Another bad thing in a world of bad things. I have not become numb, that is not what has happened. I crumble with each new attack, with each new assault - foreign or domestic. And then I disconnect, and block out the media, and become absorbed in my kids' interests and the activities we can do … Continue reading We could Hug More!
Thoughtful
Inhabit
"At this point in his life, he hadn't started inhabiting his work, like he did later."
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Thoughts on Thinking, the Empty Mind and Not-Doing
It's Tao Tuesday - a fun little reminder to think these thoughts, to examine these principles, to engage the spirit and delve into this understanding, or non-understanding as the case may be. One day of the week, as originally instigated by Amy Putkonen over at Tao te Ching Daily. She has a whole list of … Continue reading Thoughts on Thinking, the Empty Mind and Not-Doing
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Horrifying Comparison of Adolescence
This is not a reference I throw around lightly. This is something I have studied. I worked at the Anti-Defamation League in San Francisco when I was younger, helping maintain their library of groups they watched for hate crimes or atrocities in the making. Every day, researchers would hand me stacks of articles from periodicals … Continue reading Horrifying Comparison of Adolescence
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Right Brain, Left Bank and Parenting through Teenage Angst
Being on the right side of the brain is a little like being on the Left Bank in Paris: relaxing while watching the passing show, listening to the music on the corner. It's a place to sit around and tell stories and wonder about it all - and most important, to slow down. Call … Continue reading Right Brain, Left Bank and Parenting through Teenage Angst
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A Matter of Perspective
Tao Tuesday - in participation with the Tao Te Ching Daily site by Amy Putkonen. Chapter 79 Failure is an opportunity. If you blame someone else, there is no end to the blame. Therefore the Master fulfills her own obligations and corrects her own mistakes. She does what she needs to do and … Continue reading A Matter of Perspective
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Calm as Water
Tao Tuesdays: Thanks to Amy Putkonen of Tao Ta Ching Daily. Chapter 78 Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it. The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid. Everyone knows this is true, but few can put … Continue reading Calm as Water
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Lessons in Learning
Let me preface by saying that after writing today's reflection, I feel raw because of how much I have to learn. This motherhood thing is ever changing, constant learning, every day more to understand about ourselves and therefore how we parent. I choose to keep thinking that every day I am trying to be better, … Continue reading Lessons in Learning
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Balance – That Damned Word
Tao Te Ching - Chapter 74 - with Reflection If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you aren't afraid of dying, there is nothing you can't achieve. Trying to control the future is like trying to take the master carpenter's place. When you … Continue reading Balance – That Damned Word
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Ancient Alchemy in Matters of the Heart
There may actually be too many things percolating in my head this morning, for any of them to come together into a cohesive thought, but I'm going to try. I am happy to announce that I do not think it is possible for words or books to disappoint me. Wednesday evening I finished book two … Continue reading Ancient Alchemy in Matters of the Heart
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The Tapestry of Intention
Recently, I've gotten back to a daily writing of poetry in the early morning. I have also been going through another one of Julia Cameron's writing challenge books, "Walking in this World," and was instructed to write about my intention for writing. My intention is to be more disciplined, less scattered, and more peaceful. I came … Continue reading The Tapestry of Intention
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Where to from here?
For the last week, I've been mulling over the reckless idea of a Singleness of Purpose. It floors me, the thought. I've been wondering about it almost nonstop - as if the quest for a Singleness of Purpose has been my purpose lately. Who are the people who seem to have one? People who dedicate … Continue reading Where to from here?
