After the Election: When times are uncertain

When times are uncertain, difficult, fearful, full of change,
they become the perfect place to deepen the practice of awakening.

After viewing the elections…whatever your point of view,
Take time to quiet the mind and tend to the heart.
Then go out and look at the sky.

Remember vastness, there are seasons to all things,
gain and loss, praise and blame, expansion and contraction.
Learn from the trees.
Practice equanimity and steadiness.

Remember the timeless Dharma amidst it all.
Think of the best of human goodness.
Let yourself become a beacon of integrity, with your thoughts, words and deeds.
Integrity in speech and action, virtue and non harming bring blessings.

Remember the Noble truths, no matter the politics or the season:
Greed, hatred and ignorance cause suffering. Let them go.
Love, generosity and wisdom bring the end of suffering. Foster them.

Remember the Buddha’s counsel,
“Hatred never ends by hatred but by love alone is healed.
This is the ancient and eternal law.”

The human heart has freedom in itself to choose love, dignity and respect.
In every circumstance, embody respect and cultivate compassion for all.

Let yourself become a beacon of Dharma.
Amidst the changes, shine with courage and trust.

This is your world. Plant seeds of goodness
and water them everywhere.

Then blessings will grow for yourself and for all.

Jack Kornfield   http://www.lionsroar.com/practicing-the-dharma-in-uncertain-times/?utm_content=buffer7f809&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer  

New Path

We have a new front walkway up to our house and it looks way out of place with the existing sidewalk and the house itself. The stones look old and rough but they are really new and smooth. My hope is that the newness settles to normal. Change is difficult. Most times, I want the good of the old -- the way it used to be. Most times, I want to pull the past forward with all its flaws and cracks -- pull the past forward over the present moment into the future. It doesn't work that way. The present includes the new and then as more present moments pass the old new is what is. I trust that our new walkway will grow in character with each passing day --  with more footsteps, rain and snow, a bit of lavender, a few day lilies and a pine.

Kindergarten

So, I'm finally cleaning my studio and going through some old files and envelops. First I find a photo of Jack when he was a brand new kitten and I cried big fat tears of missing him. Then I find this . . .  My heart literally whispered "not that! Not that picture of Emily on her first day if Kindergarten" -- one of the saddest and proudest days of my life. Look at her. She is five and missing her first tooth and smiling because she made it to school and they have a workbench with real tools and nails. Emily is number three child and now she was in school with her big brother and sister AND her classroom was the absolute coolest. This first day of school was a simple two hour sample so the children would know where to go and what to do. I left Em hammering at the workbench. She did not cling like all, I'm sure all, the other kids did. Their mothers comforting them with, "It will be okay, I'll be right back, you'll see." I left the room and immediately sobbed -- those dreadful, "Oh please don't let me do this in public" kind of snorting sobs. I didn't know any of the normal moms leaving school and I really didn't want to meet them. Instead I headed for the ice cream shop a block away from school, waited until they opened at 9:00, and ordered a Pralines and Cream in a dish. Yes, it did help. I was better and walked to the branch library to look at the magazines and before I knew it, it was time to pick-up Emily at school and our lives continued to thrive within all the textures and colors of family love.

Holiday Traditions

In 1986, it became a tradition for me to view traditional holidays with a wide lens.  Single folks move away from families, parents die, divorces happen. Stir the pot and you get a new mixture of tradition--possibly every holiday. How to deal? Don’t plan, do. The Thanksgiving of 1986 was my first holiday following divorce and the first time my three children packed suitcases as part of a new tradition: Thanksgiving with Dad and Christmas with Mom. Bummer. But. . .my bachelor brother had a new job in the same state as my new job. We found a halfway point between our two cities and booked reservations for two at a place called “Hays House” in Council Grove, Kansas. As it turned out we had a wonderful time within the new tradition: don’t plan, do. The route from Manhattan, Kansas to Council Grove weaves through the heart of the Flint Hills which, in my mind, is silent with poetry and sacred beauty. And, the Hays House is fantastic. The feast is just like “home” really and truly (even the vegetarian, me, had plenty of delicious salads, side dishes, veges, etc.) and lemon meringue pie is now the Thanksgiving desert! The tradition my brother and I founded has continued low these many years. The people who show up change every year and have included in-laws and out-laws, uncles and aunts, best friends, sons and daughters and 3 year old grandsons. This year the group was back to two. Chuck, my most wonderful husband, spent the traditional Thanksgiving holiday with me. I’m just plain lucky that way.

I wrote all the words

In the beginning of any project or endeavor--like a new year--there are strings of wisdom and unresolved questions that tag along. I have given little thought to where I go from here--after the accident. Tomorrow, I am to begin my old normal life and I do not know how that will look. Rather than "normal" . . . it is not. A new normal will come into the days that follow. I will form new. My work will form new. What I did and what I do will form new. Change is here and I cannot see what that means. It is after the accident. Something has ended but what starts now? What takes the place of recovery? When at an impasse, it helps to look through old journals because lessons learned seem to lead to. . . lessons learned. This morning I found words about change and recovery--over and over again. The New Year comes no matter when the new year begins. The following was written several years ago.

I wrote all the words I needed to say (the angry, nasty, cry-baby whines,  prayers, pleadings, incantations) until I was speechless — no more words. And it was exactly here that I discovered silence inside-out.  And it was exactly here that I was free and ready   to   recognize the spiritual at the core of this experience.