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Category Archives: be mindful

moments of wonder, continued…

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by Delena Rose in appreciate the seasons, be mindful

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

beauty, Laurence Boldt, Lucy, moments of wonder, natural rhythms, nature, Tao, Taoism

After the daily ski with Lucy, I like to spend the rest my mornings doing some reading. Usually the morning reading is on something instructional that will teach me something or enhance my life in some way; evening reading is usually a novel, a memoir or a book of poetry.

At the moment, I am reading The Tao of Abundance: Eight Ancient Principles For Abundant Living by Laurence G. Boldt. This morning I read his chapter on “The Beauty of Abundance” and wanted to share a few quotes as they relate so beautifully to yesterday’s post on moments of wonder:

…all nature is rhythm, and manifestly so for those who live in it. Whether it is on the beating of the human heart, the inflow and out-go of breath, the patterns of a leaf, the sound sof a stream, the migrations of animals, or the cycles of days or seasons, the pulse of life is rhythmic. ~ Boldt

Like the Taoists before them, eighteenth century American European Pantheists like Goethe and nineteenth century American transcendentalists like Thoreau advocated the contemplation of nature as a path to transcendence. Their writings exhort us to take the natural world as our temple and find in it the revelation and Beauty of trancendent Mystery. ~Boldt

Wisdom is inherent in nature and reveals iself to people of any nation, race, or time if they will open themselves up to it. We too can avail ourselves of this wisdom by making time to spend in nature. ~Boldt

Spending time in nature allows our bodies to slow down to the rhythms of nature, and to begin to feel at one with them. Our senses become more acute and our attention spans elongate. …In this state of grace, we can begin to more fully appreciate the transcendent wisdom that abounds in nature. ~Boldt

Resource:

Boldt, L. (1999). The Tao of Abundance: Eight Ancient Principles for Abundant Living. New York: Arcana.

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moments of wonder

30 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by Delena Rose in be mindful, cabin living

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

beauty, birds, deer, Downy Woodpecker, Lucy, nature, Northern Flicker

One thing that I love about living out in the wilderness is that you never ever know what you are going to see from one moment to the next. Often I’ll be busy completing a task and suddenly I’ll look up and see a beautiful bird, like this golden winged Northern Flicker (above) and I’ll catch my breath at the beauty of the moment. Just yesterday morning, I had another moment of wonder when I opened the back door to a small herd of deer snuffling around under the bird feeders. (I admit that after enjoying their beauty for a few minutes I let Lucy chase them. She lives for these moments and although she never catches them, she lives for the opportunity to try!) I have also been glimpsing both a red fox and a grey fox quite often this past month, usually at night and in the moonlight.

This makes me wonder how many moments do I miss each day simply because I am so engrossed in a task (and forgetting to look up once in a while) or perhaps because my mind is ‘somewhere else’ and not ‘here, now’. These fleeting glimpses of nature’s beauty are truly gifts. They take my breath away, make me smile and fill my days with magic and wonder.

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paying attention to January

12 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by Delena Rose in appreciate the seasons, be mindful

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

dog, dried grass, dried leaves, January, looking closely at nature, Lucy, mindfulness, seed pods, snow, winter photographs

It has been unseasonably warm this past week so I have happily been able to spend much more time outdoors. This has been a rare treat as I do miss the long hours of being fully immersed in the natural world. This week, while the temperatures were well above zero degrees (C), I couldn’t resist taking the camera out for a walk and taking time to once again, look closely at the profound beauty of our natural world.

Everything, a bird, a tree, a simple stone, and certainly a human being, is ultimately unknowable ~Eckhart Tolle

In his book, A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle writes about ‘mental labels’ and our human tendency to label objects around us. Once we know the ‘name’ of something, we immediately stop inquiring about it and, instead, we fall under the illusion that we know all there is to know about that object. This often prevents us from fully experiencing the awesome beauty, wonder and mystery of life.

