My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
Non-violence is a power which can be wielded equally by all—children, young men and women, the elders, provided they have a living faith in the Source of Love and have therefore equal love for all humankind. When non-violence is accepted as the law of life it must pervade the whole being and not be simply applied to isolated acts.
Mohandas Gandhi
Grandfather says this: in life there is sadness as well as joy, losing as well as winning, falling as well as standing. I do not say this to make you despair, but to teach you that life is a journey sometimes walked in light and sometimes walked in shadow.
Joseph Marshall III in KEEP GOING
“My feet were placed on Mother Earth in the midst of others’
Good Buffalo Eagle, The Seven Paths
so that I might learn to walk together with them in my heart.”
The above quote is a good message to this world. It may just be the answer we are all looking for. We have proven so often that violence and hate never allows us to walk together.
A friend of mine fell a few days ago and had to have some surgery. She spent some time in rehab and was finally able to return home yesterday. So, welcome home Ruth and pray you have a quick recovery. 🙏
This is the last leg of my bicycle ride to one of my favorite coffee shops. And for many of us at the end of this path awaits one of our baristas, always greeting us with a smile, a drink of our choice, and one or two of the irregular/regulars to commiserate with. And it almost never fails that we find one of the squirrels-of-the-oval, at almost every other tree, encouraging us along on this last leg of the mornings journey. And Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers!!!
“Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path.”
John O’Donohue
We awoke to a light mist that hung around until about 8:30 am. From then on the clouds slowly gave way to blue sky and sunshine, making it a beautiful day. I drove to Pineridge Natural Area about 4:32 pm to journal and listen to the Magpies chatter. The opening blue sky and scattered clouds filled my gratitude bucket. I always seem to feel respect for nature and move into a place of silent prayer. Before I left, a meadowlark sang a simple song for me. I believe it knew I needed one. My day was made complete. I hope you had a good weekend and enjoy your coming week!
When you decide to walk the path of the mystic,
Mirabai Starr
the mundane shows up as miraculous,
the boring becomes fascinating,
and your own shortcomings
turn out to be your greatest gifts.
It began snowing just after 8:00 am this morning. At one time the snowflakes were big and beautiful. It’s what you’d expect with a springtime snow and made me smile. It has stopped and this dusting is all we are getting but we so need any moisture we can get. We are not expecting to be above 45 degrees today and it will be below freezing tonight and tomorrow night.
“I don’t think everyone wants to create the great American novel, but we all have a dream of telling our stories-of realizing what we think, feel, and see before we die. Writing is a path to meet ourselves and become intimate.”
Natalie Goldberg
One of the gifts of blogging has been the opportunity to try my hand at writing. It truly has helped me discover who I really am rather than the man wearing an assortment of masks, depending on the stage I think I’m on. As Goldberg suggests I also am not interested in writing a novel. However the daily practice of journaling and regularly posting on this blog has been a good fit for me. So bare with me as I continue on this path.
There are no shortcuts on the spiritual path, although many have tried to find one. Learning the lessons the spirit teaches takes time, patience, and perseverance. It requires a sense of discipline. It takes a level of self-awareness that can be difficult, because it requires that we are honest with ourselves. We have to look deeper. We have to study. We have to live a rule of life that never takes love for granted. It is not easy, but it is joyful. The sacred journey may take us up some very steep hills and demand we keep going on even when we are tired, but it shows us the wonder of life along the way and the purpose of life when the day is done.
Steven Charleston, Ladder to the Light
“And at some point, I thought, well, I’ve been really lucky to see many, many places. Now, the great adventure is the inner world, now that I’ve spent a lot of time gathering emotions, impressions, and experiences. Now, I just want to sit still for years on end, really, charting that inner landscape because I think anybody who travels knows that you’re not really doing so in order to move around—you’re traveling in order to be moved. And really what you’re seeing is not just the Grand Canyon or the Great Wall but some moods or intimations or places inside yourself that you never ordinarily see when you’re sleepwalking through your daily life. I thought, there’s this great undiscovered terrain that Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Merton and Emily Dickinson fearlessly investigated, and I want to follow in their footsteps.”
Pico Iyer
I do not remember being encouraged to read when I was younger, although I probably was. I know I recoiled at reading assignments in school and writing those frightening book reports. But now I find it fascinating how much I enjoy and want to read. Not sure if this is because I have more time to read, I’ve found subjects I’m interested in, or found authors who seem to put into words what I can’t. It’s most likely all the above but primarily because I find this inward journey exciting. And, words within books help me along this path of discovery. I find words become seeds which take root over time, transforming us in becoming who we were created to be. It is a gift to read and be inspired to write my own words as I follow along in their footsteps.
And today we celebrate my dad’s 95th birthday. I also want to follow in his footsteps. What a gift!
The Journey
Mary Oliver, from Dream Work
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice –
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do –
determined to save
the only life you could save.
I usually read one or two of Mary Oliver’s poems when I go to bed. This poem called The Journey, kept me awake the other night so maybe I need to rethink that routine. Anyway, the poem rocked me because it’s asking questions that I’m still asking myself at 72 years of age. It’s about transformation of an inner journey. So, it is asking if I’m willing to take all the risks involved, if I dare listen to the voice within, to face a death of some kind, to let go to something I’ve outgrown and the birth of a new self. It’s about learning to trust myself, about leaving the bad advice and demands of other people behind and even the voice of my own insecure egoic self, and to follow my own instincts, my own path in life. What does it say to you?
Today is my 72 birthday. I will most likely spend some time with my feathered friends at one of the natural areas, have a mocha or chai, get in some reading and journaling time. Basically, I’ll continue to spoil myself, even at this age.