#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Meditation, Morning Brook
"Speaking in creation's tongues, hearing creation's voices, the boundary of our soul expands. Earth has many, many voices. Those who understand that Earth is a living being know this because they have translated themselves to the humble grasses and old trees. They know that Earth is a community that is constantly talking to itself, a communicating universe and whether we know it or not, we are participating in the web of this community."
~ Joan Halifax, The Fruitful Darkness
I walked to the river, a bit later than usual, this last morning of the holiday break, and only the tiniest of edge of the river had little laces of ice. But parts of the wetlands are iced, and some of the trail, and I slid precariously over the glassy freeze. I was listening to the Upaya Zen podcast again, and the Roshi was talking about posture in meditation, and I looked down and saw the ice figure––woman seated in meditation with. a lovely posture; a glorious discovery. I walked for a long time reflecting on presence. And poetry. And my frustrations lately with writing, and all this frustration started to lift as I just focused on this very moment on earth and the wonderful beauty and imagery of the brook. In fact, my frustration lifted more when I had a poem immediately accepted by a journal; one that has been rejected a few times. It found its home, and I’m glad. I sent out, after my walk, my Aim for Astonishing weekly prompt and worked on the daily activity of cleaning up from the holidays and putting away clutter, clutter, clutter, and Frank and I spent some time finishing the renewal of our youngest’s bedroom since she moved all her belongings out and now we have a guest room, well, it’s always her room, but it’s fit for a guest if the need arises. Or fit for meditation, where I will sit with a lovely posture and reflect on my brook full of leaves and water and ice and all kinds of fascinating organic matter recycling and regenerating and making a habitat for many worthy beings who belong to it.