Lake Time

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I spend a few minutes every morning at the lake near my home. I immerse myself in the nature that surrounds me, pray, get still and calm my mind before the work day begins. I’ve found myself going earlier and earlier to the lake each day.

The above pictures show how serene things have been at the lake the past few mornings. I’ve NEEDED this serenity because inwardly I’ve festered with chaos. How blessed I am. Rarely do I leave this place of gratitude and now as the war within settles down, I can again embrace all that I know to be true of the Universe. It is kind. And all is well.

I sincerely hope you have a quiet place to go each and every day to prepare yourself for the onslaught of life. This lake ritual of mine keeps me sane, not just sane but wholly wondrous of what the day will bring.

And, yes, that IS a gator cruising along in the above picture.

HAVE A BLESSED AND GLORIOUS DAY!

Slowing Down

The “Slow Movement” that has gained some attention and interest recently has captured me. I’ve been “working” at slowing down in many areas of my life during the past couple of years. I started this…well, I started “thinking” about this back when I became interested in the simplicity movement. Obviously, they go hand in hand. Or one would think.

Last year I broke my ankle and that physically slowed me down quite a bit for a short while but apparently I needed another, deeper lesson to slow me down further. A stroke did the job.

Yes, last October, I suffered a stroke. I was blessed, repeatedly blessed, not only because I have no long lasting or devastating effects but also because I was at work when it happened. Had I been at home it is doubtful I would have even called 911.

I had experienced, over the previous year, many small (what I NOW know) TIA’s. A TIA is a transient ischemic attack, kind of a warning stroke. I thought they were just these weird dizzy spells. My age, never having smoked, fairly good cholesterol and great blood pressure made me an unlikely candidate for stroke, yet still, I had one.

This slowed me down.

I was in the hospital for 4 days. I underwent physical therapy and this was when the damage revealed itself. I had a lot of difficulty with my balance though most of that returned within a few months. For awhile afterward, and still now on occasion, I felt “tippy”. My kids loved the phrase and used it frequently. I did not love feeling tippy. It left me feeling very vulnerable, hanging onto chair backs, door jams and running my fingers along walls for security.

Outwardly, I looked fine, I guess, and I returned to work after only a week. I felt my job was to convince everyone that I was doing just great. But I wasn’t. My greatest fear was that I wouldn’t be able to read or write. I did have some difficulty concentrating for awhile after the stroke but gradually I regained my stamina. I only wanted to sleep. My damaged brain just wanted and needed rest but…

The second half of last year was filled with events that caused me to do some re-evaluating of how I was living my life: choices I had made and continued to make on a daily basis, conditions I tolerated and, of course, the speed of my life. I discovered that rushing around does absolutely nothing to get you to your desired destination any quicker and certainly with a lot less peace.
Connections with people encountered on a daily basis become superficial and meaningless without slowing down. Even pets become just another check on the to-do list.

I wish to exhort you here to please try and slow down:

• 
  · When you walk the dog or pet the cat
  · When you fill the outside bird feeder
  · pull weeds
  · Fold laundry
  · Make a cup of tea
  · Put away the dishes

Take a few extra minutes to connect with your neighbor and really engage with the child to whom you are reading that book. Slow down and enjoy feeding your baby and when you are at your particular place of worship, get quiet, get still, experience the experience.

PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! do whatever you can as soon as you can to slow down.

Do it before life makes you.

Peace

For years I’ve been searching for peace,
Talking about it,
Waiting for the kids to grow up so I can finally get it.
I’ve gone to church looking for it,
Counted my breaths in and out, in and out,
Fingered meditation beads,
I’ve sat in the woods for a week,
I’ve crossed the Rockies in an RV,
I’ve sweated in the sun,
I’ve shivered in the wind,
I’ve retreated and visualized,
I’ve chanted and repeated mantras,
But still I remained without that which I sought,
Until the day I caught a fleeting glimpse…
That was the day I looked deeply into my own eyes and realized,
Peace is not doing,

Peace is being.

Peace is available at any moment.

Kayaking with pelicans

I went kayaking at Ft. DeSoto Park near Clearwater yesterday. OMG what a gorgeous day it was. Though the water temp was a tad cool, that made no difference to me. Above are some pics of the water, the beach, and a whole slew of pelicans standing on a sand bar till I startled them into flight.

The Nature of the Beast

My yard, especially the front sidewalk area, has become an overgrown jungle with grass/weeds growing willy-nilly all over the place. You can’t even hear cars traveling down my road because the growth has extended over the curb and into the street creating a nice lush green carpet between me and my across the street neighbor. Keeping this stuff under control in Florida requires tools that I do not currently possess, though I am saving for them and hoping that as the cooler weather arrives, perhaps the growth will be stunted a bit.

So in a heroic attempt to attack this mess, I borrowed a gas powered weed-eater and an edger. I’ve never really had a good relationship with small gas-powered engines. For me, operating these is a lot like attempting a dance competition with someone you’ve just met moments before. You just can’t help but step on toes, bump into each other and swing while the other sways.
With these small engines it’s all about pushing this button 3 times…or maybe 5 times…”it just depends” and moving a nearly hidden lever this way but then backing it off that way if the engine doesn’t immediately catch and then, if the autumn solstice hasn’t quite been fully realized or if Jupiter and it’s moons are out of sync, well, chances are you may never get the blasted thing started!

So I called the individual from whom I borrowed these handy dandy pieces of…lawn equipment and was told, very calmly and with that tone that people who have no problem operating this stuff often use to those of us who are small engine challenged, “you just need to understand the nature of the beast.”

Well I think I do understand the beast!

I understand that whoever invented this stuff, hopefully, is roasting in hell at this very moment. I understand that, were it not for peer pressure, most of us would not care a lick if our sidewalks were not edged just so. I understand that Sundays can be spent in a much more soul and spirit relaxing manner that wrestling on the ground with buttons, levers and the smell of gasoline all over one’s self.

I understand that I’m going electric all the way.

That’s what I understand.

A Glorious Gray Day

What a glorious morning it is! Heavy grey clouds move moodily across the sky, the dark water churns with discontent, birds call loudly, rudely to each other…or maybe to me.


This is the first morning in six months that my time at the lake can be enjoyed with the car engine off, windows down. What a difference that makes. The waves slapping against the boat ramp can be heard, the wind rustling through the cattails, the bull frogs honking…all can be seen, heard and felt rather than the senses diluted through the windshield of the car.


This is a morning I struggle to leave the lake and go on to work. I want to stay here all day. I enjoy the dreariness of overcast days. They call for hot tea, blankets and a thick book.


Oh well, one can only wish.

Big Smile

On my way to a new client appointment...yeah! The first one in at least 2 years. Big smile for that.