Adventure

Making the Ordinary Come Alive.

A reminder this morning from author, William Martin – “Make the ordinary come alive.”

My life is a testimony to this one simple practice. Whether by way of dusted trail, or morning tea – I take in the fullness of every moment, leaving nothing to the winds of ‘never having noticed.’

I make helicopters out of maple ‘wings’, and send my wishes upon dandelion seeds. I create a sky full of bubbles with one ‘magical’ sweep, and strive to touch the earth with these two bare feet.

And yes, I still find time to twirl pirouettes with my ‘shadow friend’.

Life is to be relished, my loves.

No worries, no upsets, no ‘I wonder whys’. Just one glorious ‘drinking in’ – a moment to appreciate life’s much simpler things.

So, let the joy of undiscovered finally find you today. Strap on those explorer boots, and let the ordinary come alive.

My darlings, and let this one simple life become a testimony to you.

“Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.” – William Martin

Those Seemingly Impossible Things.

There’s a passage in one of my favorite children’s books, “Through the Looking Glass” which reads:

“There’s no use in trying,” she said. “one *can’t* believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as SIX impossible things before breakfast.”

I think we’ve all struggled, just as Alice did, peeking through that ‘looking glass.’ At times the world, once so crystal clear – seems warped and clouded from view.

But, I think it’s good to think of those seemingly impossible things – as, it helps us to find our way through.

The impossible, though daunting, reminds us that not everything is written in stone. That we are the manifestation of all that we believe, in combination with all that we *do*.

And likewise it offers the magnificent opportunity to move past those impossible ‘truths.’

Just as our beliefs may expand our world, so too, can they cloud our view.

As Shunryu Suzuki once said, “If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything.”

Sometimes it’s believing those impossible things that helps to clear our way.

The trick is, to recognize and then to clear all those barriers to “I can’t do that.”

Leaving the Familiar Behind.

“Leave the familiar for a while,” writes Hafiz. “Let your senses and bodies stretch out like a welcomed season onto the meadows and shores and hills….Greet Yourself in your thousand other forms”

Such an empowering message this morning – one which marks the urgency in our being.

That is to say:

Each day we are gifted a myriad of opportunities to ‘leave the familiar behind’ – to take the ultimate risk, to embrace the thrill of a life fully lived.

And, yet…

Here we stand precarious of our journey, too afraid to venture forward another step.

We are frozen in this space of never knowing what comes next. And, so we sit complacent – yet horribly depressed.

But, with every journey there is a fear, a risk – a wondering of “will I ever make it home again?”

Until we find ‘courage enough’ to greet ourselves in one of those thousand other forms.

From the poet, Hafiz – “Hemispheres”; I do hope you’ll enjoy.

Much love, dears – and namaste.

<3

Hemispheres by Hafiz

Leave the familiar for a while.
Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season
Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.
Make a new water-mark on your excitement
And love.

Like a blooming night flower,
Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness
And giving
Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside an equator
In your heart.

Greet Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide and travel
Back home.

All the hemispheres in heaven
Are sitting around a fire
Chatting

While stitching themselves together
Into the Great Circle inside of
You.

Leaving Those Other Voices Behind.

My darlings, on this day, one of my favorite poems from author, Mary Oliver – entitled, “The Journey.”

May it serve always as a reminder to the voice which lies within.

Namaste, my beautiful friends ~ wishing you all the love this Universe has to share. And, hoping beyond what words can say – that you are leaving all those ‘other voices’ behind.

For, it is only in listening to that one true voice – that we may finally step into the life we were destined to live.

The Journey by Mary Oliver.

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.

It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.

What Is Your Why?

Having a rough day, my darlings?

Put your hand to your heart, and tell me – what is it that you feel? Is it the thumping sound of soul come alive? A fearless explorer waiting to take on this world?

Is it the sound of life finding you with each new breath? That first kiss? That something missed? That sense of ease within the falling rain?

My darlings, what you feel now is purpose – it is your ‘why‘. That irrepressible force that carries you through each day.

And, is the very reason you are alive.

So, cherish this day – my loving friends. Take wrong turns, follow overgrown paths. Delight in the sense of new adventure.

But, by all means – don’t wait for life to happen to you; take little steps to find your life’s greatest bliss.

And remember, as Friedrich Nietzsche once said,

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

So, now tell me, won’t you – my dearest darlings: On this day, what is your why?

What Do Your Secrets Reveal?

[blockquote source=”Rumi”]”The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you, do not go back to sleep.”[/blockquote]

I like to get up quite early these days; early enough to catch the dawn before the rest of the world has awakened.

I like to look out my window; to appreciate the stillness just as it is.

Without expectation…

Without judgement…

Without any inclination as to how my day might proceed.

