Life Just Keeps Happening...

Listening to the rain at the window,
trying to calm this frazzled body
after another week in the “family vortex.”

Listening to the sound of the rain come and go,
as storms roll through,
one after another this night…

The rain hits the large zucchini leaves in the neighbor’s garden,
tick, thunk, tick…
and the metal downspout,
clink, plank, clink…
Delightful sounds ~

I watch lightening streak through the sky,
cutting through the clouds;
dancing a beautiful light show.

Life just keeps happening…

That’s what nature teaches me -
Life just keeps happening no matter what.
It always amazes me how nature just keeps being itself.
The world keeps grinding on, despite what’s going on in our personal lives;
or physical bodies.

Life just keeps happening…

Although sometimes I feel like my body is caught in a grinder,
being pulverized by life…

So I come to sit at the window at night to regain a sense of Self,
to come back to nature for a bit of rejuvenation;
to sit in Silence of ‘The Beloved’

Life just keeps happening…

It seems the “remedy” for this helter-skelter life I’m living is awareness –
just stopping –
being aware of nature –
the sights, the smells, the sounds;
aware of the Life that is living here;
aware of the Silence that breathes me…

And rest ~

Deep rest ~

Doing nothing ~

Just Being ~

Just listening ~

to Life happening.

~

Storms roll through…

The family vortex spins…

And Life just keeps happening…


~ ♥ ~


Mystic Meandering
copyright
July 2011


Art: Bee Vortex

I actually did this one several weeks ago
but it seemed fitting for this post.
It is a combination of a couple of colors
but one in particular kept dragging,
creating these splotches,
giving it a rather
hectic look,
like a vortex of bees…

Or maybe that’s just my
projection at the moment :)

Hibernating Land...

Frozen Earth bound in time,
preparing for the thaw,
allowing flow and movement
to regain rhythm and rhyme…

Frozen streams of frosted glass
crystallize the sun;
forming lances of light to illuminate
the path,
through this natural prism,
opaquely wrapped.

The silence of the hibernating land
speaks in loud whispers
through the trees;
crying soul-callers of the sky
fly in comfortable bands,
sounding the homing call,
kindredly clanned.

Come Home
Be Free...



Mystic Meandering
copyright
January 1998


photo - sun through frost on window
Feb. 2010

Heron Wisdom

Heron was a kind of totem for me about 9 years ago. She first showed up when I was dealing with the break up of two very close female friendships in one year. I would go out on walks in my favorite area, sit on the grass and seek “counsel” from Nature. One day as I was sitting, I happened to look up and saw a Great Blue Heron flying overhead. I took it as a sign, my “message” from Nature, if you will. Heron has been showing up off and on ever since.

“Nature meditation” is different from sitting meditation in that awareness seems to be more acute, more vivid, involving more of the senses. It becomes an experience of breathing in the sights, sounds and smells: seeing, noticing, observing, connecting. It’s when I *feel* the alive Stillness of Life humming around me. I automatically take huge deep breaths as I cross over the foot bridge to the pathway, breathing in the aliveness – entering a refuge. It’s where I relax, slow down, and feel open and receptive at a different level than in sitting meditation. As I start each walk I ask “Spirit” (how I refer to the inner Life of everything) to “speak” to me through Nature today – to reveal the Truth of a situation. Sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn’t. But usually it’s in subtle ways – through things that catch my attention along the way. And so I become aware. I notice. I look. And I wait. Yesterday I asked for a “sign” about our current situation.

As I passed by the little wild life habitat pond I scanned the edges curious to see if there was a Heron. I was actually hoping I’d see one – but nothing. I kept walking and then on the return trip scanned the pond again. Nothing. I took in the sight of the reflection in the pond, and the sound of the red winged black birds chirping in the low overgrowth along the edge, and kept walking. And then, as I was nearly past the pond, out of the corner of my eye I saw her coming in low over the pond – wings outstretched, gliding in. My heart leapt. I didn’t see her land, so I turned and walked back to see if I could find her. As quickly as I had seen her, I lost her. I went down the embankment and scanned around the edges of the pond to see if I could see where she might be. Eventually I spotted her across the pond perched on a tangle of branches.

I stood still and watched her as she sat looking into the murky water. Then I started to move closer to the edge of the pond, to get a better look. I may have even uttered a few sounds. My attempt to “connect.” As I moved she saw me. Even from across the pond it evidently disturbed her and she took off, climbing slowly and gracefully overhead. Darn I thought, if I had just stayed still, observing and quiet. If I hadn’t tried to move toward, hadn’t tried to grasp at the experience. My messenger was gone. And yet I knew she was the message: Stand still, watch and observe. Sometimes it’s better not to make a move, but stand in stillness. Movement too soon can cause unnecessary disturbances. Good advice for my present drama… :) Stand and wait…

Herons have great symbolism in many different cultures. When Heron first made herself known to me many years ago, the wisdom that she brought me then was to stand on my own, to follow the call of my Heart, to seek my own wisdom, my own counsel, and follow my own way, not the path of others.

And now she seemed to be saying – wait in stillness – don’t act too soon - don’t move too quickly - be “stillness waiting…” Wise Heron. Nature always shows you the Truth…

~*~