on our path. Managing personal energy by living in your unique rhythm is key.

While others can support us on our walk and may even help discover our rhythm, the responsibility is ours alone to manage our energy whatever the conditions, whatever the event. When we move through life in our unique rhythm – our pace, our style, our ways of being – we can experience life in its glorious flow.

Your rhythm is unique to you. It is the beat of the drum to which you naturally and easily respond. It knows no stress, no overwhelm. There is no right or wrong. Simply there is your rhythm, your tempo – YOUR way of life. When we operate in our unique rhythm we experience harmony in body, mind, and spirit. Life flows.

We find our individual rhythm by experimentation and discovery, listening for our beat, noticing when life flows easily even in challenging times. When that is our experience, we are living in our rhythm. Notice it. Nurture it. Allow it to speak and inform. Notice times when you feel stressed, overwhelmed, or that conditions are in control. These are clues that you are not living in your rhythm.

I’m particularly aware of this as I handle the estate of my dear cousin who died unexpectedly three weeks ago. Her passing necessitated a road trip across five states and 1200 miles. It finds Zadie Byrd and me away from home for an extended time, finding our rhythm in a new environment with new challenges, new opportunities, and more interaction than in our quiet Crestone life. Adjusting, while not allowing events and conditions to overwhelm.

As I began preparing for the journey, I promised myself that I would stay in my rhythm and practice extreme self-care throughout. ‘No rush.’ ‘Everything in its time.’ ‘Allow – don’t push (and don’t be pushed).’ These are my daily mantras. They help me live in my rhythm in this new territory with its rich opportunities for learning. They remind to adjust when stress or chaos creep in.

More than ever, I’m reminded that I/we are not the chaos in the world.  Rather, I am/we are each here to walk through, to navigate, to learn to live in our rhythm, whatever that is, in ways that maintain our peace within. No matter what.

Nourished by Art and Nature

What's In Front of You

Whatever is in front of you is what you have in front of you. That’s it! Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Creative Power Released – July, 2011)

For a couple days I’ve thought about taking a vacation from these weekly posts. This morning I pulled out one of Gregge Tiffen’s booklets, Do the Angels Take a Vacation?, thinking I might find a pithy quote supporting that choice. Of course, the angels, the etheric, the unseen worlds operate 24/7/365. So, where I was led instead was to a different booklet.

The quote above immediately jumped off the page and into the muse. I had an awareness of my commitment to showing up each week to discover what wants to be shared. THAT’s what is in front of me on Wednesday morning each week.

Yes, I could use the family matter that is the focus of most of my attention these days as a reason to take a break. But as I let that choice try to settle in my bones, that ‘reason’ felt more like a cop-out, an excuse. Not that I was laying a guilty ‘should’ at my feet,  taking a break was a choice that would not bring me any sense of satisfaction.  I would miss the connection that I feel when I tap the ‘send’ button.

As I realized this and shifted my choice, my spirit lightened. I didn’t need to choose ‘this’ OR ‘that’. Both are possible and when the post is complete, I can easily put the other matter right back in front of me without a sense of pressure or overwhelm. Whew!

What’s in front of me is what’s in front of me and I am at choice about the quality and the quantity of attention whatever that is receives.

There is much in front of each of us these days. Some of it very close and personal. Some a broader focus of our care and concern for humanity and the planet.

While we may not choose the details of the event before us, ever present is the choice of how we walk through each event and how we use them to contribute to our personal growth and expansion in a world that needs our unique piece of the puzzle in order for it to unfold.

So, what IS in front of you right now? How will you use it for you?

Sign of the Times