discoveries

August 30, 2021

all summer long I’ve missed the crows that gathered in the winter at the parking lot where I get my ice coffee

This past summer a friend and I visited a retreat where she would be doing a ceremony of celebration for one of her friends. There I saw the maze that was being rebuilt and at one end of it, was this statue of the Virgin Mary, I didn’t ask, but that is who I think it was. She had been there for a long time, still she looked so serene.

This summer I discovered that I love the smell of the wild flowers that grow along the overcrowded roadsides and pathways. And, most importantly I’ve discovered that there is a lot of me that I have yet to explore, understand and get to know.

It is easy to be safe, do what is familiar, frequent the same places, talk to the same people, it takes courage to step outside of what is “known” and to try something new. The following is the English of a “meditation” a friend sent me from Japan, remember is has been translated by a translator, you need to read it with that in mind.

Sunday, August 29, 2021　　【There are pitfalls where you are good at】 When you do things that you don’t have much experience, you’re careful, so you don’t make many mistakes. But when you do something you’re good at with experience, you’ll be careless and fail where it’s easy. In any case, let’s live in tension.

I’ve read and reread it a few times now. I am taking that last sentence and reading.. Let’s live being open to new possibilities .. when we do something to be more aware of the situation and not take for granted we know what we will experience, let the moment happen, let the interaction be “pure”

Like yesterday, I got got caught in the rain.. had I really thought about it, the practical side of me would have reminded me I had a rain poncho in one of my pockets just for such occasions. Instead I reveled in the moment of the rain, its mesmerizing downpour, the feeling of how the wet seeped and clung to me. It was a first.. Of course we all know that within a short time I was cold and chilled. By the time I got home, I was looking for dry clothes and warmth. BUT I did live the moment. =^_^=

Will I ever learn, who knows. There are words of wisdom all around me, I am constantly encountering new experiences, as long as I draw breath, I will experience NOW, that is who I am. As one friend pointed out, I am blessed with many gifts. I looked up the definition in my Oxford…. I certainly was given a surprise gift yesterday! A lifetime of living, and surprise, there is still something else I’d missed and now.. … learning is never-ending. like change, it is another constant in life.