Love, simplicity and connection

The day after Christmas.  A very quiet day of introspection and listening to the Power of the Crone by Estes.  She is my heroine, a guiding light, a wise woman, a crone, and my mentor.  I love her work and whenever I need a pick me up - I listen to her.

After our morning walk, the candle is lit and I listen.  I am validated, reassured and uplifted.  I laugh, I cry and I nod my head vigorously.  She talks about her Aunt Edna and pictures are painted so clearly I truly "see" them.  I "see" so many other things too about my life, about the world, about love, simplicity and connection.  It isn't as hard as I make it sometimes.  Following my heart - loving and being loved by family, friends, community.  Life is beautiful as it unfolds when we take the time to savor - to notice, to hear, to "see" - to BE.  It has been a rich and rewarding day spent in quiet walking, listening and knowing.  We are all connected and somehow in this new moon, as we approach a new year, it is time to really acknowledge that.  I feel such joy and deep gratitude to be here - now. 

Winter Solstice, Hanukkah and now Christmas.  It is Christmas Eve and I have such mixed feelings

Feelings of joy, feelings of gratitude but also some feelings of sadness. I miss my children! They are back east and I remain in the Rockies.  I opted not to travel this season.  It has been a good but challenging year and I simply didn't have the requisite energy for travel over the holidays.  It has become a real chore. Memories abound though and they are rich. I so enjoyed the times we were together, when they were kids.  While I am sad and cleansing tears flow constantly today, I am not unhappy, upset or depressed.  I guess having sad feelings speaks to the depth of love and caring deep in my heart for them.  I am grateful for that.

I was thinking about Christmas earlier today...the concept, the reason, the memories and realize that it is and always has been my favorite "holiday".  I think this probably goes back to my early childhood and the stories about Mary and Joseph traveling, being turned away at the Inn and ultimately having Jesus in a barn and laying him to rest in a manger with ox, horse, lamb, cow, goats, horses and dogs as company.  I embraced this from an early age.  Lucky Jesus. What better place to be or to be born!  I have been envious all my life.  The barn is still my best place. I love the music, the food, the ritual and the weather at Christmas!  One of the tenors is now singing as I write...in Italian...but I get it!  I love Christmas, I love my family and I am filled with awe and delight even through the tears.

As a new year approaches I am always very thoughtful and introspective.  These words found their way to me and hit their mark.

"you have escaped the cage, your wings are stretched out, now fly."  Rumi

"Run my dear from anything that may not strengthen your precious budding wings." Hafiz

Heart Gifts

At this time of year the world seems to think we need gifts.  Well, for me, usually they are from the heart and not because a big chain store, an information specialist, or other outside source tells me I either need to give or get them.  Today however, during meditation, I realized that my heart is already full to capacity and I feel no "need".  I am so grateful for my beautiful home, my critters, the warmth of my hearth, the food in the cupboard, my health and the ability to go out and walk and revel in nature.  I am grateful to the dear friends that have found their way into my life.  There are two new ones this year and they are such a sweet delight in my life.  There are several who have been in my heart for most of life.  Rich, loving, caring and so appreciated.
In meditation this morning David talked about the four things that are necessary for our heart; attention, affection, appreciation and acceptance.  My dearest friends give me all of that and more and I so hope I return the gift. Feeling very joyful and grateful this morning!

Winter Daze....brrr.

It is already well into December!  Where has the time gone?  I have readied my witner wardrobe!  It is cold.  Have been doing a lot of work the Shiloh McCloud at Cosmis Cowgirl University and am just completing the three month course HerEvolution.  It was rich and rewarding.  Everything I have done with that wonderfully wild, insightful and talented group of women!
Writing away, painting some and preparing with great joy for Solstice and Christmas.  I will celebrate both.  Any chance to celebrate.  The house is covered in greens and candles.  Woodbox is full and I am settling in with a good book (see below) for a long winter's nap!
A dear friend shared a fantastic poem with me the other day.  It is by Charolotte Tall Mountain

Acceptance

In Nature I am neither rich or poor

Neither old or young

Modern or old-fashioned

My vestments, appropriate

to the heat or cool

Are indifferent to Her

She doesn't care if I am

employed or idle

Whether I've paid my bills on time

Or if I'll be the recipient of a prize

I cannot impress Her with my wit

But I feel She understands my pain

She offers me Her bounty whether

I have earned Her grace or not

So great is Her wisdom

Really wonderful words to ponder. 

