Time to Ponder

I value time to ponder, to mull things over. I've begun a practice of sitting outside in the garden every morning to ponder the connections and flow of my life and projects - I sit with a cup of coffee and a yellow legal pad and make notes of what comes to mind. I daydream and let my mind wander, and then gradually draw my attention back to this moment in my garden: I see the bees and plants, and notice the ripe raspberries, what needs water, and where the bindweed is creeping upward. Then I swing into action - pick the berries and pull the bindweed, and bring joyful attention to my garden.

When I pay attention to my garden and the sweet taste of raspberries I can let all anxiety and obsession go.

Agenda: 

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Ponder my presence

3. Grandma and Grandpa Camp

Return to Ease

As I've said, this summer has been "busy". I am feeling stressed by the nagging sensation that I am behind on responsibilities, and also the feeling that I'm not taking time to enjoy summer days. 

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun and for a return to ease.

Agenda:
1. Read "The Sweet Spot"

2. Plan for summer ease

3. Big outdoor building projects

Step into Nature

I have a love of nature on a very local level - I do not desire to drive to the woods every weekend. That said, I would like to return to some habits of walking and biking to local natural areas - we do have some great ones - and also having an occasional adventure in the woods or at the ocean.

Agenda:

1. Practice a Reverent Way of Being

2. Read "Step into Nature"

3. Plan some adventures

New Lotus Moon (for Integrity)

It's a Chinese leap month, so a repeat of the sixth new moon, know as the Lotus Moon. The lotus is the "flower of open-heartedness", an emblem of purity, fruitfulness (because of its many seeds) and creative power. And since lotus leaves protect the goldfish under them (a symbol of prosperity), the lotus also symbolizes abundance year after year. 

Detail from "Connect", acrylic

A lotus flower grows out of the mud, and blossoms above the muddy water surface. Buddhists teach that, like a lotus, we can rise above the suffering and conflicts of life. The Lotus Moon, then, is the natural time to dig into the mud of my life, and seek out the best ways to grow above the fray.

Agenda:

1. Retreat Day

2. Read "Creativity Takes Courage"

2. Choose a month theme

3. Set intentions

Summer Playing

I hope to have some good fun this week with family and friends - that's what summer is for: Playing in the pool, the garden, and with art.

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Agenda:
1. Read "The Sweet Spot"

2. Playtime plans

3. Big outdoor building project

Saturday Creativity

Today I'm circling back to think about my creative projects. I'm working on a nice variety of artwork right now: Drawing motifs from nature for my book, sewing a Coat of Many Earth Colors, making butterfly hangers with my grandson, and stenciling earth posters to give away.

Agenda:
1. Read "Creativity Takes Courage"
2. Evaluate my creativity habits

3. Do the smallest thing

Third Quarter Moon of July

Today is the third Quarter moon. This waning third quarter moon energy is yin - quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. At this phase we can ease off a bit on actively pursuing goals, slow down, go within, and attend to inner work, renewal, and self-care. This isn’t a moment for starting new projects but for finishing up old ones, making peace with the past, and preparing for a fresh start at the next new moon.

Agenda Today:

1. 

Read 

"Brainstorm"

2. 

Review my passion plan

3. Five days of passion

4. Meditation and Evaluation Journal

5. Monthly journal brainstorm

Generous Reciprocity

Lorquin's Admiral

I've had a few conversations lately about how out of synch I feel with my friends and peers; it's to do with simplicity and convenience, and people's general willingness to bend integrity to make life easier. This is not a new sensation, but as the situation becomes more urgent, the gap feels like it's widening.

 
Life is hard, no doubt about it, and the powers that be keep it that way so we have less time to think about more important things like exploitation of the earth. I'm sure I'm over-simplifying, but the economic attacks on the poor and middle classes seem like a blatant ploy to undermine environmentalists. Who can care about forests and butterflies when their healthcare and children's lunches are at risk? Who has the money or time to reduce plastics and shop organic when they are worried about the losing free speech and reproductive rights?

The urgent issues of the day obfuscate the all-time importance of protecting our planet, but pointing this out is not useful or effective. So how do we create an opening for a deeper commitment to a life lived in unity and integrity with the earth?

Agenda:

1. Love meditation

2. Proaction plans

Natural Rhythm

I'm seeking a natural rhythm for my day, one that flows with the season and my energy levels, and also touches on all of my important projects and roles; I want to figure out how to find the sweet spot, where I'm engaged and challenged, but not stressed out - part of my (Slow) Passion Project, to involve myself wholeheartedly with my priorities and stretch beyond the way I’ve always done things. 

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Agenda:
1. Love Meditation

2. Read "The Sweet Spot"
3. Natural living

4. Shibashi
5. Big outdoor building projects

Sabbath for Excitement

Today is my Sabbath. Sabbath in the summer is more fluid and high-energy - I'm in the middle of (virtual) Annual Session, and preparing for a visit from family and a trip to the Country Faire - exciting! I will find peace within the bustle of the day.

