Feeling antsy, impatient, or fearful while being cooped up during this pandemic? Personal contact and the ability to participate in gratifying activities like dining with friends or attending concerts are two pleasures I've missed the most. Thankfully, though, it's spring which means hours and hours of yard work assuaged with bird song, the warming sun, …
A fellow blogger's post reminded me of a pondering earlier this week. While I am a spiritual person, I haven't joined an organized religion for decades. Listening to others, some are dogmatically committed to one and only one belief system --- declaring their way is right and the only way. It may be right for …
Wandering through Christianity, Buddhism, and Unity to my current interest of studying the Tao, I long ago exchanged organized religion for a more profound spirituality. Structured religion gave me a moral and ethical compass for living life. Eastern philosophies expanded my understanding. But, my spirituality deepened after a life altering illness, decades of consciously working …
No surprise to me, this inspirational sentiment about a garden's virtues. What is surprising though, is that it was written by the Persian poet Saadi who lived more than 700 years ago. Can you imagine the beauty he beheld then, before industry dominated our planet? If I find a garden breathtaking now, I wonder what …
Death is not so permanent as one might think. When contemplating compost, you more fully understand the cycle of life. Fruits and vegetables provide nutrition to us. Flowers offer beauty. When their peelings, parings, stems and leaves are tossed into the bin to decompose, in time they become nutrition for the soil. Black gold I …
The calendar indicates today is "Palm Sunday." Being a religious holiday, I often wondered in my youth why it wasn't called "Psalm Sunday" but as a gardener I'm just as happy to see green palms after a long, grey winter. And while it's (sadly) becoming increasingly unpopular and even dangerous to identify with any religious …
Continue reading "A Non-Religious but Spiritual Palm Sunday"
"Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry --- all forms of fear --- are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence." --- Eckhart Tolle The greatest gift from anyone is to be present. …
Have you noticed how many smiles you see? Or don't, in this overly busy time of year when buzzing around making returns, shopping, doing errands, or whatever tasks need to be done. I counted only one smile today. And it was a wide one as another customer and I passed each other at the …
