Yesterday I spotted the sweetest little bloom on the trail, about a mile from my home. I took quite a few pictures of the beautiful purple veining and decided I should check in on it for the next couple of days to see how it changes. Later on in the day, I was outside with my daughter in the backyard and she said, “Hey, Mom, come look at this flower! I think you’ll love it.” I walked over to find her standing over the same kind of blossom I was admiring that morning. What I liked so much elsewhere is blooming in my own backyard! This has inspired me to ask you what’s in your own “backyard” that you may not have seen? What’s so close at hand and blossoming right there at your fingertips or could be if you take a little time to notice?
Belief
When you are looking for something, it will show itself to you. It doesn’t matter what it is. If you’re looking to support some political or religious idea, proof of what you believe will emerge and the same is true for someone who believes differently than you — they will see evidence to support what they believe. This works for other areas as well, small, humorous ones. A few weeks ago I was wishing I still had a pair of pink corduroy pants that I liked but always fit me in a sort of weird way. I wanted to wear them (why?) but felt sure I had sent them out for goodwill. A handful of days later I saw a woman wearing the pants. She showed up in line next to me and I was drinking a cup of tea. I’m glad I kept myself from snorting it into the cup when I realized. Pants are obviously much less of an issue to get wrapped up in than the others mentioned, but I think communicating through lighter topics is preferable.
So if it’s possible that what you believe or want to see could be brought into your experience to reinforce what you’re already generating in thought and word, wouldn’t you like to create with care? Take a look at what’s on replay. If it’s complaining, you’re going to multiply the reasons to complain. If it’s joy, you’re going to multiply the reasons to experience joy. Hmmmmm… which one of those looks better to you?
It certainly doesn’t hurt to experiment with adjusting one of your thoughts this week to be neutral or positive and just see what happens.
Be Modest Now
words from Rainer Maria Rilke:
‘Onto a Vast Plain’
You are not surprised at the force of the storm —
you have seen it growing.
The trees flee. Their flight
sets the boulevards streaming. And you know:
he whom they flee is the one
you move toward. All your senses
sing him, as you stand at the window.
The weeks stood still in summer.
The trees’ blood rose. Now you feel
it wants to sink back
into the source of everything. You thought
you could trust that power
when you plucked the fruit:
now it becomes a riddle again
and you again a stranger.
Summer was like your house: you know
where each thing stood.
Now you must go out into your heart
as onto a vast plain. Now
the immense loneliness begins.
The days go numb, the wind
sucks the world from your senses like withered leaves.
Through the empty branches the sky remains.
It is what you have.
Be earth now, and evensong.
Be the ground lying under that sky.
Be modest now, like a thing
ripened until it is real,
so that he who began it all
can feel you when he reaches for you.
– RILKE – Book of Hours, II 1
Cobbler
A childhood memory share:
When I was 12, my mother started giving me a little space in the kitchen to make dinner ahead of her arrival home from work. My dad worked an evening shift and my sister was 2 at the time so this was fun for me and (debatably) a win for her. I wasn’t assigned to the task — I asked to be there. I liked everything about the kitchen and even better when my mother wasn’t there because I could pull the spices down and mix different ones together. I did this unabashedly with her there at first but because she prefers simple seasoning, she told me to stick to the recipes she left me. I continued to sneak in oregano, garlic, and cumin anyhow.
One day I decided it would be fun to venture off into baking and we had fresh peaches on the table. My mother suggested a cobbler when I called her at work to ask about it and that I take it to an elderly neighbor down the street who was on our church shut-in list. Okay and okay, that was checking off two things I liked, solo kitchen time and meeting someone new. I made the cobbler and felt quite proud of it when I walked it about seven houses down. The neighbor smiled at me and took a long look at the peach cobbler when I handed it to her, “Oh my, this looks so lovely. Won’t you come in for a few minutes.” I did go in but I have no recollection now of what we spoke about. I do, however, remember walking home and feeling very neighborly. Later that night my mom asked me about how the cobbler turned out and how the visit went. I said, “It was really fun. She smiled a lot when I gave her the cobbler and she thought it looked lovely.” My mom was putting something away in the cabinet at the same time and she saw a bag of marshmallows that I had left untied there, “What happened to these marshmallows!? There was a whole bag this morning.” I went in to tie them off, “Oh! I decided it would be tasty to add those to the cobbler. I covered the whole top with them!” My mom’s eyes grew as she rolled them to the side, “I bet she did smile a lot while she was trying to figure out what kind of cobbler you made her. Oh goodness, I wonder how it tastes.” She shook her head at me, “You just have to add your own special touch, don’t you?” I beamed and nodded to the truth of her words.
I still think we should all add our special touch to things in whatever way calls to us. I hope you’ll think of something to make your mark on some part of everyday whether that’s dotting i’s and crossing t’s with precision or sprinkling marshmallows on cobbler; no matter how insignificant that may look or feel, letting yourself BE exactly as you are is integral to all.
Resonance
/ˈrezənəns/
noun
the quality in a sound of being deep, full, and reverberating.
“the resonance of his voice”
When we speak of something resonating with us, we often mean we liked getting ourselves attuned to whatever it is because it felt good. Maybe we say, “His words really resonated with me because I’ve been thinking the same thing for a long while.”. Perhaps a book or a movie resonated with you because your past experiences were similar. Recently I’ve come to think of this use of resonance as more inclusive than an earlier understanding. Things we don’t like or that don’t feel good can also hold resonance with us because they need our attention. Maybe a certain opinion of you or a descriptor of situation sets off red flags because it’s true. Anything drawing any kind of response from you is resonating with you. This isn’t to say that there is truth under or around the resonance but that whatever sets your alarms off – good or bad – is waiting for you to lean into it a little more so you can find out what needs to be acknowledged.
Watchful
This very moment is the perfect teacher. – Pema Chodron
What is being shown to you? 💙✨
A Wonderful Day
This is a wonderful day, I have never seen this one before. – Maya Angelou
Find three positives about today and talk or write about them! Let gratitude for this day guide you closer to your bliss. 🌸💕
Everything Speaks
We live within a veil of illusion,
collecting scores of records on accounts by and
for something that may always elude us.
We are drawn in and yet — in is out,
though reversal may seem skewed to the
unstirred practitioner.
A far away voice calls;
the creek rattles against the rocks;
the sunset flashes through the extremities
of a starkly clad fellow,
or so it seems.
And in a dream
and in a poem we may know to
consider the underpinning of the verse.
Can we look too on the world as such
in the dissection of the universe composed
through our senses?
Can we hear how it sings,
answers, laughs and cries with us?
How dense is the language of men to distract
us from the symphony in the trees?
The words are
at the same time
too little and too much.
BE past the fidgets
We have time, a certain amount and you do not get to know how much. I heard recently that the most healing thing you can do is to sit down, in quiet and simply BE. No distractions, no music, podcasts or tv. To BE with you and the world that happens to BE around you. To accept it and find Joy past the tapping foot, past the grocery list, past irritation and memories of that last meeting at work.
Sit, or go out with no earbuds and BE in the world for a bit. Listen, walk, ride. Listen. If it is hard you may just need it the most. There is healing in the present moment of nature – YOU are nature.
The Little Things
The only thing that I want to say today is that balsamic glaze makes everything a little happier in my world. From avocado toast to veggies to baked fruit. It can even classy UP a hot dog.
Better. Happier. Positivity.
