Will she have the nerve to write about posture again? - #233

"The one who would be constant in happiness must frequently change."*

                                                   Anthony de Mello

Yes, I have the nerve to ask: Did you know that posture (aka channeling vertical energy), necessitates perceiving our inner environment?**

According to Chris Meinecke, yoga practitioner and longtime member of the frequently featured Friday group, checking her body posture multiple times every day is part of her routine. 

I doubt Anthony de Mello had body alignment in mind when he wrote happiness is related to frequent change, but I think he knew how difficult change and maybe even good posture is for most of us.  

When you give someone a compliment on their hair, did you ever wonder why they frown and say - "I don't like my hair, I just had it cut." 

That person hasn't adapted to his/her different hair style. Our refusal to celebrate change is ubiquitous.

Expect to hear more about vertical energy!

Notice in the coming week how you manage change and if you are aware of your body.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Anthony de Mello, Inward/Outward is a project of the Church of the Saviour in Washington DC..

Sep 19, 2016

Visit us on the web at http://inwardoutward.org

**Idea from Carol Welch's article, "Soma: The Body Perceived From Within" - given to me by Dottie Jackson. No identifying publication information available.

Don't Use Word Posture Around Here! - #232

When I reported to Dottie Jackson that a person in my discussion group said he doesn't hear the word posture used anymore, her response shocked me:

"Don't use the word posture!"

I didn't expect her answer and internally climbed on my high horse or as shown above, on my high elk.

"What do you mean don't say the word posture? Isn't posture what we've been working on since December 21, 2014?"

Luckily, before I expressed my reaction verbally, Dottie explained:

"Posture implies a static pose. What we are aiming for in our work together is 'vertical energy'. We want you to have a body that finds comfort in being upright and in being flexible, not a statue that could stand on a pedestal." (This is of course a paraphrase.)  

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, is a book I would recommend and is one that our discussion group is now reading. Harari speculates that humans began to stand upright in order to have hands.  The first evidence of tool production dates from about 2.5 million years ago.*

Since we haven't always been upright, I'm speculating that we may still be developing what structural form our species is going to take. If you look at a room full of humans who are peering at computer screens, heads out in front of torsos, would it be too outrageous to picture future humans with necks similar to giraffes? Could this be our next development?  

Do you hear the word posture in conversation very often? Please let us know what you think of the "vertical energy" idea.    
If you feel grounded to the earth, some say you can feel the earth's energy in your feet. Do you?  What does energy feel like in your body? Where does vertical energy originate?

Who knew there could be so many questions? I hope you share with us your thinking!

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Sapiens, page 10.

Science of the Imagination - #231

Wednesday, walking down a wide-windowed hallway after first Tai Chi class of the autumn session, my weary legs weren't cooperating. My mind remembered seeing Dottie Jackson demonstrating how to walk by using her hips and by moving her whole torso. My body loosened up a bit. 

At that moment, so quick I almost missed it, was what I'll name an apparition of my mother. My mother was shuffling ahead of me! 

Mom broke her ankle at age forty-four when she stepped into a hole in our front yard.  Walking for Mom after that was a frightening activity. She didn't enjoy movement unless she was grasping Dad's hand or leaning on one of her five children.  

Her mother, nicknamed "Little Gram" by fourteen of us grandchildren, drove a red Pinto while sitting on a catalog. As the oldest grandchild, I was undoubtedly the first to measure my height by standing back to back with her.   

In my memory, Little Gram didn't move or drive fast either. Perhaps she modeled the shuffling, ambling gait for her oldest daughter.  

The flash experience of my mother I experienced in my body after Tai Chi class, might be a cousin to what Cynthia Bourgeault labels  the "science of the imagination".

I'm imagining that Cynthia would tell me that the energy I asked readers about last week is not something to be rationally measured or explained; energy is something to be felt or imagined. 

This means flashes of imagination are not absurd or meaningless but rather that they are another way of knowing.  

