Every Day Zen
The longer I live, the less certain I am about anything. I'm not overthrowing the known for the unknown or vice versa, much less seeking balance. Some days are just without bounds. I'm just trying to stay present to the chaos. It seems the only place of worth. Increasingly, the world is dark, where money... Continue Reading →
Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day… Sentinel squirrel, cloaked in brown, white chest bared, standing atop the highest loblolly pine branch. In the distant blue sky, the red shouldered hawk soars. Sighted or no? Life and death matters on Monday morning but to squirrel and hawk, one day lasts a moment. Hurricane Dorian, the storm... Continue Reading →
Aging is freeing for a writer, a last gasp of so many why nots? I’ve mentioned wanting to write poetry but not having a poet’s heart, which I don’t, but why not a few lines of verse, from time to time? And because it is not real poetry but an exercise, I use a quotation,... Continue Reading →
All her life, Mary Oliver gave us “instructions for living,” being aware, delighted because of it, and “telling about it.” That was her poetry, line after line. Mary Oliver is gone but how grateful I am that she lived and told us about it. I don’t know how many of her poems are in my... Continue Reading →
It’s a soggy, sunny Sunday morning in North Florida with 74% humidity, the warmth of an oven without the offer of fresh bread. The yellow-black of the Tiger Swallowtail and burnt orange of the Gulf Fritillary butterflies weave in and out of vine-laden live oak and longleaf pine. Within the green vine-blankets are oval glimpses... Continue Reading →
There is a road I once traveled and in my mind’s eye, I still do. A hollowed-out canopy of live oak and cypress, root-rutted, snug enough for a small pickup and treacherous for low-slung vehicles. It has grabbed a few mufflers and grassed many a chassis. It’s not a particularly easy path because not all... Continue Reading →
Today’s #LongerView, “Shoving My Snark Elsewhere,” celebrates the joy of relationship, whether it’s with neighbor Grace, a mint plant, or at a native nursery. As Pema Chödrön says, “We are always in relationship.” I started thinking about that in terms of my social media presence and snark, specifically wondering where the joy was. As always,... Continue Reading →
I did not find them by the sea but in a forest deep. They sat path-side. A fossilized shell, wave-smooth, with a wooden wayfarer having lost all but itself. As one, they appeared a fish, head of stone, body and tail of crêpe myrtle. On that day, they left one path for another. Who knows... Continue Reading →
We have a cushion to absorb life so that it lands a bit more softly. It’s an accounting of sorts, this cushion, a meting out of Zen.The future is its own, the past forever gone, and life is always now--a balancing act. Some days, I max out my Zen spreadsheet, squirreling away for the future.... Continue Reading →