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Wild Beyond Wild, Calm Within Calm
We have been Home Schooling for a bit now, and there have been good days and struggling days. My Ben is so much like me that we can butt heads. We are learning how to work together for mutual benefit. In the process of beginning Home Schooling, I let the Homestead fall to the wayside. … Continue reading Wild Beyond Wild, Calm Within Calm
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On Apples Staying True to Form
"The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree," doesn't nearly say it all, in our case. At this stage, the apple is still growing, still attached to the limb, still gaining sustenance, growth directives and habits from me. Me and my husband, of course, it's just that my husband has so much cool to … Continue reading On Apples Staying True to Form
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Remember to Remember
Filed under: Lessons learned from a Rap Artist, and Color Me Surprised. It's not that I dislike rap music. I get the inherent poetry of the genre. It just hasn't been a form of music I consciously seek out for pleasure. I'm close to fifty-years old, and I think I just missed this art … Continue reading Remember to Remember
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Complicating Simple
Here's how the conversation went with my husband earlier today... "I'm afraid I complicate things," I said. "No, Really?" he laughed. "But first you simplify your complicated, then that seems too easy, so you complicate it again, and add layers and extra buttons, and some fancy widgets, then you scrap the whole thing and go … Continue reading Complicating Simple
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Soap and Joy and Dance and Daydreaming
Yesterday I read a great article about setting aside fifteen minutes a day to Power Brainstorm, to Idea Generate and let the mind wander from one new idea to another. The author said that of course pumping out lots of ideas in an almost forced way will mean that a lot of the ideas … Continue reading Soap and Joy and Dance and Daydreaming
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And, Why Do We Fall Down?
The answer, of course, is "So we can learn to get back up again." This is a line from Batman Begins that I heard my boys saying to one another after they'd seen the movie, reminding each other of the importance of learning through failure. In the last few months I have been nursing a … Continue reading And, Why Do We Fall Down?
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Blessed by Eye-Contact
Yesterday, Scott and our little 5-year old, red-headed Bean and I were at Costco doing an In-House Event for our Tree Service, right after Bean and I went on a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch with his Kindergarten class. We got to set up a table, show off some pictures of our work and … Continue reading Blessed by Eye-Contact
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Gratitude, Grace and Green Beans
The way I am learning to meditate, is to be still and quiet, and allow my mind to settle onto something, whatever it wants to settle onto, and keep breathing. It is a very low-key, no stress kind of meditation. I don't beat myself up for doing it wrong, because there is no wrong way … Continue reading Gratitude, Grace and Green Beans
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Failure Punctuates Pomposity
"One of the great adventures of sowing seeds and propagating mystery is that no matter how mindful and careful you are, inevitably some of your dreams will end in the failure so essential to a gardener's soul. Failure punctuates pomposity and inflated dreams, and makes you lean. Every paradise garden of Eden needs a little … Continue reading Failure Punctuates Pomposity
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Unexpected Up-Side of our Organic-ish Farming Venture
We say Organic-ish, because we do use Wasp Spray. Other than that, we don't spray anything on our garden, no chemicals, no weed-killers, and it turns out, that's a really good thing. Our animals love all those weeds. At first we were pulling weeds, now I'm out every morning Clipping Weeds. That's right, I clip … Continue reading Unexpected Up-Side of our Organic-ish Farming Venture
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Suppose all our Supposed To’s are Erroneous Suppositions
As I was meditating this morning, I caught myself telling myself how I was supposed to be doing it, rather than relaxing and just enjoying it. "Suppose" became my mantra. But, "Let's suppose" is a guess, and "Supposed to" is a should, or something I feel I have to do, but don't really want to … Continue reading Suppose all our Supposed To’s are Erroneous Suppositions
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Dustin Hoffman on Appreciating Women
Dustin Hoffman is in a video that will most likely go viral. It is about the moment he realized how many amazing women he had missed out on meeting or interacting with in his life because they didn't fit the image he had in his head of how women should look. He breaks down crying … Continue reading Dustin Hoffman on Appreciating Women
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Those Star Thistles are Vicious, aren’t They?
Weeds in the garden. You don't water them, you don't tend them or nurture them, you certainly don't plant them. You basically work hard to starve them of any nutrients so they will go away, and they are just as hardy as the day is long, and pop up continually. Some of the weeds in … Continue reading Those Star Thistles are Vicious, aren’t They?
