Tara Lemieux is a mindful wanderer, and faithful stargazer. Although she often appears to be listening with great care, rest assured she is most certainly‘forever lost in thought. She is an ardent explorer and lover of finding things previously undiscovered or at the very least mostly not-uncovered.

Author: Tara Lemieux

The Perfection of Emptiness.

In his book, ‘Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice’, author Shunryu Suzuki Roshi writes that truth we seek comes from nothingness; that we should strive to understand the nature of this emptiness.

Many years ago, I would have ‘read right past’ this powerful message – assuming its intention without the benefit of my full consideration. As practitioners, we are so eager to learn – we read books, attend conferences and meditate for hours on end. But are we willing to slow our pace? To contemplate our sense of self in the order of higher things?

“You have an idea of emptiness and an idea of being,” he shares. “and you think that being and emptiness are opposites.” But they are, in fact, the same. Still, we struggle to understand – to qualify the experience such that it may be committed to memory.

“To empty water from a cup does not mean to drink it up,” he continues. Rather, emptiness is derived only when we relinquish our limits.

We are surrounded by such boundless glory – a ‘beauty beyond beauty’. One that can not be relegated to the commonality of words. It is only when we are awestruck that we begin to understand its essence – empty of our thoughts, yet still perfectly complete.

As it is…

As it always was…and,

As it was always intended to be.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣️

Becoming Our Joy.

The other day, I purchased a new toy for our service dog. She’s been working so hard and I wanted to, in some small way, show and share my gratitude. I selected what I felt to be the ‘perfect’ gift – a lime green alligator with wildly felted teeth and a squeaker inside.

When I returned home, I pulled the small toy from its  bag. And, giving it a squeeze – I tossed it high up into the air. With laser guided focus, she leapt – seizing her ‘prey’. Over the next several moments, she pranced gleefully throughout the room – pausing only to display the source of her joy.

And when her ‘brother’, our Miniature Pinscher, awoke from his slumber – her first and only instinct was to place the new toy at his feet. Sure she wanted to play, but more so – she wanted this moment to grow. After all, a joy not shared is one never truly known.

There’s much to be learned from this simple interaction. As humans, we tend to cling – to people, to moments, to things; ambivalent to their greater hold. In our misguided attempts, we attach to the the object – overlooking its source.

“No matter what you have faced, joy and renewal wait your return,” author, Jack Kornfield reminds. “When you remember you can open your eyes to the mystery of life around you. Sense the blessings of the earth in the perfect arc of a ripe tangerine, the taste of warm, fresh bread, the circling flight of birds, the lavender color of the sky shining in a late afternoon rain puddle, the million times we pass other beings, in our cars and shops and out among the trees without crashing, conflict, or harm.”

And when we open to this truth, we become our joy.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣️

Through Boundlessness, We Are Healed.

I remember the first time we met.

He wore an old duster, frayed at the edges. If you asked, he’d laugh and swear it was from the adventures. Oh, and didn’t he have the ‘battle scars’ to prove it.

Folks would come for miles just to hear his stories – a reminder of the boundlessness of this human journey.

“Let there be no scales to weigh your un-known treasure;” author, Kahlil Gibran once shared. “And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line. For self is a sea, boundless and measureless.”

Through these qualities of boundlessness, the Buddha taught, we effect our freedom – a catalyst beyond these boundaries of mind. And, waiting only for a fundamental realization – that we are not simply one part, rather we are the greater whole.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣️

When Weakness Helps Us Grow.

I noticed the tremor first. It began as a minor annoyance, though in time became uncontrollable. Followed shortly by the stiffness and pain, resulting in a slowed, deliberate gait. By the end of that first summer, I was unable to walk unassisted.

The diagnosis? An aggressive, atypical Parkinson’s that was slowly gnawing away at what’s left of my autonomic nervous system function. The doctors were at a loss for treatment. “Learn to be comfortable,” I remember her saying.

Initially, I personalized the pain – feeling it was targeting all that was good within me. My life, my mobility, my joy. All of my thoughts were past or present – either comparing to that which once was or fearing what my future might hold.

It’s sharpness kept me tethered. I was angry, upset – fearful beyond words. I struggled trying to maintain an open heart within a stream of consciousness intent on isolation.

Worse yet, I felt targeted. I’d identified with my ‘stronger’ self – a proud southern woman who most certainly didn’t need help. It wasn’t until I began to write, that I was able to see things another way.

I wasn’t weak – I was evolving. And, with each new post, I discovered resilience, optimism, compassion.

You see, what I had presumed to be targeting was actually enhancing. It was breaking me wide open, so that I might finally learn to grow.

My friends, we become so much better when we allow the delicate nature of our soul. To be vulnerable is to find our humanity.

And that, my loves, is our greatest privelege.

A little something to consider..

Namaste ❣️

The Evolution of Human Consciousness.

I read an article this morning regarding the evolution of our consciousness. More specifically, a discussion of our capacity to overcome.