Clarissa Pinkola Estes has a new book out "Untie the Strong Woman:Blessed Mother's Love for the Wild Soul. Yummy!  Some of my old Catholic resistance began to surface but it didn't stay around for long.  I recommend this book highly.  I am going to brew a cup of tea and curl up with said book.

I awoke this morning to delicious birdsong and the aroma of woodsmoke.  It was somewhere in the high 30's - brisk and definately Fall.  Yummy.  As I worked my way through chores outside the words of a friend rattled around in my head.  She asked some really important questions last week and I realized that I had no answers.  How can I manifest my ideal life if I truly have no clear picture.  So, I have been working on answering those very important questions.What kind of work do I really want to do and what income to I want so that I will have quality leisure time - time to nurture my passions and creativity?  Those were her questions.  I am still ruminating. 
This weekend though, there were two ideal days in a row to think and begin to answer those questions for myself.  I belong to an exciting community of women, Cosmis Cowgirls, and during September have participated in their Creativity Camp.  It is a synergistic group that provides daily prompts and support.  Sunday the prompt was basically the space between the lines...the blank spaces on the canvas...the pause in the music...the spaces "in between" in my life. 
The effect was amazing!  My day was quiet, peaceful, slow and really lovely as I noted the spaces that I usually rush through.  I welcomed the blank spaces...did not fill every moment with frantic rushing and doing.  The results were amazing.

The Space In Between

It is a magical place this "no" place

I have often missed it

Rushing and crashing through my days

Robs me of time

When I pause

I notice

The blue jay only a few feet away

Wrestling with a Pinion cone

extracting it's sweet treat

The sweet, melodic song of the finch

The Red Winged Symphony

The bee - busy gathering

The chicadee

retrieving seeds from the

long legged, swaying sunflower

The pink dance of the cosmos

The purple trumpet of the morning glory

The deep crimson bouganvilla reaching quietly to the sky

The way the sun plays throught the juniper

making lace on my page

the gentle caress and comfort of the breeze

on cheek and shoulder

Space expands

Deeps feelings of gratitude overcome me

Beauty reveals itself

in those spaces in between.



Narragansett Beach

Fall is in the air for certain.  I love fall - but then I really love each season.  I so enjoy the change - the subtle inuendos of each season. 

Fall I often say, is my favorite.  I was born in the fall and it enlivens me each time it comes.

I miss the ocean, the salt sting on my face, the heavy seaweed bouncing to and fro, the tiny bright and shiny stones like jewels littering the shore.

But the mountains now dusted with snow offer me a similar comfort and joy.

Each season, each place...joy, balance and delight.

No birds are singing this morning here in the mountains.  I wonder if they have slept in? Yesterday they were riotous!  Perhaps the rain has dulled their song for today. There is snow on the mountains. It is odd to feel the air damp here.  Maybe that is why I am feeling a melancholy and missing the shore with its own particular scents and sights and oh, the feeling of sun warmed wet sand between my toes.

A day of feeling, remembering, savoring and maybe a walk on the wild side.

Coyote, trickster or teacher?

Coyote has appeared many times in my life over the past few weeks. The "yip, yip, yip" at night serenaded me to sleep several nights. Then there was the indescribably eerie yip-howl that followed on one night. One single animal uttering a sound so strange I had to check to see that it was a coyote. It was just one and I ended up believing it was either sick or injured. I have never heard a sound like it before or since. Then driving home from work I saw a coyote sanding still looking toward me from a meadow by Hesperus.

I needed to know what coyote was telling me.

According to Animal Speak by Ted Andrews much magic is associated with coyote who is often called "Trickster". In many ways the coyote is to the plains Indians what raven is to the people of the Northwest...creator, teacher and keeper of magic. They both love to play and have fun; both remind us not to become too serious and also remind us that anything is possible!

According to Ted Andrews, if coyote has shown up in my life I need to ask some important questions: Are those around me being too serious? Have I forgotten that play time is essential to health? Am I complicating what is really simple in some areas of my life? Is someone playing "tricks" on me? Interesting questions that I am pondering.

The coyote teaches us about the balance of wisdom and folly and how they go hand in hand. We are taught the that it's energies are tied to simplicity and trust and how to develop poise amidst the chaos of life. We are stimulated to renew innocence and reawaken childlike wisdom in response to the world around us. Coyote also reminds us that true teachers (which he certainly is!) have a wonderful sense of humor. Through coyote we are assisted in a reawakening process of the intellect, creativity, the artistic mind and all of the intuitive faculties.

