Sacred Paths, Places and Peace

Meditation Corner

Fresh is the morning

Clear is the sky

Shiny are the rocks

Against the moist, dark Earth

Rain last evening helped quench the thirst of the soil and all who dwell in these woods. A morning after rain feels like an especially fresh start, much like a good, deep sleep when I’ve gone to bed weary. Rain and rest are balms for the soul quenching some of her longings.

Raucous raven’s cawing is dawn’s first sound as I settle in with Muse wondering where our journey will lead this morn. What wants to be revealed? Shared?

Much is stirring within and without, close to home and afar that warrants attention, reflection, care. Here at home new plants are thriving, feeding my spirit with joy as I gaze at the cheerful blooms and soft greenery with a heart full of gratitude. Afar, out there in the world, the new is being built on multiple and diverse fronts by visionaries, lovers of Earth and ALL her creatures, entrepreneurs, and others who know we must change and whose souls call forth life enhancing ways to do so: agriculture, food systems, health, energy, transportation, economies, and more. Activists are tracking and responding to what I pray are last ditch efforts to control rather than to nourish the dream of freedom and justice for ALL and the free will which we have been granted. They too are focused on multiple important fronts.

Their work inspires me. I cheer them on and lend support as opportunities to do so rise.

The last words I read yesterday evening weave with the practical wisdom of Pace e Bene’s daily inspiration several days ago:

At its heart, the journey of each life is a pilgrimage through unforeseen sacred places that enlarge and enrich the soul. John O’Donohue (Beauty: The Invisible Embrace)

and

If peace is what every government says it seeks and peace is the yearning of every heart, why aren’t we teaching it in schools? Colman McCarthy

Seemingly disparate at first read, Muse nudged me to read again, deeply. The Irish poet and the journalist each speak to our path and to paths forward. They point to paths in need of nurturing, focus, love, care. Paths that are sacred, as the journey to peace is a journey of each and all souls. Why aren’t we teaching peace? Why isn’t there a Department of Peace in each and every government from local to global?

The fearmongering of a crumbling world that is desperately trying to hang on to power and control will not stand as one by one, community by community, step by step, moment to moment we choose to recognize life’s sacredness and attend to learning, teaching, and practicing peace within and without all along the way.

The world’s woes are but reflections of darkness and pain calling out for light and healing. What world is calling to be created as we cultivate and nurture the light in our souls?

These are the musings that rise from my deep longing for a world where my stepson doesn’t feel the need to let me know that he and his family were not at the parade where a mass shooting occurred. A world where all children are safe, nurtured, nourished. Indeed, where all of us are safe, nurtured, nourished. A world where freedom and justice are the foundations of our way of life.

May we hold the challenges of this time as sacred places on our journey that enlarge and enrich our souls. May I?

Mountain Morning Mist

Investing in Soul

Magical, Mystical RAIN!

Investing in beauty is an investment in my soul.

Muse knows that I’m excited this early morning, the second day of summer (Happy Solstice!). I’m immersed in the motion of summer, engaged in a project that has long been a dream. An unexpected trip to a regional nursery is on today’s agenda. Beauty is on the horizon.

A pre-Solstice heat wave was followed by much needed and blessed rain along with cooler temperatures. Rain over several days moistened the parched earth and left behind shining rocks that look as if they’ve had a good scrubbing. Birdsong seems even more cheerful, and I sense the unseen Beings in the woods out back are dancing with me in celebration.

Nature has awakened to her season of growth. Cones are forming on the pines. Cacti are blooming. Mother Earth delights in the softness of the moisture and watching her progeny grow.

Just as I imagine the fay dancing, my mind’s ears hear a dialog among the pinons. “I’m starting my cones today,” says one. “I’m gathering my energy to begin. Maybe tomorrow or …” replies another. In the world that I know as reality, their underground communication network is in full swing, collaborating to make the best of conditions above and below ground.

I too am in motion. The expanding collection of geraniums has been moved from their winter home indoors to the outdoors, bringing life and eventually color to the deck overlooking the woods. Moving and caring for them at the season’s change has become a ritual of creating beauty.

This season a project that’s been a dream for some time is coming to fruition. One side of my home is quite barren. Seemingly it was more impacted when the home was constructed and never received any TLC. Then last year installation of the solar system disrupted it further.

After construction was complete, I asked the area what it wanted, hoping that its desires would align with my long-held ideas. The area seemed to understand that it couldn’t be returned to its natural state and simply asked for beauty. ‘I just want to be a part of the beauty of this place, the home, Nature, and the woods out back,’ is what I sensed the area to say.

Since that ‘conversation’ I’ve envisioned creating beauty that would flow visually into the woods. This week finds me putting that vision into reality. Co-creating with Nature and a creative partner who knows what plants thrive here in the mountains. He has a keen eye for creating beauty and a strong body to dig in our rocky soil. He loves doing so and engages the process with keen awareness and meditatively. A joy to create with and to watch!

