Come...Take A Journey With Me

You hear a lot these days about being in the moment. Those of you who were active in the 60’s and 70’s may have, albeit while stoned, read “Be Here Now” by Ram Das AKA Dr. Richard Alpert who brought perspectives and meditation practices from India.

One form of meditation, mindfulness meditation practice is about distracting “the monkey mind” so that you focus on your breathing, what you’re hearing, seeing, what is touching your body.. .until a deeper level in you emerges. You may feel less anxiety if trying to get relief from a stressful, repeating loop of thought, or, at best— an experience of peace or oneness.

Reflections in Nature

There are other forms of meditation like walking or whirling. I am at this moment fortunate to be house-sitting in a glorious 40-acre paradise in the middle of nowhere, actually in the Sierra Nevadas, not far from Yosemite. Without sitting, whirling and trying to meditate on my breath, or on hearing and feeling, I hear, feel, smell and touch live as nature puts on an ever-shifting show.

I notice, looking through kitchen windows, turkey vultures soaring in the valley and their reflections on the round glass kitchen table. When I drive down the road I see shadows of them sky-diving on dry grasses and the asphalt road.

When I walk outside in the softness of morning, while watering plants in the extensive gardens, I see plump buds that burst the next day into quadruplets of pods with hints of purple flowers that are starting to bloom; the bees try out their nectar. I notice the smallish red rose is bigger today and its scent, as I bend to it, covers my senses like a royal shawl.

The magenta and white striped flowers seem to laugh, and the other tiny white flowers on long reeds and pink small clusters in bushes each dance differently in the breezes, some swaying with abandon like fans doing “the wave” at football teams. Others jiggle or rock gently,

A mosaic of greens attracts my eyes as sunlight dimples the trees, and swaths of shade and sunlit grass contrast on hills surrounding the home.

There is never a moment when something is not flying, birds whose wings flap with black, white, and red, hummingbirds flying straight up in the air or in the mist of the hose while I’m watering. Birds that skip in the air, sounding at each dip, birds that dive and birds that change their mind mid-air, birds that sit atop a tree “hanging out”, or that day by day grab small branches in their beaks, building a nest in the kitchen’s eves.

The surprises connect with some part of me that gets soothed and slowed down seeing the beauty of nature. You also, I suspect, get inspired in nature.

Nature is like tenderizer for the soul. It reflects the mysteries and varieties of creation. In the early morn with sun glistening on tops or sides of leaves and branches all is as it should be. Sunset colors bring the meditation home.

Slowing Down Between Day to Day Routines

Slowing down during the day can mean actually tasting that perfectly ripe Phillipine mango, or, in circumstances unlike mine now, taking in the pleasure of very slowly being touched in intimacy with a partner. It can mean really looking at the deer looking at you at the side of the road, or seeing the waitress sky-wide smile, and telling her, which lights up her face and yours.

If you pass by a mirror, and slow down your pace, you can look in your eyes as if you were sitting across a friend at a restaurant. You can see your emotions: sadness, fear, etc. and can speak to yourself however silently, giving that reassurance, compassion that releases past hidden shames-- freeing frozen joy, the will to live, and an impetus to create.

Slowing Down on the Top of a Mountain

What excites me most about slowing down? Savoring words of wisdom. From fountains of many sources, ancient to modern, come books teeming with spiritual and philosophical traditions. The book that attracts you or me may be transformational psychology such as the work of Renee Brown, or the poetry of German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Chinese poet Li Po, or British playwright Shakespeare. It may be one of the books by Eckhart Tolle who teaches, “In today’s rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just being”.

The mind will just type those words out when reading quickly, but when you slow down, those buds of the heart start to open, those quadruplet pods of understanding bulge out, and a flower emerges that the bees of mysteries are excited to visit.

Each word represents a reality that opens up before you as you take in an expanse of understanding. It may be one word, and that’s all you’ll need, or a phrase, a sentence. This type of reading is a hero’s journey. You may face resistance in yourself, skepticism and cynicism that is culturally based, bratty ego stand-offs, letting go, and more letting go until all that’s left is silence.

At the height of such wayfaring, the holy grail of the mystic journey is arriving closer to the target within.

That Spiritual Energy Adds Dimension to My Writing

I’m convinced that what people like to read most of what I’ve written is what I’ve written when I’ve slowed down to contemplate and reflect on such realities behind words in depth-full works. When this courses through my fingers into prose or poetry the reader gets a contact reflection within them, like how people smile when you smile, or laugh when you think something funny.

The part that awakens to beauty starts unfolding the buds of heart-- touches the part of them that is in the mystery, yearning for completion, recognizing the journeys they have taken to get to that state before.

At times I add various components together, taking photographs of startling moments in nature, and writing poetry or prose about the photos after a time of reflection on sacred texts. My work as a mental health therapist/social worker for 30 years finds its way into what flows out. Here is a photo and a few lines from a published piece called “Adobe Hills Further Adventures: A Place to Call Home (for Now)", Flowers’ Song, Part 4 in the series.

Come on a journey

to Listen to flowers with me?

If you listen closen to what is spoken

You’ll hear branches at bottom quite torn, almost broken.

A mysterious life-force, from dead-like branch urges

forth large-petaled flowers with succulent surges.

You who've been hurt and torn apart,

can you see how beauty still sings from your heart?

* I hope to offer, in addition to the three Zoom classes I facilitate now, a more organized, monetized in-person and Zoom offering, for people to slow down and smell the roses within. I bring 30 years of experience including as a clinical social worker leading over 300 groups, a university teacher integrating expressive arts into 30 courses, a health educator responsible for all Stress Management classes and their marketing-communications at Kaiser Permanente in Orange County, California, a yoga teacher and mother.

*Poem link: https://medium.com/weeds-wildflowers/adobe-hills-further-adventures-a-place-to-call-home-for-now-2205e417462e