“We are pioneers of human consciousness,” the article shared. For millions of years, our survival was contingent on sudden bursts of energy predicated on human emotion. Just as a tiger readying to destroy its prey, survival required an ‘instant domination of human consciousness’

Though, in time, our civilization evolved – the immediate threat to our existence muted by the fortress walls. Yet still, the instinct remained – and our emotional arms continued to fight. “In our social interactions, our consciousness magnifies molehills and makes them into mountains,” the author posited. “and this constant distortion destroys our energy, our insight, and our ability to love.”

Survival today means so much more, my friends – a gathering of hearts and minds, ‘working to remedy this primitive alarm’. I think of these words this morning as I consider our new world scape. Politics have divided what was once our service; wars have destroyed what we believed always to be there. Communication, love, and a shared common trust – attributes which empower peace of mind.

This world is our mirror, my friends; and the faces of those gazing back from the crowd – our unity. Our civilized mind demands such pause.

I’d like to close with a passage from philosopher, Osho:

“It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, a watcher.

And this process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. You are, but the mind is utterly empty.

That’s the moment of enlightenment. That is the moment that you become for the first time an unconditioned, sane, really free human being.”

In peace, my sweet friends…
Namaste ❤

That Which Becomes Our World.

When my father died, a large irrepressible void visited itself upom the space we once shared. Like an uninvited guest, she stayed well beyond her welcome – threatening to transform our joy into pain.

The pain of loss is often amplified through the contrast of countless memories; what we had once known and loved so well, that sense of fullness now suddenly diminished.

More so, she encouraged my doubt. The gratitude that once spilled from each incredible moment had been displaced by fear. Had I ‘done enough’ to honor his presence? Had anything life-worthy been left undone?

The ancient Egyptians believed that upon our death we are asked just two questions to determine whether we may continue our journey into the afterlife. The first question being, “Did you carry joy?” And, the second, “Did you find it, as well?”

Their intention was to derive our capacity for a full and unencumbered life; that we could honor the light no matter the hue. In thinking of this, I realized I had been focused on the wrong thing – for a joy of this caliber is never one-sided.

In this way, our legacy remains – intact. And what we share with others, becomes our world.

A little something to consider on this day, my friends.

In peace and with much love…

Namaste ❣️

Beyond Such Simple Notions.

My grandfather had a mahogany kaleidescope that he kept in a stand on his dresser. When I was younger, I use to marvel at its display – bits of brightly colored glass tumbling into fanciful designs.

I’d spend hours gazing through, delicately adjusting – moving closer, then away from the light. It brought me a sense of comfort through it’s seamless continuity. Within my tiny hands I held something with neither a beginning nor an end.

It effected a magnificent assurance within me. Even at the tender age of 6 years old, I realized – not everything is as it seems. But more so, that so much was left to influence – the balance within a continuously flowing stream.

As I grew older, I learned to hold this image true. I thought less of the physical markings of day and more of the divine illumination influencing each change. Life extends beyond our simple notions. And we, are an integral part of its splendor.

Moving, shaping…and always becoming.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣️

Can Being Soft Help You to Grow?

“Be soft,” he shared with me. “Energy can be influenced, though never changed.” He was speaking, at first, to my recent troubles. I had just lost my job, and with that, much needed medical insurance. Forget about that mountain of bills, how was I going to put food on the table?

A half-torn envelope sat tucked to the side; a recent clerical error resulting in a notice from the city outlining their ‘right’ to seize my home. I wanted to be angry, though I just didn’t have the energy.

“Be soft…” he said. His smile, alone, was in and of itself reassuring. I wondered what path had carried him here; what set of circumstances and conditions could affect such influence?

I turned to the window – in retrospect, I suppose, seeking release. From what, though? That was the question.

The buzz from a hummingbird’s wings rescued me from my own perspective. This was my life, my story – limited only by belief. I closed my eyes, imagining myself, as a ‘creator’ rather than ‘victim’. The extent to which life casts its hold limited only our willingness to let go.

This, my friends, is our freedom and release. Our circumstances may not change, though our experience within it can be influenced. This was the lesson he had hoped to share: our role as actor transformed from observer.

If we wish to know the sanctity of peace, we must – after all – invite it.

Namaste ❣️

When We Shift Our Awareness.

When I was in my early twenties I began searching for something more. It began as a nearly indiscernible presence, growing quickly into frenzied persistence. It was the first time I can recall feeling such a ‘gap’ in my own awareness. And, consequently how it felt to be so obviously unfinished

For years I tried to decipher its intention. What did it mean? And, why was it here? I was terrified at the prospect of this sudden unknowing. Everything I knew and once held to be true – these basic, fundamental aspects of my own being – not gone, but shifted.

In this panicked state, I sought counsel from those presumed far wiser. But I needed a little something more than book-smart to get me through.

Just as the acorn grows into tree, so too must we become – breaking through and free of that once impenetrable hold. Until, at last, our reach extends – just as the twilight stretches into dawn…altering nothing, questioning all.

And, in the end, knowing – that the only truth is the one we cling to.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣️

Looking Into You.

There’s a saying, ” Look into nature and you’ll understand the world.”

Though, does the same hold true for the ‘world’ within? Can we find ourselves in these softer tones.

Though it seems far, rest assured – it’s all within reach.

As the light wraps itself in service to the trees; and with each new breath, our ‘limitless’ is formed.

And, in the end, we remember; the heart that breaks likewise learns to bend.

In peace my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣️