Smoking & Snow - #207

This afternoon I thought, if it is true, what they say, that sitting is the new smoking, I better close my Tricycle* for Spring and get my body moving.

Making my way down the nature path and then through the neighborhood, I noticed that the snow was almost gone. What was left was dirty and unattractive.

Feeling the pressure of being faithful to my promise that images are connected to the post, I snapped the above photo.

When I returned home, I reopened the Tricycle and read an article, The Dharma of Snow.

The science, provided by a geophysicist, explained how melting is a nonlinear process which makes it seem that snow melts all at the same time.  Obviously this pile didn't get the memo.

What I really resonated with was this paragraph that I want to remember:

"The highest expression of our human nature is to purify our minds. To clear away the clouds, the sheets of snow, the ice that we're encased in."

I am looking forward to spring but want to enjoy the rest of winter. There has been something nice about hibernating that I'm not quite ready to give up yet. How about you? Are you ready for Spring? Do you enjoy the change of seasons if you live in Iowa? Do you have noticeable changes in seasons where you live? Do you appreciate that?

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Tricycle is a monthly Buddhist magazine. The article, The Dharma of Snow was written by Ayya Medhanandi Bhikkuni.

Sometimes I Forget......- #206

Post 205 had the logo for shredder truck above - I forgot to mention that the image was an original - not harvested from Google. The proof is in the picture above: observe the container of papers stuck into the truck ready to be shredded and the friendly man I spoke to about his business.

Here at exploring the mystery the pictures used are all (unless otherwise noted) original. You can probably tell that because often they are off center or blurry. There will always be a connection between the image and the post. If you need help figuring out what the connection is email me, Nicky.Mendenhall@gmail.com with your question. 

Today's post is from A Network for Grateful Living, 2/21/2016 and the connection to the image is pretty obvious: 

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.

MARCEL PROUST

Copyright © 2016 A Network for Grateful Living, All rights reserved.

What Can You Give Up? - #205

In 1908, Sigmund Freud wrote the classic paper,"Creative Writers and Day-dreaming." 

If you are making small talk with the neighbors and there's an awkward pause that needs filled, throw in the only sentence of Freud's paper that I underlined:

"Actually, we can never give anything up; we only exchange one thing for another."

I've been thinking about this statement all week. Is it true we can never give anything up?

It feels to me the old farm house I grew up in was given up when the decision was made to burn it down to clear the land.  I would love to set foot in it again but I have to give up that dream.  I don't know if that's the kind of thing Freud was talking about or not.

Can think of anything that you gave up without exchanging it for something else, please let me know.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

 

In Case Winter Is Wearing On YOU - #204

Using words over and over tends to flatten their meaning. We aren't able to feel a word because we've heard it so many times. The words sadness and loneliness are ones that may lose their capacity to move us.

Susan Piver, in the wisdom of a broken heart, offers suggestions for healing breakups with romantic partners that we can adapt to help us when winter desperation sneaks up on us.
  
When you are sad because ice makes you a prisoner in your own house, don't get angry at yourself or others. Piver suggests sadness can be a form of gentleness. Be gentle with yourself. Don't berate yourself because you are sad; recognize that sadness means you are in touch with your feelings.

If you begin to feel lonely, Piver might suggest that loneliness can be a form of fearlessness. She writes: "Our definition of fearlessness is the ability to open up to, accept, and even take delight in your world, in all the fabulous and insane things that happen within and around you." Recognize the insanity of dreading a blizzard that never happens.

Stay with your feelings fearlessly and you will develop inner strength. You will learn that feelings, no matter how strong, won't always be there and that Winter Storm Warnings do have an expiration date.

Hang in there - we are soon to be turning the corner into Spring!
Let me know if thinking about sadness as gentleness and loneliness as fearlessness gives you a new sense of the words.

Thank you for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

www.susanpiver.com

A Valentine For Readers - #203

A special Valentine to all of you who regularly read and comment on exploring the mystery. 

Thanks for all the ways you let me know that you are also exploring the mystery. 

Picture us as a community of people all over the country who are exploring the mystery.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Picture Lisbeth and Mason, April, 2015, Portland, OR.  

A Different Kind Of Valentine - #202

"Love has sacred power, not because it makes us high, allowing us to rise above ordinary life on clouds of blissful glory, but because it helps us relax the struggle between self and other that is at the root of human suffering."

That Struggle happens between self and other is a given. Through struggle with a significant other, learn what is important to you. Learn to welcome struggle. Relax your roots.

"Love is profound because it roots us in the earth…."

Look at the roots in the image above and imagine your self grounded in the earth's soil.

"The profound question love poses is, ‘Can you face your life as it is; can you look at all the pain and darkness as well as the power and light in the human soul, and still say yes?’"

Say yes to Life with all it's different parts. Don't banish anything. Out of the struggle comes new knowledge and new Life.

Have you ever seen these sentiments expressed on a commercially manufactured Valentine? What do you think of Valentine's Day? Do you give others Valentines? Let me know by replying to this email or commenting on blog comment section. I love to hear from you!

Thank you for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall


John Welwood quotes in italicized bold print.
 Inward/Outward is a project of the Church of the Saviour in Washington DC. January 8. 2016

 

A New Kind of Seeing - #201

My eye is healed. Many thanks for all the support and love this week. I appreciated your personal stories describing problems you were having with various body parts. Together we were exploring the mystery of body parts!

In Post 200, I quoted David Ulrich* who spoke of  the exchange of energy that occurs between us and what we are paying attention to.

Ulrich continues: "In losing the sight of my eye, I learned to depend to a greater extent on efforts toward self-awareness and connecting with my own body and feelings."

Three days in the dark, nursing the corneal abrasion, made me wonder what life would offer if I couldn't see.

I remembered Kate, my massage therapist, mentioning when she needs to evoke feelings of love, she gazes at a picture of her favorite dog.

Thinking of Kate's technique, I  remembered a deckle edged black and white photo of my first dog Yip.  I was on my knees with my right hand reached out touching his back.

Lying in the dark, I felt my way into a memory of that relationship with Yip.

It was an experience that didn't require my eyes.  

What do you see with your eyes closed? Remember the movie Eyes Wide Shut? What did that mean? Do you take care of your eyes? Tell us about your relationship with your eyes. Or your first pet. Or anything you want us to know about seeing.

Thanks for exploring the mystery of seeing - Nicky Mendenhall



*The Widening Stream by David Ulrich (2002).

Seeing - #200

Today, corneal abrasion meant most of my day spent with eyes closed. Lacking energy tonight which is because:

"Seeing is an exchange of energy that takes place between ourselves and the perceived objects of our attention."

Do you appreciate your eyes? Do you realize how much energy they provide you?

I do!

Quote from David Ulrich, 2002.