• clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  sunrises

    The miracle is…

    I sit quietly on a rock looking out over the meadow and Dixon Reservoir.
    I feel gratitude for this morning sanctuary, this sacred and holy place.

    With my journal and pen in hand, I try to express what I am seeing and experiencing.
    My sense of hearing is alert to the chatter of the magpies and the songs of robins and meadowlarks.
    I feel the gentle but cool breeze that reminds me it’s still early spring.
    I’m noticing the color green beginning to dominate in the trees and grasses of the meadow.
    I watch the ever changing and beautiful clouds along the eastern horizon
    as they add a feeling of mystery to this moment.

    Within me is a knowing that what I’m experiencing is an expression of the Divine
    and the miracle is that we are here at all.1This was inspired by the quote “The miracle is that we are here at all” by Richard Wagamese, Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations

    mws
  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  sunrises

    Behold This Day

    Behold this day. It is yours to make.

    Black Elk

    It’s always a good way to start my day by watching the dawning of a new day. It helps me to filter out the bulls**t the world will throw out there. So, after making a chai latte I made my way to Pineridge Natural Area. There is something healing and nurturing about sitting above Dixon Reservoir and being a witness to its gifts. Yes, the day is ours to make.

  • clouds,  landscape,  quotes,  sunrises

    A dusting of snow

    I’ve come here to drink milk and kick ass… I’ve finished my milk.

    A quote I read on the license plate frame of a car this morning.

    I woke to a dusting of snow and a cold 28 degrees. After quiet time and a smoothie I drove to Windsor to meet Eric for coffee and conversation. Sunrise was rather nice, so I stopped for a photo and took in the gift being offered. And, on my way home I had to laugh and share with you the above quote I read on the license plate frame of a car in front of me. Hope you have a kickass weekend!

  • bicycling,  clouds,  landscape,  quotes,  sunrises

    Growing through life’s challenges…

    Predawn light over campus on my bicycle ride to coffee

    You have countless opportunities to grow through life’s challenges—in other words, to become an ever more fully, deeply human human being. This is the meaning of the Yiddish word mensch. Someone whose humanity shines through the darkness of this world. Someone who believes in the fundamental goodness of life and embodies it. Not despite challenging experiences, but as the result of having practiced facing them with courage and kindness.

    Mirabai Starr, Ordinary Mysticism
  • landscape,  sunrises

    The mystery of infinite possibilities

    If it is true that we are made out of love to be love then our possibilities can be infinite…

    mws

    I have always been an early riser but with aging and the shift in my circadian rhythm, I invariably rise before the sun rises. I’m okay with that. But, that also means I post a lot of sunrise images. It is in these hours of silence, solitude and fatigue that I am learning to fully listen to the voice of love within me. It even seems to be louder and more persistent as time goes on. I hope I’m not rattling people’s cages when talking about love in our current political environment of hatred, self-interest and chaos. Many are in a place of grief, fear, and dismay. I can find myself going there quickly but thankfully not camping there, finding more restful and peaceful places to live. Writing this out is one of my tools. The above quote rattled around in my head last night and would not let me go back to sleep until I got up and wrote it down. I am at a place where possibilities are beyond and greater than my imagination, and maybe yours, also. I find myself full of questions and almost no answers while experiencing an unexpected gift of contentment, some inner okayness. And the questions come. What if a change in people’s hearts “is” a real possibility? What if the voices of hatred, chaos, drama, fear, greed can be silenced through love? What if letting go of our old patterns of thinking that power, money and privilege will bring peace, community, justice and the end of war? Because it never has! What if we let go of our finite thinking, which is often based in fear, and embrace the possibilities we’ve never dreamed of? What if we are made with love to be love? What if we let go of what we think are the only possibilities and embrace the mystery of infinite possibilities? Thanks for listening and I hope this has not been too confusing.