Have you ever felt the energy of your ancestors? Please let me know of your experience or if you haven't, what you think of these ideas. 

Thank  you for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Back From Break With Elevated Mystery - #230

My brain was beginning to cogitate on this blog post when my eyes lit on a wrinkled-quote-filled scrap of paper hovering on my bedside table. There was a faint notation near the margin. It said, "page 6."  Luckily page 6 was easy to locate. The book that contained the correct page 6 was also on bedside table.  

During my blog break, one of my goals was to feel vertical energy in my body; that is to get support from energy to help me stand up straight. If my somatic therapist, Dottie Jackson, told me to feel the energy pulling me up once, she told me a hundred times.  

When I discovered the words on the scrap were: "gravitation from above," I was gobsmacked.  

The book: The Wisdom Way of Knowing by Cynthia Bourgeault. You will hear more about it in future posts. I also have asked Dottie Jackson to share her wisdom on the body and help us understand vertical energy. 

So until next time (which will be next Friday evening, I publish on Friday evening and you receive Saturday morning) see if you can feel vertical energy or gravitation from above.  Please let me know your thoughts about posture and wisdom.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall



 

Time to stop - #229

                

It is time to stop for now!

 This is the last exploring the mystery blog post until September.  

The first post that blogger has on file from this blog is dated January 1, 2012. It is not clear how many posts I've actually shared because for awhile, I was posting twice a week and only assigning a number to one of them.

I created the blog because I wanted to write. The rhythm of writing once or twice weekly has given me confidence to put my thoughts on "paper".  If you want to do something, the best advice I can give you is to just start doing it and not expect yourself to be perfect. Give yourself time and space to improve.

And ask for help. Don't expect it will be easy. Don't try to go it alone. Without help you will be tempted to give up.

For quite awhile I resisted putting an image with each post. Interestingly enough, finding the image is now the most fun part! 

There is something very seductive about posting online. The feedback from all of you can be addictive and I find sometimes I'm writing to please.

 I want the summer to write for me - not for readers. I keep reading that writers need to write for themselves - not for others.

I woke up this morning clear that this was the day to take action.    
Thank you for your support. All of you have been amazing, often in ways I wouldn't have guessed. It was always interesting to see which one of you would comment - nearly every post enticed one or two of you to respond. Your ideas impressed me and were an integral part of the whole blog experience!

I hope you all have a great summer. See you in September!

In the meantime, keep exploring the mystery - I will!
Nicky Mendenhall

*If you want to read older posts, go online to the blog and keep scrolling. Click on "older posts" and you can retrieve posts printed as early as January 1, 2012. 

Body As Foreign Land - #228

"....patients who treat their bodies like a foreign land."*

I think I am one of the patients the quote is addressing: The majority of time, I don't pay much attention to my body. It could be half a world away. If I decide to focus on standing up straight, I pay attention for a few moments, then my focus changes to something external. If my back hurts, I pay attention in an annoyed, irritated way. If my big toe hurts, it ruins my whole day.

On the other hand, when I am in a foreign land, I am wide eyed, paying attention to the scenery and the people. This is how I want to treat my body; noticing its functionality, faithfulness, and uniqueness. 

Do you treat your body like a foreign land? What do you think that means?  What kind of relationship do you have with your body? Please share your thoughts and experiences with us by email or comment section.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

This image was captured while we were sight seeing on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok.

 *Page 72, (Aisenstein, 2006), in Psychosomatics Today (2010).

Flying Ants See the Light - #227

A work of art,

whether human-made or heaven-sent,

should call us to reflect

on our own creation,

what we bring to this existence.

It should awe us

to praise,

to grace,

to respond,

to change

who we are

and who we will become.

Poem from briarcraft on Barnstorming May 4, 2016.  To contact:

https://briarcroft.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/you-must-change-your-life/

Photo of flying ant outside my kitchen window.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Crows, Toes & Loss - #226

Have your ears been assaulted for hours, several days in a row by harsh caws of crows?  

As I typed that question, I heard the neighbor next door ask her husband how far their beebee gun shoots. 

What do you do about annoying animal sounds? (As I typed that, a car horn began honking in the distance.)

Has your big left toe hurt? I woke up with a painful toe, grateful for an acupuncture appointment scheduled today. My practitioner asked if I was around toxins yesterday? He made it clear he meant physical and emotional toxins. (He's a Chinese Medicine Doctor.) 

What toxins have you been around? Do your big toes hurt? (I hope that isn't too personal.)

Do the surviving members of your high school graduating class keep leaving the earth plane? Sending a sympathy card to the family and a check for the memorial fund seems appropriate. I don't want to make it a habit to go to funerals.

What do you do when a former classmate dies?

I assure you that all of this post actually happened and is 100% true. Let me know what you do in circumstances like these.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Whoops - Can't Find It - #225

This sweet Gerbera Daisy, marooned on the kitchen counter, wants to go outside!   

She is however, not the object of the Whoops in title of this post.

Whoops is because one morning this week, I read an idea that I thought would be perfect for today's post.  I marked the email with a star.

And now it appears to have disappeared, star and all!

Whoever wrote the email (thank you whoever you are) named a decision making process, the 10/10/10 way of  foolproof decision making. This appealed to me because my birthday is 10/10. 

If you want to decide whether or not to get rid of something, say a huge two inch thick blank book that mostly has blank pages, you put it in a trash bag and wait 10 minutes.

If you still want to be rid of it after 10 minutes, leave it in the bag and make yourself wait for 10 hours. This will undoubtedly get you into the next day. 

You've probably guessed the next instruction - put the trash bag somewhere out of the way for 10 days. After 10 days if you still want to pass it on, pass it on!

Use this on any decision and let me know how it works. I'm on the second day with the book in the bag, at least in my imagination. Let me know if you try this, how it works for you. I may report my experience though I'm not guaranteeing anything!

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

All Good Ideas Don't Work - #224

Treasure was uncovered today while sorting through books and papers: a blank book with high quality paper measuring two and a half inches thick.* It was love at first sight when I spotted it on the sale shelf at the The Art Store in 2010. I purchased it without knowing what purpose it would serve. I just had to have it! So many possibilities!

On January 14, 2011, I made the first entry, after deciding the book would be the perfect place to write special sayings and poems I wanted to save. This turned out to be a harder task than I thought it would be. For one thing the book is awkward and heavy, difficult to hold on to. And where do you put it so it will be handy when you want to write in it? And hand writing the entries, who knew how long it would take to write something out long hand?

As they say, all good ideas don't work. The last entry was made on 10-28-2012. I wish I would have continued. It is great fun to see what I wrote. Here's one entry for you from 12-02-2011:

"Some of us need to discover that we will not begin to live more fully until we have the courage to do and see and taste and experience much less than usual."**

Do all your plans work out as you pictured? I'm trying not to be hard on myself about this, but what am I going to do with this treasure? I doubt I will write in it again. I wish I knew someone who would love it like I have. Should I paste stuff in it? Tear out the pages? WHAT should I do? 

Please let me know how you handle your unfinished projects. What do you say to yourself? And do you think doing less good advice? Email or put in comment section.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Just for the fun of it, hold your fingers apart 2 1/2 inches and imagine how big and heavy this book is.
**Thomas Merton as quoted in a Monk class.

Image is from a Buddhist Garden in downtown Hong Kong. It was odd to feel deep in Nature and then look up and see skyscrapers surrounding us.

Are You Ready For Macbeth? - #223

Since Shakespeare's 400th anniversary of death will be May 3, 2016, I thought it time exploring the mystery debut a quote from the person often regarded as the greatest writer in the English language:

"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o'er wrought heart and bids it break."*

This is especially for you if you are grieving, which I imagine is all of us at some level. This reminds me of a story I heard from my Buddhist friends. A woman whose son had died asked the Buddha to bring him back to life, the Buddha said he would if she could find one home in the village where there had not been a death.