In these moments, I surrender. I surrender to the soft calm. I surrender to the warmth of my mug. I surrender to the contented breath of my sleeping pup.

I surrender to all those secrets that might soon be revealed.

It’s within these moments that time seems oddly suspended;

“For still there are so many things
That I have never seen
In every wood in every spring
There is a different green.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

It’s all right here, my darlings…a ‘masterpiece’ painted in life’s greatest glory.

With only this voice to carry us here; sweet music to the soul-searching ear.

 

God Bless This Open Road.

“Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose….

Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you.
You must travel it by yourself.
It is not far. It is within reach.
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know.
Perhaps it is everywhere – on water and land.”

– Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Poet, Walt Whitman once proclaimed that a child entering the world each day might take upon the energy of all that was ‘seen.’ And, in a very special way, it seems.

For, “the first object he look’s upon he became. And that object became part of him for a day or a certain part of the day, Or for many years or stretching cycle of years.”

I’d like to think we carry these ‘faces of joy’ on throughout our years; through twisted paths, and climbing branches and streams that never seem to end.

Their energy is always with us – a vested piece of our most precious soul.

Begging us to carry them forward – ‘afoot and light-hearted’ on this wide and open road.

Taking Big, Glorious Wrong Turns.

[blockquote source=”Randall Munroe“]“Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out. You’re curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you’re waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.”[/blockquote]

An image of my beautiful daughter, doing what she loves most of all – wandering every single path in this world, and leaving no stone yet unturned.

Take big, glorious wrong turns, my darlings. Explore new paths to destinations that are as of yet unknown. Blaze trails to the unexpected – dare to dream, and dare to be, once more.

The light of a new day lives always within you – and, it is forever calling your name. Can you hear it, my dearest darlings? This dream you’ve always know was yours.

Much love, to you, my darlings ~ and many blessings on this hope-filled day.

The Importance of a Single Snowball Fight.

[blockquote source=”Lewis Carroll”]No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.[/blockquote]

I was watching a little boy playing yesterday – steep piles of firmly packed snow providing ample cover to the imminent ‘snowball war.’ His face was flushed a bright red hue, and puffs of steamy clouds escaped from beneath his ‘winter wrappings.’

He was taking such great care to create the most perfect snowball – firmly packed, and with just enough smoothing to ensure swift aerodynamics.

His brow furrowed with such an unrelenting concentration – one perhaps only seen in the eyes of a master craftsman.

In fact, it seemed all and every single part of his being was going into the making of that tiny little missile.

[blockquote source=”Roald Dahl”]A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.[/blockquote]

And yet, so many of us have lost this sense – of a joy not yet constrained by life events. Why, I remember playing for hours in the snow – losing myself in the time and space of an 8-foot-high piled snowdrift.

In those days, my only worries were related to my very next mug of cocoa – and wondering if my brother had left just enough marshmallows for me.

He never did.

I had to wonder, how many minutes to hours to days and then weeks, and perhaps again…onto months and then years – how many of our most precious life’s moments do we waste trapped in our own worries and fears?

I mean, isn’t it just a bit more worthwhile – to stand your ground behind the tallest snow pile?

And yet, so many complain that their lives remain sadly unfulfilled.

My dears, can you imagine just how different our lives might be…if only we learned to let go, and be free…to play on as if our childhood had not ever ended?

We might soon realize that these big-person complexities of life’s, can be delicately sorted in the span of a single snowball fight.

And that time, is a ‘game played beautifully by children.’

The Importance of the Mountain’s “Other” View.

[blockquote source=”Haruki Murakami”]Mountains, according to the angle of view, the season, the time of day, the beholder’s frame of mind, or any one thing, can effectively change their appearance. Thus, it is essential to recognize that we can never know more than one side…one small aspect of a mountain.[/blockquote]

My dears, no matter how great the challenge or seemingly insurmountable the odds…know, that there is always another side to that mountain.

I think we all need to be reminded of this on the odd occasion – and particularly, when we find ourselves ‘wincing’ over the climb.

If only we might always consider, that we really are getting somewhere after all…and even as we are standing here looking upwards at what appears to be a simply impossible height.

One step at a time, my dears…will bring you always closer, still.

And hope is never really lost, at all – just a little bit quiet, at times…

Long enough to find, that belief that was resting inside…waiting for that one perfect, breathless gasp of wonder to make itself known, once again.

So, what’s it gonna be, my friends?

To wallow in the pity of having seen just one side…

or,

Maybe, take a little chance to see what a few extra feet might do for your ‘view’…

You know, I hear the peak is actually quite lovely this time of year.

And, there’s always an extra mug waiting for those who’ll visit me there.