• coffee life,  coffee shops,  quotes

    Presence is wisdom!

    November 8, 2024
    Journaling with a chai latte, while watching it snow outside

    Wisdom is precisely a different way of seeing and knowing the ten thousand things in a new way. I suggest that wisdom is precisely the freedom to be truly present to what is right in front of you. Presence is wisdom! Those who can be present will know what they need to know, and in a wisdom way.

    Richard Rohr

    It began snowing in earnest about 9:30 am, offering us big, beautiful moisture filled snowflakes. I met Jeff earlier for tea and conversation, then stopped by the Arboretum Coffee shop to journal for a while. The small chai latte was a perfect pairing with my journaling. This coffee shop is a nonprofit that is striving to “create a community where refugees and immigrants can rebuild their lives with dignity, gain essential skills, and form meaningful connections.” I come here because I want to support that ideal. So far my interaction with all these baristas has not given me a feeling of working with a criminal, the drug cartel or that I’m  in any danger. The only problem I’ve had is our language differences but that is improving! What’s cool about that is we don’t throw up our hands but keep at it until I get skim milk rather than whole. I’m finding my name is strange to them and love how they sometimes say it. If I remain open and willing to encounter wisdom, then these baristas have much to teach me, to enhance my life, and a chance to be present to each other. Seems there is more danger around the white privileged who think they think they know. I much prefer Rohr’s notion that wisdom is precisely a different way of seeing and knowing the ten thousand things in a new way. I want to be a seeker of wisdom.

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  • leaves,  Plants,  quotes

    Things are wet

    August 9, 2024

    You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.

    Henry David Thoreau

    Things are wet. And, because of that photo opportunities were everywhere. So, I took my camera with me to get the mail yesterday afternoon. And by doing that I stayed present as I’ve learned there is no other life but this. No mail but I did return with a few images that depict our weather condition. Even has a tinge of fall to it.

    So I had an enjoyable, serene, quiet time of prayer and meditation this morning. Then a half hour later burst out in profanity at my phone. Shows I am a work in progress. It is a cold, humid, and misty morning. It’s the perfect morning for an Old Town Mocha at Mugs and made by my barista, Emily. Have a wonderful Friday!

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  • fountain pens,  journal,  writing/reading

    This is not unusual…

    September 20, 2023

    It’s approximately a 40 foot walk from my front door to my car. This morning I had a half dozen thoughts racing through my head and at least two conversations by the time I reached the car. This is not unusual. Nor do I want these thoughts to go away, they are part of my humanity. However, what I desire is to let them pass on, allowing me to stay present to this world I am a part of. On those mornings when I do stay present, letting those thoughts pass on, I receive the gifts offered in being awake. When that happens I notice the squirrel hanging upside down on the tree, their eyes silently fixed on me. Or maybe I notice the small dew-drop globes of the spider’s web reflecting the morning sunlight. Or I notice the multicolored leaves-of-fall blanketing the grass. And, if I listen I can hear the jeers and clicks of a nearby blue jay. Those mornings when I stay present are so much more enjoyable to me. Today was not one of them. However, I think I was much more present to the mocha latte.

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  • Art,  coffee life,  coffee shops,  latte art,  musings,  writing/reading

    A “to-do” list

    August 25, 2023

    I’ve noticed how several of my baristas, as well as other people, will often ask me what I have planned for my day. Some days that’s easy to answer because I do have a list of things. While other times that’s not as easy to answer because I have no to-do list. It got me to reflect on that what am I going “to be” today appeared more relevant than what I was going “to do.” So, in my journal I wrote answers to the question, What sort of human will you be today, Monte? My writings brought up some interesting thoughts. You can laugh at these, discount them, add to them or stop reading this post and get on with your day’s to-do list. Either way here is a short and incomplete list.  

    I want to be kind, loving, fully present, virtuous, reflective, forgiving, open minded, honest, prayerful, happy, my true self, caring, thankful, respectful, and a listener. I see that most of this list is my life lived through my attitude, intentions, and approach to life. Now the following list are roles that I can strive to do through my actions and efforts: to be a photographer, a writer, a creative, a student and the best son, brother, father, friend I can be. Seems it may be we need to be and do.

    There is no simple answer to this question except maybe “to be all that I can be”. Yet, I cannot be any of those without putting some action to them, which means a “to-do” list that includes how I approach living my life. Another good question to ask myself is if am I thinking about what I could do for others, what I could pack into the stream of life or am I just thinking of myself? Thanks for listening to my ramblings this morning, if you did.

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  • poems,  poetry,  writing/reading

    A Contemplative Life

    May 17, 2023

    To live a contemplative life means to consciously put aside the thousand demands of the world and offer ourselves the gift of being in the present moment, alert to the signs of the sacred that are breaking through everywhere, always…

    Mirabai Starr
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  • National Parks,  spirituality

    Solitude is in the Present

    May 6, 2009
    Empty Bench in Shennandoha National Park
    Empty Bench in Shenandoah National Park

    “Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it.” Thomas Merton

    As time has move on and my age has increased I joyfully welcome my times of solitude. We can create a place in our homes to sit in quiet solitude to start and end our days. With our busy and noisy world I also seek to find places outside the community of cities and towns. I can find these places in our parks, both local and national. To some this bench may seem lonely while shrouded by fog but it is offering rest to anyone who wishes to sit. 

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