If you wonder about the image, I do to. It seemed appropriate somehow. Tell me if you can find meaning in it.

Does it help you to know that people were grieving 400 years ago?
Does anything help?  Expressing my feelings and the passing of time helps. There is no magic pill or instant cure.

Thank you for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Chapter 14's Epigraph in The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.

Now I Know Why Mom Called - #222

When Mom was alive, she would call with news of "who died". It wasn't pleasant to hear about people dying. Death seemed far away. The calls about distant relatives or her high school friends, were really annoying.  Wondering why she had to be so focused on death, I'm sure she could hear the annoyance in my voice.

I am beginning to understand that she was sharing grief with me. She was probably inviting me to grieve with her.  

Last week I learned that two neighbors, who had lived on nearby farms while I was growing up, died. Almost immediately after learning of these deaths, I felt like calling someone,

While I was puzzling why my urge to share this news was so strong, my weekly email from Companioning the Dying: Opening Fully To Living, arrived in my inbox. Here's what it said:   

"My life span is ever-decreasing. The human life span is ever-decreasing; each breath brings us closer to death. Holding this thought in mind, I delve deeply into this truth."


Perhaps the urge to tell someone "who died" is really about coming to terms with the fact that our own life span is decreasing.  It is a way of facing the truth of life that includes death. 

I wish I could apologize to my mother for being short with her when she called to report "who died".  Now I would be gentle and figure that she was preparing for her own death.  Maybe she was trying to help me recognize that death is a part of life.

What do you feel when you learn someone has died? Do you feel the need to tell someone or do would you rather keep quiet? What does it feel like to think of your life span decreasing? Do you think about death often?

Please share your thoughts by emailing or going to blog comment section.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Companioning the Dying: Opening Fully to Living info@companioningthedying.org via auth.ccsend.com	5:00 AM (14 hours ago)
April 22, 2016.

 

Picture Taken On A Beautiful Spr!ng Day - #221

Driving or walking around in April and May is such a pleasure. Des Moines has a plethora of flowering trees; this year they are really glorious.

I wander around, Powershot 1200 IS in hand, yearning to capture Nature's beauty. Each year, despite my efforts, my Powershot and I fail to capture the multiple shades of white, purple, lavender, and pink blossoms.  

This year I didn't even try.  

I did receive the above image, an image that when I scrolled through my data card, I didn't even recognize. Do you know what it is?  

This is a contest though there are no prizes. Just encouragement to enjoy the beauty of spring.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall                                  

Do You Ever Open A Book at Random? - #220

I have so many books. Volumes and volumes on Somatics, Psychoanalysis, Health, Brain Research, Writing, Memoirs, Novels, Poetry. Every one of them - well almost everyone - would be great to sit down with and dive into head - or is it feet? - first. 

I've been told by a couple of people to hold a book in my hand and if it brings me joy, keep it. If not, pass it on. 

I'm doing a version of that - if I open a book and I want to read what is on the page, I keep it.  

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, who is pictured above on my meditation altar, wrote Into the Heart of Life. I bought it from her when I was in India. The meeting was so fraught with meaning,I didn't even ask her to sign it!

I opened it at random today to read about The Eight Worldly Concerns:

"We are not generally aware of our appetite for praise and our dread of blame. We are not generally aware of how we yearn for a good reputation and fall anxious at the thought of the bad. We are not generally aware of how much we gravitate toward what we regard as pleasurable, nor how much we try to avoid what we regard as painful. But it is these eight worldly concerns that keep us revolving around and around in this cycle of birth and death, samsara."

Don't worry about what samsara is - or the cycle of birth and death. (You can Google it if you really want to know the Buddhist definition.) In my case, I want praise, hate to be blamed, yearn for a good reputation, become anxious if someone has an ill opinion of me, grasp for pleasure and avoid pain. 