Sabbath Agenda:

1. Love Meditation

2. Simple sabbath plans

3. Read "Creativity Takes Courage"
4. Evaluate my creativity habits

July Garden

July is hot in our valley - hotter than I enjoy. We are experiencing 100+º weather for the next week (which is nothing compared to other parts of the world but more than we are generally used to.)

Luckily, we still have cool mornings. Most big garden projects have been completed, the yard is blooming with lots of flowers, and we have dragonflies, a few butterflies, and all sizes of bees. It's too late to plant most summer veggies, and too early to start fall crops, so my focus is on garden care - watering, weeding, mulching - and on HARVEST.

Agenda:

1. July harvest

2. July tasks

3. Drying peas

4. July planting tips

Full Thunder Moon

The full moon of July is called ameku, the mid-summer moon, by the Kalapuya of our area, and the thunder moon by others. July days have the humming energy of a summer storm. It's a month of passion and activity: I'm challenged to find integrity in my actions and expand into my Truth.

The sun is at the peak of its power, lighting all corners with its radiance, and burning away all non-essentials. We are now at the peak of the strong-energy yang phase of the waxing moon, and will soon begin the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon.

Agenda: 

1. Take a vision walk

2. Read Brainstorm
3. Clarify my passion plan
4. Four days of passion

4. Celebrate slow passion and courage

Full and Fun Life

When people ask how my summer is going, I say "busy".  It's true I've got a lot going on - I'm clerking, and planning events, and writing a book, and caring for my grandsons, AND we have a large home project under way.

But all of that stuff fits into my waking hours with a some kind of ease and flow. The busy-ness I sense is an illusion: I have lots of free time for chatting and playing games. And any tasks I don't complete will roll over to the next week of summer with no major consequences.

I'de like to ban the word busy from my vocabulary and replace it with "full and fun". 

Agenda: 

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Ponder use of my time

3. Shibashi

Tanabata

Tanabata is a Japanese summer festival, observed on the evening of July 7th. Tanabata means literally "Evening of the seventh", but it is also known as the Star Festival, because it celebrates the story of two heavenly lovers.

The story goes that Shokujo the Weaver (Vega), and Kengyu the Cowherd (Altair) were two young star people who worked for the gods, making cloth and milking the heavenly cows. They fell so much in love that they forgot to do their chores. The gods became angry when they found they had run out of cloth and milk, and put the two lovers on separate sides of the Milky Way.

The lovers were so sad to be separated that the gods eventually took pity on them and agreed that they could meet once a year on the night of Tanabata, if the sky was clear. It is said that the birds fly up to make a bridge so that the lovers may cross.

Agenda Today:

Wish for Wisdom

1. Shinto prayer

2. Read "Shinto Meditations"
3. Hang paper streamers
4. Make a tanzaku wish
5. Kigan-sai (Wishes Ceremony)
6. Make Hiyashi Somen (Cold Noodles)

Reset Monday

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Because I'm working on a Slow Passion Project, to involve myself wholeheartedly with my priorities and stretch beyond the way I’ve always done things, I also want to figure out how to find the sweet spot, where I'm engaged and challenged, but not stressed out.

Agenda:
1. Read "The Sweet Spot"
2. Natural living

3. Shibashi
4. Big outdoor building projects

Be a Creative Force for Nature

Many years ago I set the intention to “be a creative force for nature” - I didn’t coin the phrase but it has been a powerful mantra for me. It means to use all your creative skills:

• To give a voice to nature. 
• To inspire empathy and critical action for nature.
• For education, to help to shift the paradigm.

The Wild Voices Collective is a group of artists with that same mission. I am inspired by their artwork. But creativity takes many, many forms. We each need to seek and find our personal way to be a force for nature. 

Agenda:
1. Read "Creativity Takes Courage"
2. Simple project list
3. Do the smallest thing

July Day for Commitment

The month of July is a golden time of passion and activity. Nature celebrates the peak of its power, the sun reaches her highest point, and I do the same; every day I get to share my light with the world. I put my best and brightest energy into my projects, my garden, and my art. I seek out chances to be courageous, and extend myself beyond what’s comfortable.

The question for July is How do I shine through the clouds?

“Hold the sadness and pain of samsara in your heart and at the same time the power and vision of the Great Eastern Sun. Then the warrior can make a proper cup of tea.”

~ Chogyam Trungpa

Agenda:

1. Read "The Serviceberry"

2. Vow practice

3. Visualization

Week of Passion

On Sunday I began my Slow Passion Project, an extension of my Flow Project. I've been working to SLOW DOWN and GO WITH the FLOW, and this month I'm adding INVOLVE MY WHOLE SELF.

The parts of passion are drive, commitment, concentration, clarity, and flow.

Agenda:

1. Read "Brainstorm"

2. Clarify my passion plan
3. Four days of passion

First Quarter Moon of Early July

Tonight is the First Quarter Moon; we are one-quarter of the way through the moon cycle. The moon is waxing - growing in light and energy, creating a time for decisive action. I use this early July quarter moon's energy to take the first steps toward my dreams. 

Agenda Today:

1. Read "Creativity Takes Courage"

2. Journal queries
3. Make a full effort plan

4. Proaction

5. Reciprocity plans