Say Yes

Friday is my day for proaction: Proaction is taking initiative to anticipate and shape future events rather than simply reacting to circumstances as they happen. Some people think Covey should've just used the word ACT, but proaction requires a thought: "I could do this or I could do that; I choose to do this."

On Fridays I take steps to maintain clarity of purpose, keep the end in mind, monitor my progress, and recommit. I often journal a bit about the future, and my dreams and goals: What GREAT things do I want to accomplish? How will I serve people? How will I use my talents? How will I stretch myself? How can I become an “island of excellence”? What is essential?

Agenda:

1. Read "The Achievement Habit"

2. Clarity for Service

3. The end plan

4. Proaction and reciprocity plans

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day! The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970, and it still remains a big event in the environmental movement. Interest and participation in Earth Day has increased and spread around the world, with millions of people taking part. 

My plans for this week have taken a giant turn, so today I am regrouping and working to not let this turn derail me. I'll use my Mid-week Bump Plan to defeat the hump that often makes me feel stuck: A plan to help me build momentum and preserve the goodness of the week throughout each of the five days, so that I arrive at Saturday feeling fulfilled and content.

Agenda today:

1. My bump plan

2. Ongo journal

3. New narrative for worry

4. Writing themes and passion flow plan

Prepare for the New Moon

Every month just after the third quarter moon, I take some days to be quiet and contemplative and prepare for the next phase of my life. I'm lucky that this year I have a three day Earthcare retreat just at the right time!

Agenda:

1. Read "Perspective"

2. Monthly journal brainstorm:

3. Brainstorm my Earthcare message

4. Cleansing 

Babinden

The Slavic holiday Babinden (bah-bean-den) happens each year on January 21. Baba means "grandmother", and the in is possessive; den is "day", so the meaning is "Grandmother’s Day". It’s also called Midwives Day.

Babinden is an ancient festival, still celebrated in Bulgaria, to give thanks and show respect to the women (or men) who have helped in the child-birthing process, and for all the other skills and knowledge the grandmothers have: Growing food, cooking, herb lore, looking after their grandchildren, and teaching folklore and traditions.

The roots of this festival, however, are in fertility rites. In Bulgaria, a house full of healthy and beautiful children is a basic value, and this is the underlying focus of the rituals on Babinden. Fertility is an essential theme of nature, and today I celebrate the place my grandsons have in the great, burgeoning, hope-filled circle of abundance, and my role as one of their care-givers.

Agenda today:
1. Journal queries

2. Read "The Earth Keeper's Handbook"

3. Hand-washing ceremony

4. Prayer for grandmothers

Earth Path

Woodland Skipper sunning on my sage.

Starhawk in her book “The Earth Path”, says: "...we must learn to be present in and interact with the natural world that surrounds us, in the city as well as the country or wilderness. Instead of closing our eyes to meditate, we need to open our eyes and observe. Unless our spiritual practice is grounded in a real connection to the natural world, we run the risk of simply manipulating our own internal imagery and missing the real communication taking place all around us."

Like Starhawk, I advocate for including nature in your spiritual practices: If you meditate, or have a daily prayer practice, do it outdoors, with eyes open. If you are a church goer, find one that will let you worship outside at least once a month, or simply schedule one day a month to take yourself outside to worship on your own. Invite nature into your spiritual life in any way you can. 

I’m suggesting that we worship WITH nature: Open a door to deep awareness. Awareness of nature leads to wonder, the recovery of that childhood ability to be struck with awe at the simple and profound experience of being in relationship with nature. When we are aware, every visit from a butterfly becomes a joyful moment to pause and greet a special guest; walking under a giant Douglas Fir tree is a stop at a sacred place; the miracle of the sunrise and sunset connects us to the turning of the planet.

The wonder-kinship-bond is a culmination of the shift from being a human, living beside nature, to being joined in sister and brotherhood with all of life.

Agenda:

1. Spiritual growth goals

2. Renewal plans

3. Eco-spiritual practices

Rogation Sunday

Rogation-tide begins on the Sunday five weeks after Easter and continues for four more days, through Ascension Day on Thursday. 

Rogation is an early Christian tradition of singing psalms and chanting prayers of petition for God's protection on crops, beasts and people. Since medieval days, parishioners in Britain would walk around the parish boundaries, bearing a cross and banners, and asking for God to bless the crops, livestock, and fishing holes. The procession was called 'beating the bounds'; it helped everyone to remember the parish boundaries, in the time before maps were commonplace.

These boundary walks were also known as ‘gang days’ from the Anglo Saxon word ‘gangen’- to go. The parish would bond together as a community, offer charity to poor people they met along the way, and the priest would stop to preach at each prominent tree or landmark.

Now Rogation-tide is celebrated more as a time to honor the gift of creation of the land and waters, to offer thanksgiving for the labors on land and water that feed us, and to pray for stewardship of the earth.

Agenda Today:

1. Read "Everyday Simplicity"

2. Beat the bounds

2. Bless my garden

3. Make Rammalation Bisquits

Tu B'Shevat

Tu B’Shevat (to b’sch VAHT), the Jewish New Year for Trees, begins tonight at sunset, the evening before the full moon. This is the season in Israel when the earliest-blooming trees start a new fruit-bearing cycle. In contemporary Israel it’s celebrated with tree planting ceremonies and a focus on ecological awareness, and a seder (ceremonial meal) of tree fruits.

Agenda: 

1. Tree of Life meditation

2. Plant a tree

3. Intentions for Earth-Care

4. Share a seder meal

Advent Earth Care

My theme for this first week of Advent is "Cherish and care for the earth". I express my unity with nature at Advent in many ways:

• by offering small gifts of love and attention in recognition of all I receive from the earth;
• by learning the names of my neighbors- the birds, bugs, trees, and plants;
• by advocating for earthcare with my community;
• and by finding joy and fulfillment in simply being alive, instead of in an excess of buying, eating, using, and wasting.