Do you recognize any of these behaviors as your own?

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

This Inspired Me - #219

The following two quotes by Bill Walton* impress me:

"For a long time, everything constantly hurt."

"My recovery took two years, during which time I stopped taking pain medication and began water therapy at the local Y and weight-training at home."

When one of my body parts hurt, I think of Bill.

I hate it when my feet hurt! Finding shoes to fit my narrow feet that are attached to toes that need a wide toe box, is not a trivial pursuit. Reading reviews on ShoeBuy or Zappos lets me know I'm not alone. 

Often when we have a bodily pain, we feel alone. This isolation adds to our pain. Pain can be a mystery to explore.

My heart goes out to you if you are suffering with bodily pain. For Bill Walton, Jerry Garcia's Grateful Dead music soothed him. Reading about Somatic Medicine calms me down. What helps you when you are in pain?

Please share with us by replying to this email or going to blog comment section.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Bill Walton, 63, played on two National Basketball Association championship teams. 

Does the Speed Of Life Shatter You? - #218

Life does not accommodate you; it shatters you. Every seed destroys its container, or else there would be no fruition.

FLORIDA SCOTT-MAXWELL*

I have seen quotes from Florida Scott-Maxwell before and wondered about her. Google says she was born in Florida and died in 1979. 

Her quotes are quotable. Here are two more for you:

"Anger must be the energy that has not yet found its right channel."

"I grow more intense as I age."

You may be hearing more from her as I just ordered, The Measure of My Days, for a penny - plus of course 3.99 postage.

The speed of life shatters me.  How about you? Let me know how you are dealing with the fact that it is April!

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

The image above, in my mind, represents the speed of life in 2016. Barely time enough to see the forest, let alone the trees. I found the first quote on A Network for Grateful Living: Word for the Day.

 

The Contagion of Emotion - #217

Here is the world.

Beautiful and terrible things will happen.

Don't be afraid.*

It is difficult not to be afraid sometimes. 

When I watched my CA grandson skateboard ramps at his skateboard park, I was afraid. 

I am glad to report that only beautiful amazing things happened. 

If I watched him more often, I would have to find a way to manage my fear so it wouldn't contaminate his fun. 

Did you realize fear is contagious?

Have you ever caught fear from someone else? Has your fear contaminated others? What are you afraid of?

Email me or to to the Comment section of blog and let me know.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

The image above was received on my walk this afternoon. The longer I was out in the world, the more I hoped the Weather Channel's forecast of 100% chance of rain beginning at 9 PM.was correct.



*Frederich Buechner, from Barnstorming by briarcroft (no date).

Thank Heavens Aporia Is Impermanent! - #216

Impermanence means that as things in life change, we are able to change with them.*

"Oh Tenzin, when I knelt before you in 1996 to capture your image, I wish I would have summoned the courage to ask you your personal views of impermanence. I like your definition above because it indicates that we need to make changes in response to the changes in the world. I wish I could have continued the conversation and found out what your opinion is on aporia."

It feels natural to converse with Tenzin as I see her every time I meditate. Her presence is very reassuring.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best dealing with change; as I age I'm seeing how everything does change whether I like it or not. Life is easier when I don't fight change.

But what about situations that feature an unresolvable internal contradiction - one definition of aporia? 

Trees change. Some grow scraggly. Some are in the way of new landscaping projects. But to think of chopping down a dignified tree that has grown for a decade or more seems cruel treatment of a living being. 

I wonder what you, Tenzin, would say? What do you readers think and say?
Please email me or leave a comment.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Into the Heart of Life (2011), Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Pg. 7.

A Word I Felt This Afternoon - #215

Listening to trees being butchered made for a lamentable afternoon. 

I've written about my love of trees before - specifically trees in my backyard. Luckily they are not under attack.

The trees under the knife are ones that provide beauty outside my office building. The unmistakable sound of the chainsaw and the grinder this afternoon made me really angry.

