It's all connected

This morning, as I sat outside for my daily nature meditation I was delighted to be joined by one of our resident box turtles. This is a wild turtle that happens to call our yard home, and it's always such a treat to see her being her wild self. The only way to even know she was there was to hear the slight rustling in the dew-covered plants. Then I saw her head pop out from under some lily leaves. 

She was feasting on tiny snails for breakfast! She would collect them with her tongue and crunch away. It took me a moment to figure out what she was eating - I could hear the crunching and at first I wondered, "Is she eating some kind of seed?" I kept watching and finally figured it out.  Click on the link below to watch a short video of her gathering her breakfast - if you turn up the volume you can hear the tiny crunches!

Once I wrote a blog post, "Have you Fed your Snail?" It was about taking time in nature to notice the tiniest things.  Today's could be called "Has your snail fed you?" at least from the turtle's point of view. Turtles and snails, they come to me regularly to remind me of what's important.

It's all connected. The turtle and snails and I are sharing more than the yard. We are breathing the same air, some of which has blown from thousands of miles away. We're relying on the trees and grass around us to put oxygen back into that air. In countless other ways we are all reliant on each other.

I think about that so much, especially as we humans have such an appetite for so many of Earth's resources. I've been paying attention for a long time, and consciously trying to make decisions that lighten my load on the planet, but there is so much to consider. Even loading this little turtle video requires it now to be stored (forever?) on some server that belongs to YouTube, sucking up electricity - I've read that it won't be long before 20 percent of the world's electricity could be used for data retention. That's a lot. 

This month is plastic-free July.  Today at the dentist (no cavities, yay!) I took the toothbrush and toothpaste samples and gave back the little plastic pencil case that they came in so they can refill it with samples for someone else. It's the smallest thing; there's so much more to do.

It's all connected.  I just read about a Fox who walked thousands of miles, from Norway to Canada.  I want her to have the chance to live a good life and raise her own family. I want that for all the living beings who share the planet.

We have to figure out how to live in a world that is changing quickly. We have to figure out how to live in accordance with our values.  I find that often when clients come to me most distressed, it's because their daily lives have grown distant from what they most believe in.

The same thing can happen to me, and I need to return over and over to what is most aligned.  I'm simplifying my summer and setting intentions for walking lots of places, using the library to get my books (I was lucky enough to get a copy of City of Girls - just sitting there on the new release shelf - how serendipitous), feasting on much local food (especially peaches and blueberries), and sitting in nature a lot, whether it's in the front yard with the turtle and snails, or camping out under the stars for multiple nights.

Finding reverence in a giant pile of trash

Years ago, I made a rather silly claim that when I became an old woman I would spend my days picking up trash and pointing out the moon to people. I could see myself perfectly, doing exactly that. This January, while not yet being an old woman, I set an intention to walk in nature every day and to pick up trash during my walks. There would be plenty of moon sightings as well, with the month bookended by two full moons and even an eclipse.

It was a small goal, but quite meaningful to me.  I invited others to join me and we picked up a lot of litter, especially along the Mississippi River. Litter is like laundry or dishes - there is always more to do, so you have to approach it with that mindset.  Something you cleaned up yesterday will require a clean up again today.  It's wonderful spiritual work for me, and a great meditation into finding compassion both for myself and for all the people leaving the litter behind. And for questioning how we live today and how we might live more in alignment with what we believe.  

Do you feel that the world is at a turning point? That what we seemed to be able to get away with in the past is no longer working? That what we could turn away from before, no longer feels ok to ignore? 

I have had the word "deepening" percolating throughout my intentions and journal writings for the past couple of years, and as the new year approached, I was excited to see the word in the musings of others in my circles. We are feeling the pull towards Deepening.  What would that mean, to deepen? There's so much skimming on the surface, so much to attend to, so many distractions and requests for our eyes and ears.  What does it look like to deepen? What would that mean for you? Would it mean slowing down? Letting go of some things to focus more intently on others? Setting down the technology? Taking a stand when you're usually quiet?

Two mornings ago, I woke up with another word floating in my dreaming/waking state: reverence. Reverence. How could I frame my life around reverence? I revere wild nature, freedom, balance, sustainability, kindness, peace. How am I living life to show that these are the things I revere?

What do you revere? Take a moment to consider. 

We can find reverence as we pick up the trash - whether that's a metaphor, or a genuine action we're taking in the world. 

Fifty is the new fifteen, or how I am aging backwards by being more myself

Two days ago, I turned fifty. It seems absolutely impossible, but it’s true.

It’s completely liberating.

I’ve loved my life up until now— I’ve experienced and enjoyed so much.  When I was 21, I was living in Kenya. When was 25, I met the man I’d marry. When I was 30 we bought a house. When I was 40 we paid off that house and I quit my teaching job that had served and inspired me for 16 years. At 41 I hiked the whole Appalachian Trail. At 45 I became a certified life coach. At 47 I joined my first dance troupe. In between all those milestones there have been so many little wonders. Tons of travel, exploring, camping, learning, reading, being, dancing, playing. Of course there’s also been grief, sadness, worry and anxiety, but there’s been far more joy.