Today I am focusing on coyote wisdom and how it will lead me. Thank you coyote for showing up in my life and being persistent.

Summertime and the livin' is easy?

It is a lovely summer and now monsoons are with us each afternoon. Delicious. I can't believe that the last entry was May! So much has happened since then and yet so much remains the same. The garden is blooming and each day sweet Morning Glories greet me. They (whoever they are) say that Morning Glories will take over...well, let them. They are such beautiful little heart shaped leaves and delicate flowers. They delight me.

I have also been delighted by the wonderful women and programs at Cosmic Cowgirl University.

I just signed up for a painting class that I have wanted to take for years!! Shiloh is an inspiration and I love her work. It is divine, spiritual, colorful, womanfilled...and beautiful. I am so happy to be studying with her for the next month!! Thanks to the Divine that enabled this - and Zinnia.

It is an evening made for a walk, a little quiet time, some meditation...and a good old fashioned bath! Feeling very happy and grateful tonight.

A life...

Just finished reading a biography of Edith Wharton.


What an utterly amazing woman! I traveled with her through New York, Newport, Lennox Ma, then overseas, frequently! She worked at her writing, at her loves, at her friendships...then she worked tirelessly during the war for those in need. I was inspired. A quote of hers that really spoke to me from a letter which she wrote to Mary Berenson:


"of this wonderful adventure of living, which seems to me to pile up its glories like an horizon - wide sunsets as the light declines. I'm afraid I'm an incorrigible life- lover & life-wonderer & adventturer."
She seemed unafraid of aging and instead of shrinking from old age she saw how truly wonderful the later years of life could be. Her sister in law, Mini Jones, wrote sadly about the "woes and privations of old age," Edith responded: "The farther I have penetrated into this ill-famed Valley the more full of interest, and beauty too, have I found it. It is full of its own quiet radiance, and in that light I discover many enchanting details which the midday dazzle obscured."

Oh yes, how delicious...off to discover enchanting details today!
Her novels oft reflect on things spiritual and things very human. She is my heroine for today. Thank you Edith!

Fresh new morning!

The rains came! How delicious and exquisite it was to wake to rain on the roof as I snuggled under my down comforter sunggling with Max. The smell of rain, the sound of rain...it is so comforting! The world seems all fresh and new this morning. The sun came out for a while and everything sparkled and there was so much green. Sometimes I fogret how sweet, simple things are just so rich and rewarding. Rain. Birdsong. I think I heard a Phoebee this morning. I didn't know they were in this part of the country. Sweet, clean, scrubbed and delicious morning. All is right with my world. I am deeply grateful for my many gifts and for rain on the roof.

Computer Consternation

I remember my first experience with computers about fifteen years ago. I had a Garfield cartoon taped to that computer. This is exactly how I felt today working with the beastie. I will admit that my attitude is a bit hostile, but I think it is that way for some very good reasons!

I feel as if Spock has beamed me up to another planet. Really! I mean the language of these beasts is not my mother tongue. The letters are formed the same way but they make no sense to me at all. Compute that!! I am the alien on this planet of computers and strange language and applications.

I have been wresting with getting a web site up now for a few weeks. Ok, so I know know what "GoDaddy" is - I actually secured a domain name through them. What to do with it is still a complete mystery. Today I got very brave downloaded (as opposed to uploaded) WordPress. It was supposed to be a quick, no fuss, no mess thingy. I was exposed to words like binary(I always associated this with making books?) atoms (?), PHP's and script mail. Does anyone really understand this stuff? More interesting language and applications free file openers - are they like a free lunch, there is really no such thing? The there was Akismet (sounds like some little place from a musical to me), Cannonicals (something left over from the Catholic Church?), Admin Ajax (something like Mr. Clean, you open the top and a genie comes out to help?), Plug in's and widgets...all can be used with ease! Right.

I feel alienated, lost and very, very confused. I am downloading yet another free and "easy" file opener in order to read the gobledygook that is attached to my free and easy WordPress web builder. This is clearly in a foreign language and I don't speak it. A message just popped up that while I am downloading this free and easy file opener I am free to continue my work. Now, another message flashes across the screen, download can not complete because of (very long number here with a few letters) error has occurred and I should contact the system administrator. Like I would know who that was or where to find them? Ya, right.

Now I just noticed that a free dolphin screen saver has mysteriously appeared on my computer.

I am going to feed the chickens and sheep, that makes sense!