We’re using, with permission, the gifts of rock and driftwood, the trees and natural terrain of this landscape adding drought tolerant, deer resistant plants many of which will attract butterflies, bees, and the hummingbirds that nest here in the summer. I’m beyond grateful for his creativity, knowledge, strength, and the level of consciousness he brings each step along the way.

As I walk among the almost overwhelming choices of plants at the nursery, I come to realize that I’m creating a landscape that I’ve dreamed of long before coming to the Rocky Mountains. I’m filled with gratitude that I can invest in creating beauty and that, even before the project is complete, offers deep nourishment to my soul. Ever-present, Muse reminds me:  Investing in beauty IS an investment in the soul.

A Bounty of Beauty

Senses of the Heart

Cottonwood Creek - My Teacher this Week

Listen with ears of the heart. See with eyes of the Heart. Pam Gregory

As I settle in to write this morning the day is barely dawning. Earlier I stepped out to see the Moon in her fullness as she moved to the western horizon. The stunning lineup of planets and the all the stars were giving way to dawn’s light. In the cool crispness I observed the clear sky, absent of smoke and haze present in recent days.

As I breathe in the fresh, cool air – deep and slow - I pull the afghan knitted decades ago by my grandmother over my legs and feet and invite Muse in.

Thinking of Gran reminds that I’ve experienced promptings this week to reflect on family. I, my generation, is the last of this branch of the family since I and my now deceased cousins each for different reasons chose not to bear children.

I don’t regret my choice, having been a partner in raising my stepson, now with a family of his own and continuing to hold him close to my heart despite the miles and life priorities that limit frequent contact. I choose not to create obligation or guilt, but to allow the relationship to flow where it flows. As Muse reminds me that a relationship based on obligation is no relationship at all, I realize that it is a decision that I’ve made with my heart, asking my head to follow heart’s lead in defying a culture that holds a particular definition of how ‘family’ should look.

These days I embrace Nature as my family of choice, the ‘family’ that I love and learn from daily. This is the ‘family’ I long to be in right relationship with. Muse prompts a wondering: is it possible to be in right relationship with another human while our relationship with Nature is askew?

In the little corner of the globe that I occupy and call home I want to right my relationship with Mother Earth and ALL of her progeny. This week She reminded me in Her gentle way that a part of right relationship requires asking permission.

For the past couple weeks, I’ve been gathering water from nearby Cottonwood Creek as a part of the experimental nourishing two pinon pines in the woods out back. Mother and Grandmother Pinon each agreed when I asked if they would be willing to receive. So, I began the process: bringing in water from the creek, mixing an Ormus formula, activating with frequency 528Hz tones, pouring around the tree. I’ve felt a deep connection to each tree as I engaged.

One morning this week at the creek as I busily filled a bucket and thanked the water, I realized that I’d never asked for permission to do so. It was as if the creek was speaking to my heart. The reminder brought a wave of guilt and sadness for my thoughtlessness, yet I knew that I was hearing through the ears of my heart.

I asked for the creek and the water’s forgiveness and for permission to continue. In hindsight I see that those words were more from my head than my heart as I quickly completed my bucket filling task and brought the water home.

I’ve carried this moment with me as I’ve observed with deep gratitude all the ways that Mother Earth and Nature support me with unquestioning, unconditional love. My heart sees the many ways that I take that love for granted, assuming that I have permission to walk on the earth wherever and whenever I choose and to use the resources She provides unconsciously and at will.

These are habits of lifetime and culture that I in this chapter of life I aim to shift by engaging the senses of my heart more fully from moment to moment and day to day.

I cannot know how my life would have unfolded if I’d learned early on to listen to Mother Earth in this way. As I feel deep gratitude that I am learning now, I wonder how our culture might be had we followed this wisdom of the ancients – listening to and working in cooperation with Nature. I aspire to do my part to give our progeny the gift of knowing. Perhaps this is a pivot we each might attend to in our own unique way.

Cones Birthing on the Grandmother Tree

Return on Investment

Morning Light in the Woods

I know it's way too Utopian to think we will all ever just hug and love each other- but proactively dealing with hate could be as important to the future as clean water. Bobby Sagar

The sky lightens earlier and earlier each morn as Mother Earth moves toward the Summer Solstice in less than two weeks. Warmer weather has arrived here in the Sangres bringing the blessing of cool evenings and crisp, cool mornings. Nature’s air-conditioning.

Just as I do as winter settles in, I remember the patterns and adjustments needed for the season: windows open at dawn, closed as the sun rises over the peaks and shines in the woods, open in the evening cool, close at bedtime lest bear feels invited in. Cycles. Adjustments. Patterns. Breaks. Life!

My investment in rest this week has returned an abundance of reflection and thought time. Cycles of light and dark have been part of that reflection. Knowing that each and every day when one part of Mother Earth is in darkness, another part is in light. The light expands in summer and contracts in winter. Consistency.

We experience this cycle 365 days a year. I’ve experienced it 26,349 times during this sojourn on the planet, far too many of those cycles unconsciously, even grudgingly. Especially in my young adult years waking to the annoying ringing of an alarm clock (remember those?). Ugh! Another day already? Do I really have to get up? In those years too few mornings were met with the tingles of gratitude, wonder, and curiosity I experience today.