Agenda Today:

1. Read "Shinto Meditations"

2. Journal queries
3. Redefine my work for earth care

4. Collection walks
5. Make bird feeder pine cones

First Sunday of Advent

Today is the first Sunday of Advent!

ad•vent (ad’ vent) n. The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important.

The advent season is a time of expectant waiting. We look forward with excitement to the celebration of Christmas; we wait for the return of longer days after the solstice; and we anticipate the arrival of grace in our hearts.

Grace is a state of being - at peace, free, filled with love & light.

I'll fill the next weeks with decorating, baking, buying gifts, and singing songs... but enfolding the busyness is the simple, deep peace and love of advent. I wait, anticipate, and learn again that transformation is a slow process.

Agenda today:
1. Advent prayer

2. Grace notes
3. Plan activities to express my unity with nature

5. Set intentions
4. Advent wreath ceremony

November Wildlife Garden

November is a significant month for a wildlife garden because it's generally the turning point for the first frosts of winter. This November has been warm - I harvested raspberries yesterday! - but the rains have begun in earnest.

In September I wrote about my Nature-Culture ideas: living my life as part of nature; sharing my resources with those who share theirs (the bees and the birds, etc.); becoming more aware of nature's needs so I can be a better neighbor; changing my habits so I can cause less harm.

My working definition of Nature-culture is "Humans living in unity with nature: acting in ways that create shared spaces that mimic the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems."

Agenda:

1. Bird watching

2. Feed the birds

3. Add to my wildlife garden habitat

4. Winter vegetable garden tasks

5. Personal life-style goals

6. Education and advocacy plans

Sabbath for Gratitude

Today is my Sabbath. In the best world, everyone would have one whole day each week to spend as we want; to stay in bed, read a good book, take a slow walk or do a crossword; one whole day to do no work, run no errands, send no emails, and clean no toilets! And why don't we? Mostly because we don't make it a priority.

A sabbath day was originally a day of renewal, and rest from work, kept on Saturday by the Jews and Sunday by most Christians. And, of course, when religious people got involved, the day got bound up with "shall and shall nots". Keeping the day holy became a lot of work, and people were arrested if they didn't do it right; enforced rest is not usually very relaxing or renewing! 

In the modern world we have swung the pendulum too far the other way, escaping religious rules and adopting the rules of progress, where no day is holy - only the dollar.

My theme today is Gratitude: How do I express my gratitude to people, the earth, and to God? What has filled me with Light?   

Agenda:
1. Simple Sabbath plans

2. Read "Wake Up Grateful"
3. Testimony of Gratitude
4. Winter Earth Awareness Practice

Simple Synergy

Synergy is all about teamwork, but I only have control over myself. This fall I'm approaching synergy like a dance, and I'm making up the steps as I go along. What do we need from our teams and how do I ask for the best kind of help? And what are the top priority projects I'm called to work on?

I continue to build my inner wisdom, and take persistent right action on the work I'm called to. For this, I need discernment (insight and clarity), equanimity, and centering in chaos.

 Agenda:

1. Read "The Power of Less"

2. Simple goals for earthcare

3. The Simple Project List

4. Fall cleaning and gardening

5. Inner synergy for birds and fish

First Things First

First Things First is my mantra this fall and winter. No matter what happens going forward, we are going to be under enormous stress, and I need to get a grip. 

That first week after the revelation of my partner's illness, I was able to extract myself from a few responsibilities, but, as the initial shock wore off, some have crept back - because I feel guilty for not helping where help is needed, and also I feel out-of-the-loop and cut off from my familiar inner circle. I need to re-focus each week on my top priorities - Serving my Family, and Leading on Earthcare, and find ways to gracefully release most everything else.

Agenda:

1. Simple goals for earthcare

2. The Simple Project List

3. Read "The Power of Less"
4. Fall cleaning and gardening

Retreat for Synergy

I'm exploring and celebrating synergy today - the ability to seek unity, embrace teamwork, live holistically, and work tirelessly towards a better end. Synergy is the eternally active primal force of creation: No matter what the conditions are, they will change.

I've temporarily simplified down to the two essential priorities in my life - family and earth care - so today I'll set some intentions and make some plans for how to create synergy for those priorities.

Agenda:

1. Read "First Things First"

2. Team synergy plan

3. Practice the Stoic Art of Inquiry

4. Earth Care intentions

5. Synergy Walk

May Retreat for Inner Synergy

I'm celebrating synergy today - the ability to seek unity, embrace teamwork, live holistically, and work tirelessly towards a better end. Synergy is the eternally active primal force of creation: No matter what the conditions are, they will change.

Stephen Covey says, "Fulfilling the four needs [spiritual, mental, physical, social] in an integrated way is like combining elements in chemistry. When we reach a "critical mass" of integration, we experience spontaneous combustion -- an explosion of inner synergy that ignites the fire within and gives vision, passion, and a spirit of adventure to life."

I'm going to create some synergy today, here at home, all by myself.

Agenda

1. Read "Writing and Being"

2. Practice the Stoic Art of Inquiry

3. Create synergy for Art

Fifth Day of Christmas

This is the fifth day of the twelve-day festal tide - a sacred, festive season. I have a day to myself, but lots of activity on my schedule, followed by a train trip north, so I plan to be present in the moment and take it one thing at a time.

Agenda today:

1. Christmas retreat

2. Kwanzaa principles

3. Light a candle for unity with nature
4. Read "The Comfort of Crows"
5. Earth care goals

6. Make end-of-year donations