Computer Consternation

Saddness

It has been a strange and sad couple of weeks. My heart is heavy and hurts. I have lost my sweet companion of sixteen years. She had a stroke and never really recovered. She left this world and my side on the 16th at 2:30pm. She is forever in my heart and I miss her in my daily life. I see her everywhere. Raven struggled sometimes with her wild wolf nature. She was after all half wolf and sometimes it was difficult for her in this world. We had some great adventures though that old girl and I! I will always remember the way she dug for crab legs on Prudence Island; how she sniffed the wind, head high, as a storm approached; how she disliked fire! When we had a campfire, she always paced and asked to just go to bed! How I had to set the tent up in the living room before camping trips so she wouldn't be afraid to go inside.

I am deeply grateful that she graced my life for those sixteen years. She was a faithful companion. She was sweet, funny and so very loving. Raven, thank you for being my best friend and for all the love and fun you brought into my life! I will always hold you dear in my heart. You little sister Max misses you a whole lot too.

Sun, gentle breezes and honey bees!

Ah, spring must be here. The weather is mild (in the 70's ) mud abounds and I decided, in an attempt not to take life too seriously, to eat brunch outside. It was heavenly as the sun baked down on me. I was barefoot outdoors for the first time this year (chasing the puppy in the snow does not count, that was painful) and ...what is that buzzing around my tea? A swarm of honey bees!! I did enjoy my brunch, most of my tea, the sun and celebrating my first meal al fresco for the season but the bees won. I finally gave up after being buzzed and bombed several times. I think they were curious about the honey in the tea. It was afterall local and maybe they recognized it! All in all it was a delight though. Spring is certainly on the way. We may have more snow yet, but the balance is gently tipping. Soon it will be hot and dry. Grateful for each day as it comes; finding the beauty, striving for balance...and JOY!

Wholeness, Life Forces and the Sun's Energy

Today is a day of introspection and thought. I have been working with a wonderful group of women through Artella. This group is inspiring and as I set my goals and look at my life plan I find connection and inspiration.

My goals, while still a little hazy, include writing, research and performance, and workshops for women over 55. Inward bound programs, sometimes in the wilderness or out in nature but focusing on who we are at the core. They say you teach what you need to learn. I wan to be in nature and working with like minded women. I include my Weaving A Life in this plan. I see myself as a conduit for supporting other women as we play; as we discover who we really are at our Heart's level. As we discover what sparks, nurtures and feeds our soul. How we can live our lives from an authentic core, with total joy, peace and balance. I feel this is a way to truly and fully come into myself while giving back.

I have taken this afternoon to play. I meditated in the sun and then drew a rune asking for guidance. It was Sowelu. The Rune of wholeness, Life Forces and the Sun's Energy. It stands for that which our true nature requires. It embodies the impulse toward self realization and indicates the path you must follow, not stemming from an ulterior motive but from the core of your authentic self and individuality...you must become conscious of your essence and bring it into form, express it in a creative way. This is a Rune of great power, making life force available to you. It marks the time in your life for total regeneration - right down to the cellular level. It is a Rune that counsels opening yourself up, letting the Light into a part of you that has been secret, shut away. This is a prayer, known as Gayatri, and it carries the spirit of Sowelu. It addresses the sun:

You, who are the source of all power,

Whose rays illuminate the whole world,

Illuminate also my heart

So that it too can do your work.

I affirm that I wish energy and right action to flow through me. I am nourishing the capacity for it and beg direction.

A good day for thought and a good thought for the day! I am grateful.

Passion!

Excavation can be such fun, yet difficult work. I have been engaged in the excavation of my true self for a while now. It has been a process; sometimes very rewarding, other times a huge challenge. What exactly to I want to be/do when I grow up? What are my values, my core values, those that are really and truly mine, not imposed on me from someone or something outside of myself? That was a difficult dig! What is my Heart's Desire? Now that I found the core and try to live from there, Heart's Desire is really not all that difficult!

As I learn to listen to my heart I am learning that it is really ok to pay attention to my passions, to the things that fill me, excite me; to let my heart tell me where I fit and how to be there.

I have spent much of my life, both as an adult and as a child, believing that passion is something to be hidden, quietly and completely controlled, eliminated if possible. Rubbish! What absolute rubbish. These messaged were imparted to be by broken individuals; they were greatly troubled, unhealthy and in turn, taught to ignore their passions. Maybe it is my Irish Catholic upbringing or all the time spent with nuns, but I bought it for a long time, and tried to ignore my passions. It does not work! I am finally, fully and completely trashing this idea for what it is, rubbish.

