Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness.
I
Nina Simone:
I’ll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.
Kabir:
Wherever you are, that is the entry point.
Dogen:
Mountains and oceans have whole worlds of innumerable wondrous features. We should understand that it is not only our distant surroundings that are like this, but even what is right here, even a single drop of water.
There are so many poems that give me pause. I feel the beat of my heart, the flow of my blood, embraced, entranced, enhanced. This morning it’s this poem by William Stafford.
Living on the Plains That winter when this thought came — how the river held still every midnight and flowed backward a minute — we studied algebra late in our room fixed up in the barn, and I would feel the curved relation, the rafters upside down, and the cows in their life holding the earth round and ready to meet itself again when morning came. At breakfast while my mother stirred the cereal she said, “You’re studying too hard,” and I would include her face and hands in my glance and then look past my father’s gaze as he told again our great race through the stars and how the world can’t keep up with our dreams.
This morning as I meditate, I feel spring in my heart, the opening scent of flowers, the invitation to unreel the layers of the bud, build a nest, fill it with eggs of creativity, and birth what’s here.
Yesterday, Steve and I decided he needed an x-ray of his arm, swollen and bruised from a fall and so we rushed out of the house even before I could grab a Kindle or book. I waited outside of the medical office and meditated and took photos of flowers lining sidewalks and streets. I realized I was near a library but it closed as I walked up, so I sat on a bench and sat, and felt, and thought of porches with rocking chairs and benches, and how enclosed life can be with ATM’s and self-checking, and everything delivered and left right at the door.
Because I watched and enjoyed The Wizard of Oz with my grandson this week, I came home and watched Pollyanna. Okay these movies are fantasies, very colorful fantasies, escapism, and yet, what is it when so much has left technicolor for a darker view of life? Another shooting – oh, my!
How do we balance what we view, and how we involve and evolve with immersion in the flowers blooming everywhere, except perhaps Tahoe which continues to stay white with snow. Yesterday I appreciated the gift of sitting outside with nothing to do and nowhere to be. Steve is fine, just swollen and bruised, and I feel the opening call of spring even as I more firmly root.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Paying attention acknowledges that we have something to learn from intelligences other than our own. Listening, standing witness, creates an openness to the world in which the boundaries between us can dissolve.
Outside my window – oak and redwood twine Outside the medical centerAlong the parking lotEnchant
Yesterday I drove down to Menlo park, entranced with the clouds. They resembled images sent back from outer space.
Today is a full moon, Buddha’s birthday, and Cinco de Mayo.
From Writer’s Almanac: It’s the birthday of the man who said, “No man is lonely while eating spaghetti”. Christopher Morley, born in Haverford, Pennsylvania (1890), wrote a hundred books.
Morley said, “You can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries.”
It’s a day to read, and either fast, or eat rice, guacamole, or spaghetti, or all three.
Today I was early for my dentist appointment so I strolled along the marsh.
Duck and Killdeer share a niche.Egret lifts nearbyA sturdy bridgeCamouflaged, so look closely to see three KilldeerEgret and KilldeerKilldeer, a sentry for eggs laid on the ground while egret feastsRegal with destinationEgret and Duck
As a child, we made baskets for this day and filled them with candy and flowers, and hung them on our neighbors’ doors. This morning I read that baby swans were just born at the Las Gallinas ponds, so out I head for a May Day celebratory treat.
I’m excited to see a swan.And then a mother on her nest with four babies. A duck watches nearby.Active babiesA family of Canadian GeeseAn egret – Golden SlippersBabies exploringThe wind comes up and dad returns. Mom covers the babies.A Black Crowned Night Heron rests close by
In the living room, I have a wall of books, all of which were removed so the shelves could be painted. Mindfully, I’m putting them back, pausing, arranging, giving away and though I’m not physically out walking this weekend, I feel the joy of traveling through books I touch, peruse, and love.
I make a chord.
Rebecca Solnit:
Walking, ideally is a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though there were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making a chord.
It’s Spring!Color Abounds!Look closely to see a couple of meadowlarks feasting in our yardOur neighbor works on, well in, his 1967 father’s, now his, truckAnd watering occurs
Looking across to the Marin HeadlandsLooking east to the Golden Gate BridgeA ship passes by A jellyfish on the sandThe waves pour in Ladybugs on kelpGood luck ladybug on a wishing rockAnd a big rock stands marking why so many leave their hearts in San Francisco
Cathy's Blog! 