Sunday for Getting My Head on Straight

Life is getting complex. I need to slow it down and get some clarity.

 

Agenda today:

1. Read "Revolutionary Witchcraft"

2. Power mapping preparations

3. Awareness practice for the week

4. Creative visualization

A Natural Christmas

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.

Each year, this first week, I bring nature indoors, by collecting greens, pine cones, straw, and other natural materials to use for decorations, and for making gifts.

I've been collecting fallen branches of evergreens for the last weeks, and now I will bring them inside to deck my halls.

Greens are the first decorations I put up around the house, along with a few candles, to open the door to a little light, and to connect with the earth. Evergreens are a symbol of eternal life, and also symbolic protection against trouble. Today I bring the protective spirit of nature inside.

Agenda:

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Holiday Mindset

3. Advent school plans

4. Stick tree hanging

5. Twig ornaments

6. Make sweet, salty, or spicy nuts

Soul Notes

I've been struggling lately with the concept of spiritual growth, or daily "sharpening the saw" of the spirit, so I thought a review was in order.

Spiritual growth is the basis for a better and more harmonious life, a life of calmness, clarity, courage, and inner strength. It has (at least) four parts: 

-Awareness practices, such as meditation or journaling, or any practice that keeps you in the present moment or brings greater clarity to your daily life.

-Virtue habits, those little and big behaviors and characteristics of your personality that can improve with practice.

-Soul searching, which is the ongoing quest to understand your purpose and intentions.

-and opening to God or a higher power;  open to the possibility that there is something outside yourself that might love you.

1. Read "Focus on the Good Stuff":

I'm reading this book by Mike Robbins (2007), with the sub-title "The Power of Appreciation". In the introduction he says, "Underneath every dream or goal we have is a desire for appreciation. We want to feel good about ourselves and our lives." He's not talking about being appreciated, but about appreciating ourselves, our own lives, and everyone and everything that surrounds us. Along with appreciation he uses words like empowerment, effectiveness, confidence, clarity, and success.

Chapter Two is What's Wrong with Me?, about self-criticism. If I believe that I create my own reality - the script of my life - then I must know that the negativity I hold for others is actually a lack of appreciation for myself. 

Am I focused on my perceived weaknesses? A bit. I feel that fall short of being the perfect person I aim for. I obsess about any criticism. I doubt my abilities. I deflect or deny compliments.

Transforming negativity: Use this practice when I'm worried about something.

1. Acknowledge negative thoughts and feelings: Just say what presents itself at this time - dissatisfaction with my weight, annoyance with my slothfulness, worry about how I talk to my grandkids... 
2. Create a clean slate: Read these thoughts back until they lose their strength, then let them go.
3. Change my state of mind: Sing a loud song and dance around.
4. Visualize what I want: Ask, "How do I want this experience or day to go?" See and feel it exactly like I want it to go.

Then let it all go, and allow things to unfold as they will.

2. Spiritual growth practices:

My spiritual practices this month:

• Autumn Awareness - Daily time in my garden or neighborhood for a look at the seasonal changes - take 3 photos and note 3 changes.
• Soul Notes journal -  making note of the themes that spring up with my reading and my Ongo group.

3. Soul Notes Journal:

The theme has been forgiveness, and especially self-forgiveness. Last night we did a meditation that took me back to the 12-year old me, trying to get attention and approval, and right on the cusp of making some big mistakes. I can forgive that child for needing love.

Choose Positivity

Last night I spoke about the sadness I feel for our world, something I try not to touch on because I can get dark fast. And I realized how important it is to keep one finger on my sadness while choosing humor and happiness; I think that's how to keep cynicism from creeping in. If I stay aware that I am making a choice to live in positivity, then I can keep my grief under the surface, where it gives me power rather than fatalism.   

Agenda:

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Ponder this

3. Ongo Journal

4. Spiritual growth intention

Change my Beliefs

"If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?" ~ Robert Anthony

Agenda:

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Ponder this

3. Ongo Journal

4. Spiritual growth intention

Liking People Again

Sometime in the last couple of years I've begun to quip, "I don't like people very much." I think it's time to make a shift in that thinking, before it becomes too real.

It's true that I'm disappointed in human kind, especially liberals, for not taking action to protect our planet; it's true that my attention has shifted to loving nature; but love is not a zero sum game, as they say. If I want to be an effective leader of people, I'm going to need to learn how to love them again.

Agenda: 

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Love Meditation

3. Nature-Culture awareness

4. Inspiration and awe practice

Slow progress

I'm making slow progress on my big passion project, writing a book about Nature-Culture. The research of a new topic - water, drought, and pollution - is daunting. I have so much to learn. Also, I continue to be very busy with social obligations, doctor appointments, fundraiser events, and childcare. The trick is to get organized the night before so I don't eat into my writing time in the morning.

Agenda Today:

1. 

Read 

"Brainstorm"

2.

 Five days of passion

3. Outdoor preschool brainstorm

Being Aware

Being aware is partly a practice of being in the moment and partly a practice of education. I need to be aware of an issue before I can shift my thinking or change my actions. 

