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The Unfolding Unknowable

The unfolding future is unknowable. Ours is to prepare our consciousness to meet it from openness, curiosity and awe. ~ Jeanne

How does that sit with you?
Does it ring true?
What does it bring up in you?

There was a time I really believed that I could plan just about anything and accomplish it by following my plan. The future was known because I was designing it. At that time, I wasn’t very open to what wasn’t in the plan; I wasn’t very curious because I already knew what was going to happen. And awe? Well, there really wasn’t time to let the beauty and wonder of life have that kind of impact on me!

Tama Kieves, in her book, A Year Without Fear, writes: Continue reading “The Unfolding Unknowable”

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(in)flexibility

“nothing is possible unless the door is open
a mind full of itself caught up in its own tentacles
living in memory
never hears the whispers from the depth
only in innocence are we vulnerable to reality
only in not-knowing does the light appear”

~ Billy Doyle, The Mirage of Separation

I remember as a teenager thinking, “I will be an adult soon. I’ll graduate from college, get married, and have all the answers I need to succeed in life.”

Okay, pretty silly and naive!

And, gratefully, Continue reading “(in)flexibility”

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Patience…

Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the gardener who carefully choose seeds and planted them with extreme love and care, looking back on his work with healthy pride. A few weeks later, before the seeds had sprouted above the dirt, a fellow gardener informs him that the seeds were planted too close together. So, he dug them up and replanted. Many days pass and yet another, wise and trusted, gardener says, “No, those seeds must be planted very close together.” And the gardener dug up and replanted them – again.

How many of those seeds reached maturity by harvest time?

I read this story again recently and began to wonder how often I have taken great care to choose actions and discern what activities are mine to do (and not!). Then, I begin, Continue reading “Patience…”

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Time is elongating…

What follows is a message which flowed into my journal recently. While choosing part-time work, I have a parallel full-time practice of learning to live the moments mindfully, coming to a new understanding of Life in all its complexity and beauty, routine and miraculous. I am practicing living and choosing from my heart space rather than the calendar and the to-do list. It is from this place, that the writing below emerged. It isn’t for everyone! But, especially if you find yourself new to retirement, or, like me, on a journey of presence to the moment, it may strike a resonance in you.

Time is elongating – what used to be an everyday happening is now less regular and less frequent – or perhaps it is my concept of “day” that is changing … it is less controlled as alarms rarely call me to action at a particular hour – nightfall encourages sleep when it’s ready.
Continue reading “Time is elongating…”

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Collecting Dust

Recently, I was describing to a friend that I see myself as a lifelong learner. I can’t imagine getting to some point (a certain age, adulthood, retirement) and deciding that “I’ve arrived and I’ve got it — this thing called life”.

Yet, I am aware that some folks do “arrive”. They stop expanding. They go through the motions of their days, today no different than yesterday. Perhaps you hear them complain about how the world is changing and making life difficult.

Some folks continue learning Continue reading “Collecting Dust”