Though different, my gratitude and wonder these days is reminiscent of the wonder and excitement I remember as a child. Excited to explore and discover what treasures and treasured experiences awaited, I was the first kid in the neighborhood to be awake and outside on summer mornings. I didn’t have an awareness of gratitude in those early years; perhaps my joy was sufficient.

Pen pauses. Muse has taken me on an unexpected turn in this reflective flow, but perhaps a worthy turn it is. In the morning cool and quiet I wonder how it relates to the week’s experiences and other reflections such as acknowledging the darkness in events around the globe without being overwhelmed by them.

Honoring my deep desire to be a point of light that attracts other light while maintaining my balance and sovereignty, I remember that everything is magnified by the Universe without distinguishing what we think of as good or bad. Everything. Every thought. Every word. Every deed. I experience a moment of sadness, regret for mindless words spoken to a friend when I was irritated recently and for feeling irritated itself. It’s a strong reminder to pause, to breath before speaking.

Muse smiles and reminds me about my reaction yesterday to a new structure being built nearby that seems quite out of place and character in our neighborhood and community, both its physical appearance and intended us. I think about the trees sacrificed in the name of generating a high return on investment. No regard for Nature. No regard for community and community needs. I’ve been there in that profit only mindset. I’m pivoting to a new understanding and finding new investment vehicles for the resources I have access to.  (Hmm … another unexpected turn from Muse in this morning consciousness stream.)

Gently I return to the new structure, thinking about the challenge to speak my concerns from non-judgement, non-violence, and love, putting my attention on my care for Nature and the nature of our community. I wonder if there is cause to rally neighbors in protest. How might we do so with love? And, how will I stay in my center, not getting caught in the flurry of a word storm or contributing to it, while standing in and speaking my truth?

This I sense is what we are being called to do as world chaos intensifies and the old breaks down to make way for the new. How will we invest our energy to generate returns in the form of a new world, higher consciousness, a world that works for all? How will I? How will we begin to see and understand our complicity in each of the day’s pressing issues – micro/community and macro/global - without losing heart and hope and with an eye toward making individual pivots toward that better world? How will I? How will we learn to value ALL life and reflect that value in our daily choices? How will I?

Blessing the Feeding of the Mother Pinon Pine

Presence: Am I Doing or Devoting?

Love in the woods on a snowy May morn!

Presence is a state of inner happiness. Eckhart Tolle

Devotion simply means connectivity. It’s an unquestionable connection. And it depends only on you. Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Noticing that my thoughts were scattered amidst several threads for today’s post, Muse suggested an earlier than usual morning walk. I readily agreed.

Sun hitting the snowy peaks created stunning, whispery waves of vaporous beauty. Yes! The Sangres were blessed with snow this week! Though there was a chill in the air, the morning was spring-like. Birds singing, sun warming, Zadie Byrd sniffing, all with the pageantry of wintry mountain vistas as the backdrop. Ahh … Walk and breakfast done, I invite Muse to engage …

Today and a bit too frequently recently, I’m present to scattered thoughts racing in my mind as I engage in the tasks of daily life. More often than I’d like, the thoughts are scrambled, repetitive, about ‘this’ or ‘that’ or ‘the other’ rather than having a particular or productive focus. Gratefully however they exist mostly on the positive end of the energy spectrum rather than plugging in to the pervasive negativity and fear that seem all too present in our world today. Hmm…

I pause, wondering what Muse has in mind with this thread I didn’t expect. How does it relate to the ideas and experiences that have surfaced this past week? Does it?

Muse chuckles. Energy. Everything is energy.

I pause again, letting Muse’ reminder sink in. Ah, yes, I’m beginning to glimpse a connection to the idea of distinguishing ‘doing’ from ‘devoting’ that I’d been musing about for several days. My exploration grew from a something a dear friend and wise woman shared in an email communication. “One hour a day I devote (literally) to sorting and eliminating …”.

I recognized a distinction at once – doing or devoting - and noticed how engaging from the perspective of doing for the sake of getting something done drains energy, opening the door to distracting thoughts. Scattered thoughts about ‘stuff’ steal me and my energy from being in the present moment fully, attentively, devotedly. Past or future oriented, these thoughts likewise are robbers of happiness and contentment. They disconnect me from me and from whatever task is at hand.

In finding a new depth to Tolle’s ‘Power of Now’ I’m present to how frequently I’m not present in the moment that is. Ouch! And wow!

My wise woman friend’s words offered immediate inspiration to begin to engage in my own long set aside sorting, rehoming, eliminating that which I no longer need or choose to care for along with clarity about the presence and perspective I can bring to the process, no longer a massive, overwhelming list of to dos. Rather I can hold the clearing as a sacred process of care for self and for others. A process that I devote myself, my time, my energy, and my presence to. This devotion connects me. To me. To care. To happiness.

As I write, I glance up and out into the woods, observing robin hopping on the moist ground, fully present to their search for whatever nutritious goodies lurk in the dampness. What new beginnings are ahead as I shift course from simply doing to devoting?

Mountain Morning Majesty

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

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?