When I grumbled to a new tenant, a woman who recently moved in across the hall from my suite, she disclosed that previous to her move, she was informed there were plans to update the office building. 

Suddenly I was feeling APORIA. 

This new word (to me) doesn't show up in every dictionary but when it does make an appearance, it is a word I love.

It is late and I need to stop writing. Next post, I will define it and tie it in to impermanence. 

Let me know if you find it and how you think it relates to impermanence. 

Thanks for exploring the mystery  - Nicky Mendenhall

The image is of a tree I named "Post-it-note Tree that was discovered in OR last year.

Are You Seeking To See - #214

"Sehnsucht"  (German pronunciation  'zeːnzʊxt') 

Sehnsucht is a German word for yearning (seeking to see).  

It is a difficult word, according to several sources, to translate adequately. 

When I first found the word it was defined* as follows:

Expresses a profound desire that life would have meaning beyond the "seen." 

I read this to mean that most of us want to find meaning in the irrational and the nonmaterial.  

I find meaning in the story of Jesus' life here on earth. I find meaning in The Four Noble Truths discovered by the Buddha. I find meaning in Nature and in the changing of the seasons.  

Where do you find meaning? What are you seeking to see? How do you deal with the irrational and nonmaterial? Send me an email or comment on the blog.

exploring the mystery will be back next Tuesday! Nicky M.

*Once again I lost the source. I apologize to the originator.

Never Doubt the Power of the Unconscious - #213

Post #212 was lengthy. It occurred to me after it was published that since reading it would take more of your time, I would skip the next post. No final decision was made; my assumption was that a new post was needed.

Friday evening, the window of opportunity for pushing the "publish" button (for Saturday delivery) came and went. No thought whatsoever of exploring the mystery.

This morning, Saturday, I woke up a bit disoriented. Something didn't feel right. What day was it anyway?

Clarity came slowly. I had forgotten to post last night. I have plenty of excuses why this didn't happen but my best guess is that my unconscious interfered. I thought I could (or is it would?) skip the post and so I did.


Do you catch your unconscious interfering with your plans? Do you even believe in the unconscious? I suspect there is at least one person reading this that no longer "believes" in the unconscious. I'd love to hear how you would think of situations like this.  

I offer my apologies for the late arrival of this post plus an image of an idyllic beach scene from a trip to Brazil in 2010 coupled with the thought - how can it be almost six years? I remember the fresh fish - caught minutes before lunch - grilled over the open fire.

What is your experience at the beach? Do you "believe" in sitting on the beach listening to the ocean? Let us know in an email or in the comments section of the blog which you can get to by scrolling to the bottom of the email you are reading and clicking on the underlined phrase, exploringthemystery

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Reader Posits Puzzling Paradox - #212

"I have hope," Karen writes after consulting her medical professional.

exploring the mystery: "That's good - it's important to have hope!"

Karen: "What about your post that talked about staying with the worry and disappointment?  I never know what to aim for!"

exploring the mystery : "What good questions. I'll get back to you - I need time to ponder."

Few days later:

Dear Karen, 

This response may not help. I fear that postponing my response may have raised your expectations.  

As you so astutely pointed out, the posts have offered two diametrically opposed opinions: ”stay hopeful” and “stay with suffering.”

Finding the word paradoxical in my Kindle dictionary, I learned it is an adjective meaning seemingly absurd or self-contradictory. This didn't seem rich enough for me so I kept looking.

My research unearthed: para="beyond" and dokein="to think." To me this implies one has to go beyond thinking to understand a paradox. 

A paradox, writes Kerry Walters,* "properly elicits from us a lived response, not a conceptual analysis."

Walters also writes that a paradox takes us into a "mysterious realm that stubbornly resists the battering ram of reason."

"Mysterious realm" - doesn't that sound like natural material for exploring the mystery! 