The quicker you are in attaching verbal or mental labels to things, people, or situations, the more shallow and lifeless your reality becomes, and the more deadened you become to reality, the miracle of life that continuously unfolds within and around you. ~Eckhart Tolle

When you look at it or hold it and let it be without imposing a word or mental label on it, a sense of awe, of wonder, arrives within you.~Eckhart Tolle

The other day I was watching some birds at the feeder outside the window. As an exercise, I deliberately refrained from labeling anything. For example, instead of thinking: “That’s a bird sitting on a branch eating a berry…”, I reminded myself that everything is ultimately connected (We are One). To keep my mind busy, I thought, “That is Oneness, sitting on Oneness eating Oneness…” Looking at the bird in this way, and with a truly inquisitive mind, I was able to see it fresh and new, as though for the very first time. As I continued to observe and be fully open to the experience, the little bird suddenly cocked its head and I found this simple movement so profoundly beautiful that I began to weep.

To help me refrain from labeling and thus experience my reality more spontaneously and with wonder, I sometime focus on the experience of the ‘architecture’ or the texture of an object. Sometimes I use my imagination to try to experience the object as though I were the size of an ant…

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change. ~Bhudda

Nature has no desire to be anything than what it is. When you are able to experience nature unspoiled by human intervention, you can feel the depth of peace and harmony in its expression. You will be awed by the complex interworking of nature to support itself and to provide for a multitude of life. ~William Lovett

Nature has no beliefs or no reason to desire anything outside of itself. Nature has so much to teach us about simplicity in action. It is the awareness of unity consciousness that nature can teach if you can be open to it. Sit with nature whenever possible and let the silence become your experience. This silence is your portal to the awareness that you seek. When you can quiet the mind your connection to nature will develop. Your spirit and the unity that nature represents will dance together expanding your awareness more than ever before. ~William Lovett

I often find that it is when I remove my preconceived notions about what I expect to discover both in nature and in everyday life, that I immediately expand the scope of possibility from limited to limitless, and I become completely open to being surprised.

In nature there are no static and stable “things”; there are only ever-changing, ever-moving processes. Rain is a good example to illustrate this point. Though we use a noun called “rain” which appears to denote a “thing,” rain is nothing but the process of drops of water falling from the skies. Apart from this process, the activity of raining, there is no rain as such which could be expressed by a seemingly static nominal concept. The very elements of solidity(pathavi), liquidity (apo), heat (tejo) and mobility (vayo), recognized as the building material of nature, are all ever-changing phenomena. Even the most solid looking mountains and the very earth that supports everything on it are not beyond this inexorable law of change.~Lily de Silva

I couldn’t resist adding this irreverent picture of Lucy, engaged in what looks to be a highly enjoyable activity: paws straight up in the air, rolling in some pungent animal essence. This girl is my greatest teacher, daily demonstrating how to fully embrace life and live in the present moment each minute of the day. This teacher always knows how to put a smile on my face!

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a day for self-care

22 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by Delena Rose in appreciate the seasons, be mindful

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Tags

bath, favorite things, nourish, pamper, quiet time, read, rest, self-care, solitude, wine

After a few days in a row of being in large festive groups of people, a few late nights getting to bed and some busy city shopping with all of it’s noise, crazy traffic and long line ups, I am feeling in need of a little quiet time to myself. So, I decided that today I would focus on ‘self-care’.

Today was a delicious day of quiet, of reflection, of pampering and paying attention to myself, of ignoring the demands of the outside world and doing only what I felt like doing. I played and skied with Lucy, made my favorite foods for breakfast and lunch, read a good book, napped, had a facial and then took a long aromatic bath with a glass of wine. This evening, I may light candles and incense and do some gentle yoga or I may choose to finish my book while curled up in bed with more wine and snacks…

During this busy holiday time, we don’t always have the opportunity to pause and focus on our well-being and our personal needs. However, I do find that when I am able to take this time, even if just for a few short hours, it actually helps me to slow down and appreciate the many magical moments spent with loved ones. Self-care is truly a gift that we give ourselves.

Click here to listen to my new favorite song: Mary Chapin Carpenter’s song “I Have a Need for Solitude”. Good Night, Everyone!

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