Posted on by Cathy Edgett · 1 Comment

Imagine

I just finished reading Jacinda Ardern’s book A Different Kind of Power.

Even as a child, she asked “Why?”   

On March 15, 2019, in Christchurch, New Zealand a terrorist attacked a mosque killing forty-nine people and leaving others in critical condition.  He had acquired his weapons legally.  Following the response of Australia in 1996 to a mass shooting, where the conservative prime minister of the time, John Howard, moved quickly to ban “pump-action, semiautomatic, and automatic weapons”, New Zealand responded by reforming their gun laws in ten days.

And here we are in the U.S, not responding but instead reversing on the orders of a man who has not fought in any wars, and now decides to change the name of the Defense Department to the Department of War.

Tom Hanks was to be honored by West Point for his work supporting veterans.  Thanks to Trump, that’s cancelled because Hanks supported Biden, not him.

Responding to Trump, West Point recently rehung a 20-foot portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee, a West Point graduate who fought to preserve slavery for the Confederacy.

Asking ourselves why, perhaps we can reverse this daily travesty changing history, ethics, compassion, understanding, kindness  and morality.  

A friend shared that she’s been feeling “like a feeling painting”, with tears flowing easily, and then said as she reaches to receive and honor her inner knowing, “It’s something about being pulled up out of the mud and placed vertically on the earth.

May her words guide us as we align, and listen to Peace Train by Cat Stevens and Imagine by John Lennon.

Mirabell – being with the wisdom of our animal friends.
Looking Up
Changing the shape of the box – creative thinking and response

Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Adaptation

We’ve been with our five year old grandson for three days so I haven’t read the news until this morning.  As I read, I try to embody the words of Thich Nhat Hanh:

What is most important is not to allow anxiety about what happens in the world to fill your heart. If your heart is filled with anxiety, you will get sick, and you will not be able to help.

Our family gathered to celebrate the Fourth of July, and we played croquet, feasted, talked, and watched fireworks from a hill walking distance from our son’s home.  Grandson’s parents were backpacking in Big Sur to celebrate their 17th anniversary.

On Sunday, we went to our local library to get books on snakes.  I didn’t expect it to be crowded but it happily was, especially in the children’s section where there was a table for coloring and drawing, one with puzzles, a tent with stuffed animals, and yes, a section on snakes.  I don’t know why grandson’s current fascination is snakes though yes, they are beautiful and adaptable, so we returned home with the two books he chose, though we could have taken out 100 books.  It’s hard to integrate a world where systems that help the people are being dismantled and eliminated, and yet, so far, we still have libraries, places to gather, share and learn lifetimes of knowledge and creativity, and feel wrapped in blankets of love, generosity, and care.  

Waiting for Fireworks
Chatting with another five year old through the fence
A fairy door invites entry when strolling along the street

Posted on by Cathy Edgett

Transformation

Transformation is so clear this time of year, well, every time of year really, every time of day, moment by moment.  I’m not sure why I feel more alert these days but there’s something about the ripening of pumpkins that speaks to me, hollows me out with the rounding need to expand and stem.

Yesterday in a book by Flora Thompson, I read about a children’s game where the children find a place outside and touch the earth lightly, and bounce up and come down, singing, “We are bubbles of earth.  Bubbles of earth. Bubbles of earth.”

I’m inspired to see myself as a bubble of earth.  

Thich Nhat Hanh says that, “When we are able to take one step peacefully, happily, we are for the cause of peace and happiness for the whole of humankind.”

That seems especially key these days especially as thoughts are with the oil spill off Huntington Beach and all the creatures at risk.

The root of the word transform is “to move into beauty”.

May this be so!

Stinson Beach on a foggy day, which is not today –