So Karen, here's one idea for dealing with this particular paradox: "Stay with the suffering; feel your feelings. Stay as long as you can with whatever feelings arrive on the scene. As you sink into the feelings, at some point you will notice that these feelings shift and change. You don't have to make that happen, the nature of feelings is that when they have our full attention (occupied center stage as long as necessary) they will shift and change."

And here's another idea: "Stay with a feeling of hope. Stay as long as you can. Picture the glimmer of hope. Feel it manifesting in your life. If hope begins to flicker, talk to someone you trust. Get support."

In other words - don't aim for anything. Just sit with yourself. Flip a coin if you don't have any idea where to start. You can switch back and forth between the two options for as long as you want.

Don't analyze. Experience your experience. Wait for a lived experience.

How would you respond to Karen? What paradoxes trouble you the most? Is it easy for you to go beyond thinking? Please let us know by emailing me or going to comment section.

Thanks Karen for exploring your mystery with us

Thanks  to everyone for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall



*Kerry Walters, Soul Wilderness (2001), page 3.

Note regarding image: There is not a hidden paradox in this image, don't drive yourself crazy trying to find one. If  you find one, please notify me immediately!

Can You Celebrate the Muddy Mess? - #211

"There is a hard truth to be told: before spring becomes beautiful, it is plug ugly, nothing but mud and muck. I have walked in the early spring through fields that will suck your boots off, a world so wet and woeful it makes you yearn for the return of ice. But in that muddy mess, the conditions for rebirth are being created."* *Parker Palmer, Word for the Day, 2/7/2016, Network for Grateful Living. Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Do You Have To Stretch For Patience? - #210

Pulling into the driveway at 4:00 this afternoon, the squawking from this pair of geese captured my attention. I went into the house to find my camera. When I came back out, I discovered that the noise wasn't from just these two, they were communicating with another pair on a roof two houses over. In addition, there was a single goose in between the two pair who was the loudest of all. The dark clouds seemed part of the story.

I wish you could have heard them! The sound was raucous! It made me laugh to see them stretch their necks and squawk!

This was a marked contrast to what I faced inside the house: the internet was off line. Don't you just hate twenty-first century technological problems?

I guess that's where patience should have blossomed inside me.

What I really want to share with you are a few lines from Christine Valters Paintner's post from the Abbey of the Arts newsletter on March 6, 2016.  I found them quite fitting for our discussion:

"The cultivation of patience.....the Greek word is hupomone, which essentially means to stay with whatever is happening. 

"On a deeper level, the call is to not run away when things become challenging. Stability demands that we stay with difficult experiences and stay present to the discomfort they create in us."

This seems a little deeper look at patience. It challenges me to honor whatever is happening, no matter how difficult. These words hint that the discomfort may have something to offer.

I don't know about you , but I like comfort.  Stretching myself to appreciate discomfort will be quite a stretch. As much of a stretch as the geese did with their necks!

Does Christine's take on patience add anything for you? Please email me of go to the comments section and let us know. 

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Did the Guardian Make a Fried Egg? - #209

"Patience is remaining present."

The above wisdom is not original. I jotted it down, omitting the source. I was confident I would remember and give credit to the author.

But alas the memory of the source is no longer available. This type of wisdom saying, so obvious and so true, is beginning to feel like something I must have said. If you said it, or know the source, please let me know.

The Guardian statue is always present when I raise the shade to see the rising sun and brilliant sky in the morning as well as when I begin to settle in for the evening and lower the shade.

I find myself pushing to get items on my list(s) crossed off or pushing things out of my mind, often things I am not ready to know.  I admit that patience is not my long suit. 

The Guardian sits there in all types of weather accepting what is. The Guardian is patient. The Guardian is a model for me. The Guardian is always present.

Scroll back to Post #191 and you will see another image of the Guardian. Keep scrolling until you reach the Post for 12-29-2015 for yet another.

Next time you lose patience, remember to be present. Remember the Guardian.

Do you have lots of patience? What makes you impatient? Is it your normal state to be in the present moment? What interferes? Does this make sense to you? Do you have a Guardian?

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall