Fall into Winter

I took this photo yesterday afternoon from my front porch .....

Trees do not passively lose their leaves as once believed. The Tree actively engages in the removal, using scissor cells to prepare for Winter. The wind comes along and sweeps away the debris, thus baring the Tree for it's dormancy. This analogy resonates, as we are mirrors of Nature in all her stages of Life.

As we move seasonally from Fall, we tumble into Winter. This is the time of contemplation, of quietness within, of turning our healing energies inward towards our core as we shed the extraneous and superficial aspects that we've accumulated through the abundance of Spring and Summer. Harvest has been completed. It is time to sleep, to dream.

I willingly shed the old patterns, though they do not so willingly shed from me. I am the Tree, using those specialized cells to sever the old and the withered. Not all leaves or fruit can be shed. This, too, is part of Life. They shrivel and cling. Perfection cannot be attained, as perfection is an illusion.

Re-defining Perfection: You ARE perfect. Now. This moment. Utterly. Like Life, perfection is ever-evolving. You will be perfect tomorrow, and the day after, and the week after, and though the Seasons. All that you are ... is enough for this moment. All that you will be in the next moment, is also enough. We live, we grow, we change, we evolve, we learn, and we grow some more.

In one of our trees, at the base is an opening, where gentle honey Bees reside. These bees care for our ancient apple orchard, and the plums and pears and the flowers.

In a shed, beautiful wasps devour harmful insects that would damage crops. We speak to these Wasps, and they allow us passage. They are a gardeners friend, and with kindness, they co-exist peacefully as good neighbors.

Water evaporates to the sky and falls as tears of renewal to further nurture the soil which feeds the Trees. We are connected intricately to the earth. When we forget the connections, we sicken.

Remember.
Always remember.

Beneath our skin, we are One.

with grace and gratitude,
^_^

 

Love your poetic thoughts, Lily Grace. You remind me of a very dear friend of mine.

Thought you might appreciate my thoughts this morning that I posted on Facebook:

I was reading a "manifesto" that I liked..you've seen them - posters full of good, positive mojo about forgiving others, having self-respect and giving up crappy thinking.
But I paused on the "I will ROCK this world..." comment.
Ya know. Chances are good, really, REALLY good, that I won't ROCK this world. It's hard to ROCK the world when you're sorting through parenting challenges or what to fix for dinner when you're out of groceries and the roads are icy so you don't want to go to the store. Again. And so on.
But I can ROCK this moment. I can ROCK enjoying the presence of my kids. And I can ROCK being grateful for what I have.
Sure, change your thinking and outlook but remember...much of what you're looking for is already present.

And yes...to echo what you said...We are One.

PS If you haven't read any of John O'Donohue's poetry/books, I think he will really resonate with you.

 

I love the photo and your descriptions, Lily Rose.

We were only supposed to get snow showers yesterday but it became 3 inches of clean, white, soft snow.
Everything looks like a White Christmas here in the Chicago area.

I didn't know that wasps can be friendly or that they are gardeners' helpers.

 

Hi lily Rose, thank you for your last reply to my post. Your support and validation is so appericated!

 

You are absolutely right ... a perfect response. Know this, though ... when you rock in your own corner of your world, you do rock the rest of the world. Nothing we do is in isolation. Toss a stone in a lake, and the ripples spread, ever widening. Even when the ripples cease, the lake is forever changed by the presence of that rock. (I obtained this image/quote from an episode of Xena, Warrior Princess .... a very favorite series of mine. Battle On Xena!).

I looked up the John O'Donohue's books. There are many. Is there any one particular that draws you? I am looking at Anam Cara, and Four Elements. Thank you for directing me towards his work. I have saved them on my Amazon wish list.

Thank you, Walt ... the photo surprised me when I saw it on the screen. I am still not used to viewing through the digital window. I miss my Canon 35mm with special lens attachments. Old fashioned, but far more control in the shots. Yet taking the film to a developer can ruin the shot, too. A trade off in many ways.

I love soft snow. We had to go rescue my mom last eve as her car would not make it up the mountain road to her home. Our headlights illuminated the broad expanse of stardusted road and fields. Even though I was cold, I was entranced.

Wasps: Oh YES they are friends! People have learned to be so afraid of them. When you make violent moves towards them, they respond in kind. When you move slow and calm, they are responsive to that, as well. If you do a Google search on 'Friendly Wasps' you will get many articles about them. Last Spring I had the opportunity to educate a 16 year old student about wasps. He got into my truck and almost panicked when we had company. I told him that wasps were friendly if he would be friendly, and told him how they are so useful in gardens. Since he was learning to grow his own herb garden, he was intrigued. When he saw for himself the result of my actions with the wasp, he became a believer. At his own home, he had an encounter that confirmed what he had learned. Unfortunately (or not), his new belief caused a fight on the schoolbus when a fellow student killed a trapped wasp. He was furious with the girl. I told him later that not everyone is willing or able to learn, and to be patient. Educating people cannot be forced.

A couple months ago as we were preparing our wood pile, the wasps were thick in the shed. We needed to chainsaw and split the wood, so we just proceeded. I told the wasps we wouldn't hurt them. There were so many that it strained my own beliefs, and I nearly gave in to the idea of extermination. Then .... something odd happened. The swarm just diminished and the shed became virtually clear as we worked outside it, and hauled wood inside. When we finished, I commented on the absence, but as I spoke, they began returning. Our work was done, and they seemed to know it. We left them to their own work. I thanked them as we departed.

