• landscape,  quotes,  silence,  sunsets,  trees

    Silence is the stuff of life…

    March 11, 2025

    I am constantly surrounded by noise: TV, texts, the internet, music, meaningless small talk, my thinking. All of it blocks my consciousness, my ability to hear the ME that exists beneath the cacophony. I am my consciousness, my awareness of my circumstance, my presence in every moment. So I cultivate silence every morning. I sit in it, bask in it, wrap it around myself, and hear and feel me. Then, wherever the day takes me, the people I meet are the beneficiaries of my having taken that time – they get the real me, not someone shaped and altered by the noise around me. Silence is the stuff of life.

    Richard Wagamese, Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations
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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  silence,  sunrises

    Inner silent land…

    March 10, 2025
    Sunrise at Pineridge Natural Area

    Sometimes I can be overwhelmed when too many conversations are going on in my head. These disruptive conversations can be a distraction from the present moment. It reminds me of the intense chatter of the magpie sitting on the fence post near me as I witness the sunrise. It seems their only focus is about grabbing my attention, pulling me away. And, that chatter is so different, an irritating noise, rather than the songs of the heart I hear from the meadowlark or chickadee, which for me is more of an invitation to watch and listen. I am finding it a gift in learning to let go of my mind’s chatter and be more receptive to listening to my inner “silent land.” I hope you have had a wonderful Monday.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  silence,  sunrises

    Silence of Early Mornings

    March 6, 2025

    “The body is a great reservoir of wisdom. Something as simple as bodily stillness and breathing make a contribution of untold value to discovering the unfathomable silence deep within us.”

    Martin Laird

    A light rain fell during the night leaving the air soaked in moisture. I found it very invigorating to me when I stepped out the door and ventured into the new day. I witnessed the gift of sunrise at Pineridge Natural Area. As I looked east the foothills behind me had a dusting of light snow while low hanging clouds blanketed their peaks. But the warm colors of the rising sun and the golden glow on the rabbitbrush was where my photographer’s eye focused. I love the silence, the stillness of early mornings. Spring is quickly coming and change is inevitable. Hoping you have a wonderful day!

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  • coffee life,  quotes,  trees

    … join the dance

    March 5, 2025

    The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

    Alan Watts

    I arrived four minutes before the coffee shop opened and stood outside. I watched and listened as the wind blew begging the trees to dance with her. Even in these unsettled times of our society and with the wind of change blowing, I stood there having a feeling of being settled and calm inside. I took a couple long steady breaths of prayer, raised my camera and took four images of the gently swaying trees. Shortly, my barista, Winter, opened the door and I entered to enjoy her mocha latte and the gift of my coffee life. And, I knew I was joining in the dance.

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  • landscape,  meadow,  natural areas,  nature,  poems,  poetry,  sunrises

    Only the meadow remains…

    March 4, 2025
    This morning’s sunrise at Pineridge Natural Area

    In the early morning hours
    I sit in silence with the meadow and
    allow her to embrace me.

    I share the dawn of this new day
    while listening to the owl’s cry
    echo through the meadow.

    This shared intimacy with the meadow
    has a way of giving birth to new life
    in the ground of my being.
    … I am, therefore, never the same!

    And, I hear in this sacred place
    an unspoken invitation to return again
    each time bringing an awareness that
    each short visit is but a passing moment.

    So, whenever and while I still can
    I will sit with the meadow
    until only the meadow remains.1This was inspired from a poem written by Li Po (Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain) in the book Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems.

    mws
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  • quotes,  shadows

    … when we glimpse it

    March 3, 2025

    Our religious experience begins and ends with the heart. It begins with the insight that our heart is restless. A world of things can never fully satisfy its restless quest. Only that nothing beyond all things that we call meaning gives us rest when we glimpse it. The quest of the human heart for meaning is the heartbeat of every religion.

    Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer

    When I returned from my bicycle ride to coffee this morning I caught a glimpse of the sunlight coming through my bedroom window. I knew it as a voice telling me there was a photo being offered. Did I want it? Just a glimpse is all it takes for us to see something that’s small and irrelevant at times and now has something simple to offer. I wanted it! Some would call it a spiritual experience. After looking at the quilt I rememberd it was a handmade quilt given to me by my friend, Judith, who died of cancer 17 years ago. Maybe she was behind that voice.

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