I also need to be aware of my threshold for bad news and my limited ability to process and build better habits! Slowly, Turtle.

Agenda: 

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Nature-Culture awareness

3. Inspiration and awe practice

Spiritual Simplicity and Order

Spiritual simplicity and order is my practice of the week, and it's all about attention to Truth, Love and Creation. When I make time for these in my life, other things fall away. 

Spiritual order then refers to this state of balanced alignment of my internal and external lives with a divine purpose, creating harmony and peace rather than chaos or excess. 

Agenda:

1. Awareness

2. Divestment

3. Enjoyment

Body Awareness

This week I've been trying to get serious about exercise, with not much success. My right arm is sore with tendonitis, and pain makes exercise hard to contemplate.

I'm going to need to build this habit systematically and slowly, so as not to injure myself badly. This week I'll begin with body awareness.

 

Agenda: 

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. My exercise plan

3. Creative Nature-Culture awareness

At the Ocean

It's true that nature can heal us. Walking on the beach is my medicine, which gives me the strength for reciprocity.

Agenda: 

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Ponder about my breathing

3. Beach-combing

4. Visualization

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

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

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

First Quarter Moon of September

The first quarter moon is today; 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 September quarter moon's energy to make a transition to autumn zeal: A little wild, and focused on gathering-in, tying up loose ends, and building resilience.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal queries
2. Read the Power of Now

3. Choose awareness practices

4. Make a full effort plan

Simple Sabbath

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. 

Sabbath Agenda:

1. Simple sabbath plans

2. Read "The Simpler Life"

3. How to simplify my life

Finding My Muse

Making art has been healing for me; I've used it throughout my life to explore my grief and my hopes. But I've felt disconnected from inspiration for quite a long while now.

Lately I've been wondering how I can use my art skills (and teaching art skills) to help heal the rift in our human connection to the Earth. I've opened myself to that possibility for the last month, and finally have just a glimmer of insight. This week I'm practicing all the ways I can think of to connect to my muse, and see a path forward for me and art.

Agenda:

1. Read "Healing with the Arts"

2. Weekly lesson

3. Guided meditation

4. Make a medicine wheel

5. Look for signs & omens in nature

July Sabbath for Awareness

Today is my sabbath - for a couple of days at the end of my week I step out of the fray, and regroup. Today I'm giving myself over to awareness.

My perfect sabbath is a celebration, a holiday. I keep it holy with my attitude: I don't rush, complain, or worry. Everything I do has a flavor of peace. I schedule some work, but it's work I find fulfilling, or uplifting. Simple is a great word to describe my ideal activities for the sabbath: Simple tasks, simple foods, and an undemanding schedule.

Agenda today:
1. Synopsis of my next month

2. My Earth-Quaker awareness practices
3. Read "Testament of Devotion"
4. Surrender, rest, recuperate

2022 Lent Calendar, Week 4

My theme for Lent this year is Rooted in awareness of Creation and Creator. I need to fuel my climate justice work with a strong and intimate connection to this land: I want to better understand my relationship to the natural world and the cycles of the seasons, the history, culture, and ecosystem of my valley, the indigenous peoples and how I connect to them, and the responsibility I feel for the animal and plant people.

At Lent I allow myself to be slow, simple, and thoughtful. I spend time each day in focused study and prayer. And I choose something to temporarily reduce or cut out of my life, as a reminder that what I truly need is the nurturing of Spirit (I try to choose something to fast from that is a good symbol of how I am trying to grow). And I also observe Lent as a time of creative action, acting on what I learn. I've identified these 

types of actions I want to take in the next 5 wks of Lent:

• Tending my garden (and letting it tend me);
• Building habitat for plant and animal people (and sanctuary for ourselves);
• Supporting and working directly on campaigns to defend the environment;
• Educating myself (growing in knowledge);
• Witnessing to others with writing, talking, and artwork.

2022 Lent Calendar, Week 3

My theme for Lent this year is Rooted in awareness of Creation and Creator. I need to fuel my climate justice work with a strong and intimate connection to this land: I want to better understand my relationship to the natural world and the cycles of the seasons, the history, culture, and ecosystem of my valley, the indigenous peoples and how I connect to them, and the responsibility I feel for the animal and plant people.

At Lent I allow myself to be slow, simple, and thoughtful. I spend time each day in focused study and prayer. And I choose something to temporarily reduce or cut out of my life, as a reminder that what I truly need is the nurturing of Spirit (I try to choose something to fast from that is a good symbol of how I am trying to grow). And I also observe Lent as a time of creative action, acting on what I learn. I've identified these 

types of actions I want to take in the next 5 wks of Lent:

• Tending my garden (and letting it tend me);
• Building habitat for plant and animal people (and sanctuary for ourselves);
• Supporting and working directly on campaigns to defend the environment;
• Educating myself (growing in knowledge);
• Witnessing to others with writing, talking, and artwork.