We fear them because they can hurt us. But like any creature, they can interpret not just our actions, but our feelings through our body language. I love them. While I do often get that sliver of automatic fear, I work through that and try to radiate that I respect and honor their role in Nature.

You are most welcome. We all need support, and we all very much need validation. It is a curious thing, this phenomena that happens -- when we validate, we are validating ourselves, too.

As Pema Chodron says: We work on our selves in order to help others, but also, we help others in order to work on our selves.

with grace and gratitude,
^_^

 

Lily Rose, Beauty the Invisible Embrace and Anam Cara are the two O'Donohue books that I'm familiar with...they were both highly recommended to me by kindred spirits and I can say that they are indeed, wonderful.

Interesting information on wasps. I never knew that.

I said before that if I were ever inclined to get a tattoo, (which I am not), it would be on the inside of my wrist where it would serve as a frequent reminder. And the tat would read, "Who told you that?" I am finding that pretty much everything I've been told to believe/accept...I've had to challenge. Be it medical issues or wasps.

 

My older brother got a tattoo on his upper arm when he was in the navy. I think it was of an anchor.
He was fooled into getting it by friends on leave in Tokyo just after World War II and they said they
were getting their's after he got his, but they never did. He hated it afterward and rarely took off his
short-sleeved shirt because it showed. Today, he'd be considered nekked with just one tattoo.

I can't see the myself, especially someone like David Hobson the rugby star who has them all over.
Why make yourself look like a billboard? I don't understand all the guys wearing beards and goatees now.

 

Walt, I don't get the tattoos either. But we're a dying breed (I'm in the last year of the baby boomers). Youngers kids regard them as body art and a form of expression.

One of my dear friends, a licensed counselor, says her observation is every time she sees tats, especially on a woman she says it reminds her of the pain on the inside. I protested mildly and pointed out one dear friend who is in her late 60s (!) who has one. "She wears the name of her daughter," I said. And then I remembered...the daughter who committed suicide. Uh, yeah. Point taken!

And then there's my mom. She was a prison guard in the 70s. She said tats were a sign you were either former military or you spent time in the joint. Guess her bias as stuck with me because I truly am bewildered at the popularity of them.

Ah. To each their own, eh?

 

Love the photo and your imagery, Lily Rose. You have a gift in expressing yourself both through photography and through your words. The cold exacerbates my joint pain, but I can still appreciate the beauty of a snowy landscape.
How fortunate the young man is who benefitted from your lessons on wasps!

 

Lily Rose, I am also a big wasp fan. Another thing they will do is they will go out of the house if you ask them. Try that with flies and they just laugh at you -- cheeky brats. But wasps are very cooperative if you treat them nicely. Often you have to tell them where the exit is because they don't get, at first, that solid glass is not a way out.

Were the wasps in your shed yellow jackets? They will go out of the house if you ask them but they always seem so angry that they scare me. I let my husband poison a huge nest in the wall of the house, just over the door. Maybe that was a mistake but I did tell them they had to go and they were too focused on business to listen. I never kill anything if I don't have to but stopped believing, years ago, that death is anything but a good thing.

Once we had big black wasps with dangly legs in a shed. Whenever we parked the car they rushed over to see what we were about. So curious and friendly. They would hover in front of our faces, looking and searching. Never the slightest aggression from them. Unfortunately, tiny wasps came wiped them out. These were also not aggressive to humans.

 

A fellow wasp-lover! I want to shout to the world that they are our friends. The ones we had were not yellow jackets. They do get very angry. The one we have are mostly the tiny-waist ones.

I also protect spiders. Spiders have permission to reside in the house, but they must not over populate. I like to have one or two in each room. They are the guards keeping the pesty gnats and other, less friendly insects in control. If extra spiders move in, I give them verbal warning that someone has to go within 24 hours. Very often, this method works. When it doesn't, we have a designated cup for spider relocation *smiles*

We have spend 18 months reconstructing an abandoned house. We were offered help a couple times, but I got uneasy at the idea of anyone else being within this damaged place. From the beginning, I named the house Melody, determined to bring music and lightness within my new sacred zone. I did not want anyone coming in with their casual disregard for my eight-legged friends.

Before the carpet went in, I asked my special group of friends to put blessings on the floor. This added to the positive energy, and I love walking barefoot on the carpet, close to those wonderful words.

This seems to veer off the topic of TMS, but it really doesn't. When we are out of sync with our surroundings, it creates a dissonance in our body-systems. Violence actions beget a violent backlash on ourselves.

I do not believe death is a bad thing. Death is part of life. As life is sacred, so is death. It is our awareness and attention and mindfulness that enhances our experiences with each state of being. The cycle always continues. One of the basic laws of physics: Energy does not die. It transforms. We are energy. All life is energy. Death is not an end. It is Winter. Spring follows. This is my Faith.

with grace and gratitude,
^_^

 

Thanks, Lily Rose, for beautiful thoughts on the end not being the end.

I'm looking forward to the end if only that I will no longer have to put up with computer frustration.
Or bills.

Merry ho! ho!