I listened to Dr. Ernesto Siroli speak on passion and entrepreneurship for over an hour last evening. WOW! He is brilliant, witty, energetic and passionate! It was yet another reinforcement for me that I am traveling on the right path as I seek to create my life - living my Heart's Desire and doing it with verve and passion.

I heartily recommend visiting UTube and spending that hour with him. I don't think you will regret it.

Embracing Joyful Simplicities...and My Heart's Desire

"Year by year the complexities of this spinning world grow more bewildering and so each year we need all the more to seek peace and comfort in the joyful simplicities." Woman's Home Companion, December 1935.

"As we become curators of our own contentment on the Simple Abundance path, one of the great payoffs is that we start to seek peace and comfort in the joyful simplicities. Little things begin to mean a lot to us. Joyful simplicities nourish body and soul by engaging our senses. They teach us how to live in the present moment. Life comes together when we seek out the Sublime ordinary moment." Sara BanBreathnach, Simple Abundance.

Today I am thinking not only about simplicity but my Heart's Desires...which are really very simple and I do embrace them! My heart, so long ignored, so long unkown, as duty and deeds progressed. I often let he minuatiae of life rob me of such pleasures, such joy, the momentI hav often lost those things and sometimes I have lost myself.

Now in the Autumn of my life I have truly become acquainted with that Heart. Ahhh, it is wise and it knows if only I listen it's desire is minifest...I draw to me things that are my lifeblood, things of peace, beauty and love. As it is promised by the wind, as it is tendered in the Heart...as it is written across the sky. The things my Heart is calling for are simple things that nurture not only my heart but my very soul.
The whisper of a gentle wind, which if I listen, carries the voices of the ancestors. Spirit moving! The caress of my love that finds my depth. Melodies of birds and other Masters...but always music.
The warmth of love, giving and receiving; sweet ambling through time and nature.
Rock, sage, color and serenity - meditation, solitude, music of the Gods; Cottonwoods rustle, creeks babble and the sun blesses me.
The rising and setting of the sun with the myriad colors of the pallet. Each of my senses are delighted. Meter and rhythm, cadence and heartbeat, mine with natures. Day cools, night falls I'm lost in the sweetness of my loves embrace and enraptured by the wonder of the night sky.


We must seize the essence of life...what our authentic self, our Heart desires. We must embrace those things that nurture us and bring us joy. "People need joy quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it far more." Margaret Collier Graham wrote in 1906. I am making the discovery of those joyful simplicities daily...those things that bring me personal comfort and a sense of well being. It is one of my highest priorities to stay in touch with those things and live in joy and real authenticity with them.

The Redwings Return!

I first noticed the chorus yesterday; I was transported to another place! I sat, eyes closed in the sun, listening. Their song went straight to my heart and gave my soul wings. It always does. I soared. What is it about that little "cluck, cluck, cluck, trill, trill trill" that finds my core so quickly? It has been so for years. I love the little chickadee chirp but it is the Redwing that puts me in trance, in ecstasy! The music has begun and my soul appreciates.

I read a piece from Cathedrals of the Spirit by T.C. McLuhan the other day that came to mind this morning. It is by Stephanie Kaza.

"Breathing in, breathing out. Slow deep inhale, slow deep exhale. Quieting the body, quieting the mind. I woke up this morning under the graceful, arching branches of bay laurels and Douglas firs. All night the trees have been conversing under the full moon, weaving me into their stories, capturing my dreams with their leaning limbs and generous trunks. Breathing together as I slept, as they rested, we danced quietly in the summer night. Their great confidence framed a circle for my waking; their study presence offered an invitation to be still."

The song of the Redwing this morning, under the full, warm morning sun evoked the same feeling in me as Stephanie's words did the other day at the full of the moon. Bliss. I feel so alive and grateful this morning.

Today I decide...

That I matter. One of the wonderful women in Artella posted Eric Maisel's 9 Steps to Fulfillment. It is really great grist for the mill as I put together a life porpose statement to guide me for the next steps in my creative life path and fulfillment. Today, I focus on #1, I matter. One can only truly matter when she believes it. Today, I will make myself proud! I MATTER!! My life of creative meaning and joy is unfolding.

From my regular daily companion, Sara BanBreathnatch, today's Simple Abundance reading includes a quote from Rainer Maria Rilke:

"If your everyday life seems poor, don't

blame it; blame yourself; admit to

yourself that you are not enought of a poet

to call forth its riches; becaues for the

creator there is no poverty and no poort

indifferent place."

