It Is About Zen

The poster says:  Not thinking about anything is zen.  Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is zen. —- Bodhidharma

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Life, I think, is about learning to move through each day with Grace and cheerfulness.  It is about learning to not attach to any things or outcomes.  If we can do this, then life is beautiful and everything flows.  

When we try to control outcomes, the lives of those around us, and when we become inflexible, then life becomes difficult because it cannot flow; we will not let it move easily.   Hanging on to people, to possessions, and to belief systems are going to get in the way of the flow.  They become your personal speed bumps on the way to a peaceful life.

Blessings,

Judy

A Peaceful Place

 

Picture of Elbow River taken off of Highway 66 - J Hirst

For some folks, Autumn, and specifically September is a time of turmoil before things settle down.  For me, September and indeed all of the autumn, is a time of excitement and change.  I love the changes of September almost as much as I love the changes that happen in the spring.

I like to go walking through the woods in the park as the leaves start to tumble down.  I like to crunch them because the sound is like that of crunching up paper to throw away.  We crunch up paper when we are not happy with what we have written, and we throw the page away and start anew.  To me, autumn is the crunching up the paper to start something new.

I have started several jobs in the Fall during my career. The timing has been perfect for me and has always been a positive action.  The energy of autumn with harvesting grain, fruit, vegetables, and even animals (hunting season) lends itself to humans so that things get done. This makes it easier to change from one employer to another.

When I find that life is getting too hectic, I look for a peaceful place to go to so that I can sit and be calm and let pent up energy go.  When that energy is released, my body also releases stress.  I am able to breathe with the flow of the wind through the trees or with the motion of the water.  Sometimes, I can look skyward and see flocks of birds and I will release the energy with the soaring of the birds.   

Each of us has a different idea of what a peaceful place looks like.  The trick is to find the place that speaks to you.

Many blessings,

Judy

Dove Rising

 

When things are looking bleak, I think about the Doves that sit in our Mountain Ash every morning.  About sixteen of them gather to wait for the light to grow brighter before they descend to the ground to eat the seeds that I have spread under the tree.

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We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.”  ~~Martin Luther King, Jr. 

I heard a Stock-dove sing or say His homely tale, this very day; His voice was buried among trees, Yet to be come at by the breeze: He did not cease; but cooed--and cooed: And somewhat pensively he wooed: He sang of love, with quiet blending, Slow to begin, and never ending; Of serious faith, and inward glee; That was the song,--the song for me! ~~~ William Wordsworth

And there my little doves did sit With feathers softly brown And glittering eyes that showed their right To general Nature's deep delight. ~~~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Blessings,

Judy