My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
“The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection; it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable. Each life is clothed in raiment of spirit that secretly links it to everything else.”
John O’Donohue
Since this is a scene on my bicycle ride to coffee you will probably see a few more images of it.
Not only does silence give us a chance to understand ourselves better, to get a truer and more balanced perspective of our own lives in relation to the lives of others: silence makes us whole if we let it.
Thomas Merton
Saturday mornings are my coffee and conversation time with my friend, Eric, which means a short drive to Windsor. Since we are expecting rain later today I thought the sunrise may offer colorful clouds so I drove by Arapaho Bend Natural Area. I set up my camera and tripod on the west side of Beaver Pond and then shot towards the east. It was the warmest morning of this past week but a nice cool breeze made it very comfortable. The breeze created small waves across the water. I received the gift of pink clouds reflected in the water and the silence it offered. May you enjoy your weekend!
The places in which we are seen and heard are holy places. They remind us of our value as human beings. They give us the strength to go on. Eventually they may even help us to transform our pain into wisdom.
Rachel Naomi Remen
After a conversation with my friend, Jeff, about the above quote I did some google search on the word “holy.” I found the Hebrew word for “holy” is kodesh, which comes from the root word “Kadash” and in simple terms means to be set apart for a specific purpose. I personally like that meaning! But for some of us the word “holy” or even “sacred” refers to a connection with religion and we can recoil. I have been wounded by religion in my past. But I am realizing there has been enough healing that holy for me does not leave a negative reaction. I also believe Remen’s quote is focusing on the “places” and that we are seen and heard whether we call it holy, sacred, or whatever. I can easily refer to several places I connect with as beautiful places, enchanting places, magical places, inviting places, places for community, places of solitude and quiet, places of healing or forgiveness, places to be seen and heard. These places can be in nature, a coffee shop, my condo, my body, an open prairie, a mountain meadow and the places the story in a book can take us. I find myself grateful in embracing all these places, whatever adjective we place in front of it. Thanks, my friend, for the stirring conversation that led me to journal but mostly blog about this. It has been magical day today, perfect day for bicycling.
Here is where I found that Hebrew definition.
The healing of our present woundedness may lie in recognizing and reclaiming the capacity we all have to heal each other, the enormous power in the simplest of human relationships: the strength of a touch, a blessing of forgiveness, the grace of someone else taking you just as you are and finding in you an unsuspected goodness.
Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom
I sit on a rock bench looking out across Big Bass Pond at Arapaho Bend Natural Area. It’s about 1:57 pm. I feel the warmth of the 77 degree temperature but accepting the grace of relief provided by the cloudy skies. I notice the small world of life all around me that I so often overlook. Bees, butterflies, and beetles feasting on the nectar of the rabbitbrush. Ants, spiders, grasshoppers and unnamable bugs scurry or jump around me. Cottonwood leaves become intricate works of art as the autumn equinox arrives. And the cattails showing the golden tips of their swords. I am grateful to slow down and experience the healing given by being present to this world. It is a gift that has much to teach me. Now a rumble of thunder gives notice for me to move on. By the time I reach the car, raindrops have begun to fall. (Entry from my journal.) So here are three images from the afternoon.
This morning a steady, gentle rain falls. It began just after I got up, around 4:30 am. My weather app predicts it will continue until mid afternoon. I have my front door open so I can hear and take in the fragrance of this refreshing rain. It’s a good day to journal, read and work on this blogs transformation. Thanks for being here and have a great day!
Our true home is what the Buddha called the island of self, the peaceful place inside of us. Oftentimes we don’t notice it’s there; we don’t even really know where we are, because our outer or inner environment is filled with noise. We need some quietness to find that island of self.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Silence
It has been a beautiful morning here in Colorado. I felt the need to spend part of this morning within nature so I headed to Pineridge Natural Area for the gift of quiet this new day brings. I found my rock, setup my camera and tripod then sat in the quiet. A group of 30 or so magpies noisily flew over. I wonder how often they make the noise just to draw attention to themselves or just to annoy me or both. And, is it noise to them? Yet, I would have it no other way. The pink along the horizon was just what I needed. I had the area pretty much to myself (and the magpies). I brought along one of my flutes and played a couple of songs, sending those notes and a couple squeaks (noise for sure) out across the meadow. I did rather well with Cherokee Morning Song but Zuni Sunrise needs more practice. Anyway it was a great place to embrace the quietness of that island of self. I will meet Eric shortly for coffee and conversation. I hope you enjoy your weekend.
“To see takes time, like to have a friend takes time,”
Georgia O’Keeffe
I enjoyed my day with Earl and Bonnie yesterday and we made it a full day. Since we did not sign up in time for the timed entry into Rocky Mountain National Park we made some adjustments on the tour. Earl did the driving while I shouted directions. The tour included spotting three Bighorn Sheep in a meadow and able to take a few images. We made it a loop up to Estes Park, Allenspark, Lyons, then back down through Loveland, and Fort Collins. We stopped several times including a nice Restaurant called La Mariposa in Lyons for lunch. The tour also included include showing a couple of the Naturala Areas I visit. We were not able to meet up today but I will have breakfast with them in the morning. They are wonderful, warm, and good people which makes for rich, deep and open conversations. It’s nice to meet our virtual friends face-to-face. I wish we could have had more time.
Wherever you are can be a sacred place if you are there in a relaxed and serene way, following your breathing and keeping your concentration on whatever you’re doing.
Thich Nhat Hanh
The above quote is true for me because I experience many places as sacred. Sitting in my Adirondack chair and journaling, my mornings at coffee shops, times spent in Natural Areas, drives to the open vistas of the eastern prairies, and my bicycle rides are all sacred places and times for me. Because I feel that way it is also my responsibility to treat each of these with respect as a sacred place. I watched a man walking yesterday, without a dog, but picking up after someone else’s dog. He was doing his part in keeping the sidewalks as a sacred place. I see him as a good teacher! Now, may I be a good student and thus be a good teacher!
It looks to be a wonderful fall day here in Colorado. I am pleased to have friends Earl and Bonnie visiting from North Carolina. I met Earl via our blogs and actually was able to meet with him in Charlotte one evening for dinner over 10 years ago. I had never met Bonnie until yesterday when we met up for lunch. They are pleasant, warm and inviting people. We are going to meet this morning and venture up into the mountains. I will report about our adventures later.
“To see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”
Georgia O’Keeffe
… beginnings and endings are always right up against each other. Nothing ever ends without something else beginning or begins without something else ending.
Rachel Naomi Remen
Silence has many dimensions. It can be a regression and an escape, a loss of self, or it can be presence, awareness, unification, self-discovery. Negative silence blurs and confuses our identity, and we lapse into daydreams or diffuse anxieties. Positive silence pulls us together and makes us realize who we are, who we might be, and the distance between the two. Hence, positive silence implies a choice, and what Paul Tillich called the “courage to be.”
Thomas Merton
After my meditation and quiet I ventured up to Pineridge Natural Area to spend time in the silence I find in this sanctuary. Baby cottontails greeted me as I arrived. Rabbitbrush and sunflowers danced with the light wind. No words in this silence but so much is said and heard. To me this is positive silence. As I stood there and watched the sun break through the clouds a light rain began to fall. The light rain was refreshing with both its feel and fragrance. May you have a wonderful Sunday and the “courage to be.“