The older I get the more I’m interested in simplicity— in less doing, more being. I'm learning to be fully present in any situation, rather than constantly surveying the horizon for the next opportunity or experience.  I'm looking internally to decide what's important.

I'm writing this from the beach in Destin, Florida, here for our annual Thanksgiving trip. My friend Amy stayed with me last weekend - we have known each other for 28 years, more than half our lives. We reminisced and remembered younger, sillier and sometimes wilder days, and also allowed ourselves to feel young and silly and wild. 

I baked homemade rainbow-colored cupcakes and Amy impulse-bought me a giant fuzzy caterpillar at the grocery store.  

It was the perfect gift at the perfect time. Amy says I still look like I'm 12 and she can't understand how that's possible. A friend wrote on a photo I posted yesterday, wearing my new rainbow flowered swimsuit ideal for a teen, (see pic below) that I looked "15 and 90 - radiant and wise." What a compliment.

There might be many reasons for this.  One, I've been very lucky to live a relatively easy life.  I haven't been aged much by trauma and outside circumstances. And then there's something I can't quite describe or understand, but I feel young inside. I always have and maybe I always will.  I'm not much for pretense or putting on airs. I'm pretty much a truth-teller.  I used to worry that I needed to be more "grown up" to be seen as "legit" by colleagues and clients, but I'm no longer so sure.

Being myself seems most real and most genuine.  And now that I'm 50, I'm excited to step into the power of being completely me, even more.  I can't wait to see what that looks like.

One Word That Changed Things For Me And It's Not What You Think

We spent a beautiful Thanksgiving at the beach and at the beginning of the trip I asked for amessage of guidance. The next morning I woke up with the memory of one word: 

Satisfied.  

I was fascinated - why did this one word feel so good? 

What if I went through the rest of the vacation allowing myself to feel satisfied in each moment? I had so much goodness around me - could I be satisfied? All weekend I kept repeating the word in my head. Satisfied. Satisfied. Satisfied. It felt so "just right" - not wanting or seeking, not overloaded with too much. Satisfied.   

We are surrounded by so many messages, especially at this time of year, encouraging us that there's something more we need. Under no circumstances should we feel satisfied, ever. There's always more possibility, more potential, something bigger and better up ahead. 

Our brains are actively scanning for the next thing. On our phones, on our computers, as we're driving or shopping. No sense of closure. No spot to mentally rest. So many demands on our attention and so many possible solutions to our dissatisfaction. 

Have you noticed this too?   

I've been continuing to play with the word "satisfied" now that I'm back home, and seeing how I can apply it to my actions, my state of being, my experiences.   

What I'm describing sounds similar to a gratitude practice, but for me right now the word "satisfied" feels even more powerful than "grateful". We can be grateful about the absence of bad things. Satisfied implies that all is well.  

It doesn't imply that there is no change coming - we can be satisfied with our approach to a problem, or satisfied with our desire for a change. It's different than contentment as well - we can be satisfied with our discontent, without needing to jump right away. Satisfied feels like a place to breathe. 

I do have plans, things to be done, the tree is up but un-decorated, and there is much going on in my life as I'm sure there is in yours. I'm still making space, physically and mentally, for what I'd like to create in 2016.   

But in the midst of the planning and the doing, wow - what a lovely thing to be satisfied with myself and where I am in the process of my life. To be satisfied with my efforts, with my approach - with what I get done and don't get done each day. To wake up satisfied, to go to sleep satisfied, to be satisfied with the arc of my experience- that just feels like peace. 

If this feels intriguing to you, I encourage you to try it. Spend the rest of today and tomorrow feeling satisfied. See how that shifts your energy.  

Why Everything Is Ok Even When It Seems Otherwise

If you're already feeling that odd pressure of too much - too early decorations, too many things to think about now that the holidays are nearly here, too many lists and things to consider, I invite you take a break, relax for a few minutes and let's figure out together how OK things really are.  

Too much to catch up 

When I was in college, I corresponded with friends with letters. Snail mail was the only kind of mail there was, and I loved seeing a handwritten envelope waiting for me in my little postal box in the student center.  

I was better at receiving than sending mail. I would start a letter with the best of intentions, then new things would happen and situations would change, and what I'd begun no longer applied in the same way.  So I'd begin again.  Or recompose in my head. If a month or two went by, there was so much to catch up on that the whole task became daunting. Intellectually I knew I could jump in anywhere, but emotionally I wanted my friends to have the whole story.  

This still happens to me.  Papers, correspondence, dishes, clothes - things can go from just fine and practically organized to "too much to catch up" in one or two days. 

 I solve this by jumping in, not worrying about what's already passed.  Once I begin, tasks that had grown Everest-sized in my mind are easy to complete and don't take as long as I thought they would.  I'm re-energized and everything is indeed OK. 

 I've also learned (about a million times) not to wait until it's perfect.  I'm so close to having everything ready on a new website that I can share with you with a pretty new email design to match.  But it's not yet ready, so this interim "designed by me the non-designer" will be more than OK. 

Try this right now with one thing you've been putting off that's grown large and overwhelming in your mind. Figure out the first small step you can take, set your timer for five minutes, begin, and feel your energy surge.  Ahhh. Everything is OK.