Blog

Dog Days of Summer

And so the dog days of summer have arrived.

Every day is hot and humid.

My house doesn’t have air conditioning, and the days plod by.

It’s all I can do to sit at the dining room table under the spinning ceiling fan, and wait for the night to come.

Fortunately, most nights are cooler than the days. .

But with sticky heat, the cool is still damp.

I often have two fans on me as I drift off to sleep. Both timed to run most of the night.

And as the heaviness of the day dissipates, I sweat while waiting for sleep.

Like the pebbles I balance each action with gravity, with potential consequences,

and I sigh with the slightest breeze.

Release all the things you hoped to do this summer.

Feel the season polishing you with heat, with rain, with love.

And breathe, friends. Just breathe.

As you breathe, listen to this short guided meditation of a journey on a hot air balloon.

Cover Up

Have you girded your loins? Are you ready to do battle? Are you one of those who have armed your self for the long fight ahead?

Isn’t it funny how so much of our language depends on duality, on the contest between us (the good guys) and them (the bad guys?)

Our most popular sports are even grounded on the concept of conquering the other guys.

This concept denies the fact that we are all one. Outward appearances, societal and cultural differences aside, at the very essence of our being, there is no difference between us and them, them and us, me and you.

Take off your armor.

Renounce the battle.

Engage in conversation out of curiosity, not to prove your point.

Focus your actions hyper-local in your neighborhood or community:

start a Little Free Library like my friend Beth Ann,
plant a garden and share the abundance with neighbors,
reach out to the Women’s Shelter or food pantry,
find a local organization that speaks to your heart and actively participate.

True, there are national and international issues that may concern you. Know that your local action plays a small and essential part of healing the whole of humanity.

And, if you feel so inspired, step onto the larger world stage.

And all the way, do not cover up. Do not hide your passion. Do not don your armor for battle.

For heaven’s sake (for humanity’s sake and for Gaia’s sake) take off the chain mail.

Put down the swords, the guns, the bombs, the vicious words, the Us versus Them mentality.

Be real. Be clear. Be mindful.

Bring love and compassion to the negotiating table.

Bring curiosity to the table and see how your difference in perspective changes everything.

River Water Tumbles Over Rocks

The calming blue of the river water tumbles over rocks, into a chasm of turmoil, and then returns to calm as it makes its way to the sea.

Over time the water carves river beds and smooths rocks.

September is the month of change: brisk breezes, green leaves begin to turn, school commences. The summer sun diminishes and, every so often, we see (brief) snow flurries here in Michigan.

Take a poll of your co-workers and friends, and many will say their favorite season is autumn – a time of change. Yet how many are resistant to change?

Advice tells us to “go with the flow,” but what does that really mean? What does it look like in real life?

To discover the secret, watch a river flowing gently over rocks, or over a great waterfall.

Can you imagine the water in a river complaining about the weather, news, family member, friend, or restaurant?

Never.

Yet our lives are comprised of significant amounts of chatter.

The water, on the other hand, pays no mind to the past nor worries about the future, and tumbles gleefully over the brink of change.

I’m not advocating that you do not prepare for the future. In fact, when I’m getting ready for travel, I routinely look at maps, read reviews, and do anything and everything to learn about the destination.

But when I embark on the journey, I bring the little I need, and let the rest go as it may.

I am as prepared as I’ll ever be, and that is enough.

This month, know that you are enough of everything you need for anything that may come your way.

Like the river water, tumble over the rocks of change with glee and be transformed.

Vision Boards for Envisioning Your Future

There have been one or two key points in life when I’ve been working on something so deep that words cannot express or even begin to access the greater implications or meaning.

I am going through another one of those phases these days, and have been for perhaps a year.

It’s not a disease. If anything, it’s closer to the inner transformation I’ve read about from women who ‘hibernate’ at the start of perimenopause only to re-emerge several years later at the dawn of true menopause with their ‘true selves’ fully engaged.

Whatever that means, or whatever that may be. Because while I take all of those words seriously, I also find them pretentiously hilarious.

That’s my viewpoint of the juxtaposition within life: always the fool, never the fool, never fooled, often fooled. I know what I know when I know it, and until then I know nothing. And often when I do know, I mostly know I know nothing.

I don’t know, for example, what those sentences mean.

But I do know, that when I work deep, diving into art helps shed light. Guided by intuition, I wield a mean pair of scissors and create vision boards.

Collage (aka the #visionboard #actionboard #dreamboard of the #lawofattraction approach to life) at it’s very basic is rummaging through magazines, cutting or tearing out cool things, and slapping them onto a poster board.

Some people set clear goals for their boards: I want to own a big house and have a fancy car.

Not me.

I rarely have a specific goal in mind when creating a vision board, and am more looking to give voice to or express a deep feeling or desire.

Of course, I had to buy all of the supplies because who subscribes to magazines anymore? It’s like writing a check or reading the newspaper – I rarely, if ever do these things that used to be normal.

In the end, I have five total vision boards to share. Perhaps you’ll find clues to where I’m heading, perhaps not. I’m still not sure, so any insight you have should prove interesting at least.

That’s the thing about my vision boards; they touch something deep, and words and actions come later, if at all. Often times, it’s enough to have expressed the desire.

First up is “There’s More Day.”