Today, I know I matter; I am the creator of my own destiny and it can be as rich and joyful as I want to make it. I no longer need wait; today I believe. Today I create my life purpose statement which is my inner template by which I will measure life!

Grateful for so many rich opportunites and people to support me!

If you want to move toward your dream, it is necessary that you let go of your fears. Yes. I hear that...yet I have clung to fear and it, of course, has blocked fulfillment and action. Recently I have begun - thanks to a few mentors and more focus - to let go of fear and amazingly enough, the universe had granted me motion! It is about taking control of my dream. "If you can sense and feel a deeper kind of soul desire, a desire to express your creativity, to share your love, to contribute your best to the world... you are on your way."(from Your Heart's Desire by Sonia Chouquette)YES! I am joyfully on my way.

An amazing woman, Marney at Artella, has guided me for a while and recently accepted me into a new program (MAIN a community based program) aimed at mentoring and supporting creative entrepreneurs. Marney is an amazing, creative, fun, loving, intelligent woman who inspires many. I am so grateful to know her and be working with her and a group of others that seem quite fantastic themselves; 42 women from around the world and me. Upon reflection, I was not even sure I could spell entrepreneurs...now I am becoming one. YES!

I have not felt this deeply committed to my growth, my dream and my life...maybe ever. Thank you Marney and Artella. More to come on this venture. So, to Marney and the other remarkable member of the exciting MAIN Program...let's have tea and oranges!

The other mentor who simply dropped into my life is the beautiful and vivacious Dr.Melaney Sreenan. I met her in August and it was instant chemistry. She has written a beautiful book "Spirit Dances" and gave me a copy. I have since bought many for friends. I am working through the book for the second time - this time in a group she is leading. It is so fascinating to me the synergy that occurs when a group (in this case women) comes together. Melaney is a gift that literally kind of fell into our lives - all nine of us! Thank you Melaney. A wonderful quote to end with on the night after the full moon, and a gathering of women. "When a woman begins to be aware of the divine spark within, she will soon be faced with a decision whether to honor and trust it...She is so accustomed to looking outside herself for authority that the realization of God within is radical and shattering. It changes everything." Wendlyn Alter, The Yang Heart of Yin.

Divine Play

Sunday and I was in my usual, Church of the Backyard with the critters. I feel so centered, balanced and authentic when I am there. The barnyard critters fed, watered and quite content, the dogs and I played. How they love the snow! Roo tunnels and digs then crunches a little. I swear she laughs.

In my quest for enlightenment...this morning's reading included a piece by John Moorehead, and essay, The Paradox of Our Age. He begins:

We have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways but narrower viewpoints; we spend more but have less; we buy more but enjoy it less; we have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, yet less time; we have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgement; more experts, yet more problems; we have more gadgets but less satisfaction; more medicine, yet less wellness; we take more vitamins but see fewer results. We drink too much; smoke too much; spend too recklessley; laugh too little; drive too fast; get too angry too quickly; stay up too late; get up too tired; read too seldom; watch TV too much and pray too seldom."

Food for thought as I continue this beautiful gift of a Sunday!

The New Year!

I can't believe it has been over a month since I have posted. The holidays were magical, but I just could not write. I was often totally awash with and overcome by emotion. There was so much love and caring from family, friends, (many I haven't spoken with in a long time) and the music (enjoyed without limit this year for the first time in many) was amazing. I found tears of joy frequent. While I missed the kids enormously, we talked well and often. I love you guys!

This morning my meditation with Sara (BanBreathnach) was amazingly poignent, as usual. It was about embracing simplicity. Not doing without, but a concsious life, making choices that illuminate our lives from within. So timely and so important is this message for me. I have found in the past year so much freedom, pure unadulterated joy and amazing wonder and I have found much of this through simplifying. Clarity abounds when I can do that. I am clear on so many things that had me mired at the bottom of a muddy, murkey, mucky pond! I was drowning, but now I am soaring. I am also most grateful for my many, many gifts and blessings. Truly every day presents us with simple gifts if we are willing to to be open to them and then grateful for them.


From a ninetheenth century Shaker Hymn...my boys learned this in preschool and we have alwasy loved it.

'Tis a gift to be simple,

'Ttis a gift to be free,

'Tis a gift to come down

Where we ought to be

And when we find ourselves

In the place that's right

'Twill be in the valley

Of love and delight.