Cathy's Blog!

Posted on September 25, 2022September 25, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Coming Together

David Whyte wrote the poem “Working Together” for Boeing to mark the introduction of the 777 jetliner.

When I read it today I am struck by his words: “The visible and invisible working together in a common cause to produce the miraculous”. I think of the discovery of flight, of lift, of air flowing over a wing.

I also recognize it is a sacred time for Jewish people, a new year, a new moon.

When I was in the Everest region of Nepal, all religions were celebrated, all holidays.

May we each allow some quiet today as we ingest the wings we share, the coming together and working together that allows us to land and fly in new ways of connection, being, and doing.

Working Together by David Whyte

We shape our self

to fit this world

and by the world

are shaped again.

The visible

and the invisible

working together

in common cause,

to produce

the miraculous.

I am thinking of the way

the intangible air

passed at speed

round a shaped wing

easily

holds our weight.

So may we, in this life

trust

to those elements

we have yet to see

or imagine,

and look for the true

shape of our own self,

by forming it well

to the great

intangibles about us.

— David Whyte

from The House of Belonging

Posted on September 25, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Healing

This is beautiful!

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Centering

The sun is directly over the equator today. I balance on a ball that invites me to put my arms out and twirl, centered in what answers and calls.

View of the city from Sausalito yesterday morning

View enjoying breakfast in Sausalito yesterday

So many choices to go one way and another

Posted on September 21, 2022September 21, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Fall Equinox

It’s a time of balance.

Pumpkins, gourds and winter squash shine vibrantly orange as we nourish on foods filled with vitamin A to refresh our eyes to see in the dark.

It’s a time to sink into the sensations of breathing, to notice more clearly the stimulating and calming movement of air in and out.

The morning darkness invites us to light a candle and begin the day with a meditative ritual. I begin with this.

Exhale energy down the left side of the body; inhale up the right. Do this three times.

Then exhale down the front and inhale up the back – again three times.

Next bring energy up the feet through the center radiating from the top of the head like a fountain and back down to the feet. Do that as long as you wish.

You are your own playground.

Posted on September 19, 2022September 19, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

A Spindle of Vibrancy

I’m working with my eyes, resting them and expanding focus and peripheral vision.

In that, I feel the center of my being vibrate like a spindle twisting threads of my life into the unique being I am, one of many, many of one. I round a carpet, a curving of time-space. The world may once have been thought to be flat but anyone watching a ship sail off to sea would see the drop, the rounding, the curve.

I follow the curve, a ship following the horizon, the curving meet of earth and sky like the ball of my eye, the perception of being.

Jasmine flowers ripening to bloom, offer scent.

Posted on September 19, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Imagination

My grandson and I share a love of the book Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak. My sons and I loved and love that book too but grandson has taken it a step further.

In the book, Little Bear puts on a hat of his own creation and goes to the moon. Since Grandson’s visit to the U.S.S. Hornet, he has decided he is an astronaut. His tent has become a rocket ship with a control panel created with the help of his parents.

Inspired by his vision and trust in what’s possible, I’ve decided to add a little more spark to my view of the world we share.

Posted on September 18, 2022September 18, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

All About Love

It’s fall. Leaves are turning and here where I am, we celebrate with rain.

The landscape wraps a moist tongue touch.

I’m watching Bell Hooks speak about her book All About Love. I honor her wisdom and clarity as she shares how to change the conversation personally and politically on the power, necessity, and value of gratitude, forgiveness, compassion, and Love.

Love is a combination of six values: Care, Commitment, Knowledge, Responsibility, Respect, and Trust.

Posted on September 15, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Vision

Because I’m in the process of transitioning from the hard contact lenses I’ve worn for sixty years, my focus is on vision, and the beauty, intricacy, and intimacy of the eyes.

There’s no longer protective glass between my eyes and the world. My eyes are moist, naked, exposed.

In doing exercises to improve my vision, my vision is changing as is my awareness. It’s quite a practice to go from a coating over the eyes to fresh air moving in and out, and a constant changing of glasses to adjust vision for near, far, and intermediate, so I can read the computer screen.

I’m aware of choice in what I see and of nourishing my eyes with rest and soft seeing. My teacher of Sensory Awareness Charlotte Selver once told a woman she used her eyes like forks. I’m aware of receiving even as I reach for clarity and definition, while also beckoning open focus.

In balancing, I nurture connecting eyes to heart, hands, and feet, portals with which to give and receive.

Posted on September 14, 2022September 14, 2022 by Cathy Edgett

Our Home

Yesterday I made a reservation for two nights at at an Airbnb. The rules were very clear – no pets, noise etc. and I was accepted with an acknowledgment of my former good reviews but then I got another note asking me to sign and agree that I would “treat it like my own home”. I’m not sure why that hit me wrong as I treat my home very well, and certainly would have done the same with this place, but it led me to thinking of what it means to treat a place like our own home. Perhaps we’re comfortable with our home being a mess. Signing felt meaningless and though I knew what was meant, I decided this was not the place for me.

Reflecting on why I was triggered, I realized that we should treat every place as our own home, and that includes how we treat ourselves and the earth. It goes back to what I posted recently:

“The way we do one thing may reveal the way we do all things.”

That led me to contemplate language. A friend was speaking to her 8 year old granddaughter about her first day of third grade. She asked about the teacher. The child responded that “they” were nonbinary and would assign no homework. She equated the two with a happy priority on no homework which her older brother would be doing. My friend, a woman married to a woman, persisted in wanting to know if the teacher was male or female. The question had no meaning for the child. She said again that “they” are nonbinary.

The child lives in a progressive suburb outside of Chicago. Change is happening as we move toward a nonbinary world. I’m excited by this child’s view of the world, a world created to be greeted and treated with love, respect, curiosity, enthusiasm, and delight, and yes, may we treat where we dwell and ourselves as a place to be and feel home.