Our second session of Finding Spirit Here Now yesterday afternoon we worked with our Earth Paintings in the woods and gathered for a photo.  We actually found two trees forming a fork in which to prop the camera and using the timer get all of us!  Talk about synchronicity.  Unfortunately Penny was not with us - maybe next week we'll get the whole group.  What a beautifully inspiring day it was  - certainly for me!  We found beech trees with some of the leftover brown leaves still on the trees and new green ones also on the same tree.  Yellow jasmine is blooming.  In just one week the change has been miraculous.  What was gray and brown is now green - the tiny leaves that are peeking out will by next week be much bigger and soon the forest will be so full of green it will be difficult to see our trail marking flags on the trees.  But, by now, we've packed down the leaves and mulch enough we can't lose our way..... No, the 3-holer hasn't been used in many years, but it's still standing.  Actually pretty upscale with lids and even a toilet paper holder on the wall at the upper left in the photo.  But no Sears Roebuck catalog!........other news - first hummingbird has shown up and began using the feeder no more than a half day after I hung it. 

No, I didn't drive, Todd did.  What a beautiful day it was - we left about 9 and returned about 7 after a fantastically beautiful day of riding to The Light Center near Black Mountain, NC and back down Hwy 9 to Heartspace grand opening - so we got in two spiritual retreat center visits in one day!!!  At the Light Center had our first exposure to color treatment where all the chakra colors were fed into us during a 35-minute meditation session.Great mid afternoon meal at Lake Bowen Fish Camp.  Mostly, on the trike all day.  The first stretch of interstate from Clinton to near Asheville was windy to say the least.  70 mph flying down the highway is absolutely exhilarating. The air actually smells and tastes better than usual - wonder what causes that?  There was an angel cloud formation leading us at one point.  Dogwoods and redbuds are blooming and thrift, and the sun was shining all day.

To the Mountains

Good morning!  Off to the NC mountains - Black Mountain - for a visit to a spiritual center.  First time -  don't know what to expect - except a new experience - and that's always exciting for me!  Looking forward to a great day!  Hope yours is too!

Life is Good

Once in a while an awakening is absolutely heavenly.  This morning was one of those.  I slept with my window open beside my bed and when I pulled up the shade I watched a chickadee building her nest in one of the rafters of the porch and listened to two frogs conversing while I watched the sunlight spread across the Pond as it rose higher from behind the trees.  As you can imagine, my morning meditation was good.  Speaking of that, last evening we ended our yoga class with some breathing practice (pranayama) and a meditation session listening to a Robert Gass CD of monks chanting Om.  It doesn't get any better than that.  The day was good too - finally cleaned out my small herb/veggie bed and planted a basil plant and two bell peppers.  Love getting my hands in the earth.  Life doesn't get any better than this! 

Suffering - Separation



Dr.Doolittle and Harry at The Yogatorium

This photo says "togetherness" to me. This morning I reviewed some of my papers and ran across this statement from Deepak Chopra's The Third Jesus - a teacher of enlightenment.  The separate self does not exist.  All suffering comes from feeling separate.  This is one of 14 principles he presented and is one most relevant to me this morning.  Strange that I sometimes do feel separate and suffer.  Then the question is how do we avoid feeling separate?  The obvious answer to me is by "giving back"  - As St. Francis is credited with saying ".....grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that we receive..........."

Rainy Day Ponderings

Perhaps you'll enjoy seeing my home on the Pond, the Yogatorium and finally the cabin in the distance.  Some of you may not have actually been here - at least not for a while.  (Karen Mertens photo).  Today is another beautiful rainy morning!  I cannot believe how many of these days we've had - my favorite kind since I always feel free to stay in, look out the big window and watch the circles forming on the surface of the Pond.  This morning I have two candles burning that lit up the room earlier this morning enough to read by!  Somehow I feel permission to "Just Be" on days like this which, usually, turn out to be some of my most productive thinking, writing, meditating, and contemplating times.  Those activities that make life worth living!  At least for me.  Of course, a day or two of this is enough.  Then it's time to switch gears and be outside.  Just yesterday I bought my first new plants this year - basil, and a couple of bell peppers.  Even before I cleaned out the bed.  So, when the sun shines, I'll get to do that - put my hands in the dirt and add a bit of new life to it, wake it up from its sleep, and stick the new plants in the ground.  In my walk in the woods yesterday I found a whole collection of brightly colored red maple seeds on the ground - I'll plant a few of those also and see what happens, maybe in a pot.  Did you know there is something red on a red maple (acer rubrum sp.) year round?  Seeds, flowers, leaves, and even twigs in the dead of winter!

It Takes a Village

This morning's meditation revealed - "It takes a village."  So, I've spent an hour or so contemplating this.  In my spiritual journey, I am definitely taking advantage of being a part of a village where each member is seeking her or his own truth.  Without these partners - soul sisters and brothers - the journey would be very difficult and certainly more frustrating.  The frustration comes from not knowing.  After all, that is the intention - to know.  Each step is more fruitful with support.  Providing support for other village members is part of the trip, too, and perhaps the most beneficial for my own work.  This morning I am so very grateful for all contributors to my own understanding - people, plants, animals - all of creation.  I've been spending more time outside looking, feeling, hearing, smelling, and breathing - communicating and growing.  Green is showing up in new places every day.  I, too, am gradually, slowly, becoming anew.  13 Thanks to all of my accompanying brothers and sisters - my soul village.