Today I am posting this on the fly, so will allow the images and words below to do the talking... Wishing you all a wondrous week ahead!
("I awakened filled to the brim with gratitude this morning, deeply contented as I lie awake reflecting on these couple of days away. It is a privilege to take time apart from responsibility, returning home enriched by this time of respite, connection, nurturance, and laughter. I am tucking this bit of awareness away— that when rest can follow hard work, it enlivens me to better continue in the flow...")
("After spending the weekend with a friend I have known deeply since age 16, I was thinking of the many layers that develop from experiences in our lives as we are fortunate enough to continue growing— recognizing that underneath those rings, the core of who we are remains vibrant and alive in the very center of our beings. How precious it is when we can share that with one another, no matter how long we have known each other, and honor the essence of one another...")
("I stepped out on the stoop this morning, drinking in the coolness of the heavy and expectant moist air. Before I could take a third breath, rain turned from a sprinkle to a downpour, pummeling the trees and hills across the road and down the hollow with sounds I love, before making its way to where I was standing. It felt good to be dry while being surrounded by this sudden deluge. I had just been noticing the barely visible clouds that were churning by, hardly discernible, one from the other, in their thick gray mass. The thought went through my mind that underneath all that gray and wall of rain, lay blue sky. Today, I am happy for the rain, as I will be inside tending to my house, but it is comforting to know that the blue remains beneath.")
("I did my morning exercise on top of our storm shelter this morning, overlooking the ridge and under the swaying branches of a water maple tree... as I lie down and looked around me, I noticed these minuscule green pod-like seeds, which I have never noticed in the eleven years we have lived here. I am quite sure they have been there all along, doing their thing in the life cycle of the tree, but I had not slowed down or gotten near enough to the ground on which they lay to see them. As I painted a small pile of them, each not more than 2-3 mm in diameter, I realized we are much like these beings— small in the grand scheme of things, yet integral to the life of the tree, forest, earth, universe... We all matter!")
("This morning’s circle revolves around wanting to quit and start anew. I think this one ties a few others in terms of disliking the painting intensely throughout most of the process, and not knowing how to bring it to completion, let alone redeem it. I realized I was the only one who would know if I started over, but stayed with it because I knew I would feel better. As I muttered through my discontented strokes and my fidgeting agitated body on the chair, I applied layer after layer, accentuating elements that I was trying to avoid and cover up, knowing there was meaning in each mark, at least in my unconscious. We all struggle with these feelings in things that matter much more than a daily mindfulness exercise, and find the energy to persevere. Wishing you all the harnessing of intention within yourself to keep at the things that bring struggle...")
("How do those things that live on the outer edge of our imagination and daily vision get brought into the circle of sight? It is a mystery, and reassuring that always, an abundance remains to be seen...")
("Warm and cool swing back and forth not only in temperature as the days transition to fall, but in the multitude of ways we experience highs and lows, joy and pain, chaos and peace, connection and disconnection in our lives. I am grateful there are moments of balance and space between, for the richness they bring, and for the strong and quiet thread that stitches these disparate parts into wholeness.")