ALASKA!

my first visit to alaska..

out of all the darkness 
and glacier crushing and grinding
comes this warm abounding beauty and life
to teach us 
what we in our ignorance and fear 
call destruction 
is creation - 
finer and finer..
               ~ john muir

this is so ..
the wilderness of glacier bay..
the sounds and dialects of raven..
the coo and woo of the eagles..
whales tales and fish scales
crumdudgeon elders -
first nation carvers..
wild flowers and whiskey -
bush-whacking and trail blazing..
yoga tucked into small corners..
boats and ferry boats
ginormas cruise boats in the distance..
waterfalls
salmon ..
halibut cheeks ..
my own rosies!

now, as a junior ranger for the national parks..
taking my vow in sitka
with a badge to prove my intention..
to appreciate, respect and protect all
national parks and wildlife.
to continue to learn about landscape,
plants, animals & history of these special places
while sharing what i learn with my family and friends.

the last frontier

how to stay awake:

never sleep.
never sleep while awake.
wake up in the midst of sleep.
sleep and wake at the same time.

the yogis & yoginis called the 4th state of consciousness ~
turiya

beyond and behind, underneath and overhead -
waking,
dreaming,
dreamless sleep..

absolute waking..
every moment..
evolving in the timeless..
our actual natural state
permeating the totality of all that is..
fully alive!

infinite gratitude to all things past.
infinite service to all things present.
infinite responsibility to all things future.

headlong...

His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama
often tells us..
though we are eager to be happy,
our actions lead us headlong into suffering ~

he also says:
pain is a given ~
suffering is optional..

interesting conundrum ..

we have this amazing opportunity to freely construct
our very self, the temperament & ethos of our being..
quite stunningly by our actions, thoughts and deeds..
we are free and responsible to engage
in a great awakening within our daily lives..
moment by moment..
every one of us -
to self-sculpt and create a life
of happiness and value..

...to choose one's attitude 
in any given set of circumstances,
to choose one's own way..
           ~ viktor frankl

i am awake just enough to hear myself snoring..
which is awake enough to catch myself
behaving badly..holding back..
niggling on honesty..you name it..
those wibbly ungenerous thoughts..
the notorious judgements..
digging a trench between self and other..

awake just enough to straddle the abyss
- if i'm lucky - adjusting the practices,
utilizing skillful means to shake me loose..
out from under the covers to the wide open ~
the sky-like pristine awareness of..
could we say bliss?

choosing the circumstances..
- one's own way -
when to speak..when to hush..
when to spin around and
gaze at the mind and change it..
or rather..watch it..change...

wow! what great good fortune..

then..why o why do i still dangle my feet
in the dreck and dirge of torment..?
headlong... familiar path.. rut in the road..

HHDL explains that when we are able
to cultivate patience and wisdom
from/for these threads of adversity..
(groggy, furrowed mind)
cultivating patience and compassion
for our very own self ..
this will wake us up
so we may fashion attitudes & circumstances..
well - meaning, loving and wise.. for others..
& therefore open up dimensions in our lives
previously unbeknownst ..

rich!

fortune cookie fortune:
you will be enlightened today..
today ?
every day ?
now?

wake up and stay awake..
okay already ~

did you know...? in your neighborhood! imagine!

the unexpected power of mindfulness and meditation
with ed and deb  shapiro
www.edanddebshapiro.com

APRIL 28, 29 & 30 
 @ crescent moon yoga
    521 morris street
      in la conner ...

the 3-day week-end includes a vegetarian lunchbox
by our very own nell thorn & ed and deb's newest book ~
    you guessed it!
the unexpected power of mindfulness and meditation

$175 for the 3 days..  
or for the public talk only - friday night..
feel free to drop-in for $15

reserve your spot :
www.nellthorn.com
or call :
360 466 4261

questions?
email -
nellinfo@nellthorn.com

~ presented by nell thorn ~


some small flower of honesty
 i vow to lower myself
to the level of pure thought:
not to speak as though i know what i say,
not to speak to others as if they know less than i.
i vow to listen to the words of the elder:
not to seek recognition or honor,
not to claim friendship,
but to be quiet
to be invisible until some small flower of honesty
blooms in my heart.
                 ~ ellen porter

the brink! the interval! the eternal!

what a mystery..this time of birth and death and rebirth..
which of course is every moment of inhale and exhale ~

'tis very puzzling on the brink!
of what is called eternity
to stare and know
no more of what is here than there.
             ~ lord byron

we are always on a deeper and deeper pilgrimage
into the interior castle of the unknown..
hoping to find answers - yet do we really want to..?
to explain away the miraculous..the mystery..
not interested ~

i always like those questions that have no answers..

love this quote by h. l. mencken ..
penetrating so many secrets, 
we cease to believe in the unknowable.
yet there it sits,
nevertheless,
calmly licking its chops!

and john fowles ~
because a star explodes 
and a thousand worlds like ours die,
we know this world is.
that is the smile!
that what might not be, is....

we are always on the brink!
the bardo of the moment..
now and always at the interval
betwixt birth and death and rebirth
bringing us to immortality
the deathlessness which is always ours
at the beginninglessness of time..

a conundrum..
to live our lives as if they mattered
yet know the speck for what it is..
space particles of love..
to be scattered and stretched away
from a self-center into an other-center..
fleeting and holy and mystifying..


for what is inside of you
is what is outside of you
and the one who fashions you
on the outside
is the one who shaped
the inside of you.
and what you see outside of you,
you see inside of you,
it is visible
and it is your garment.
 ~ the gnostics

wear it well ~

the lamb and the lover

                                   
to love is to know me.....krishna said it, christ said it, buddha said it ~

                                    
passover 2017

remembering who we are....

we are lovers of the beautiful, yet we remain simple in our tastes,
and we cultivate the mind without being lazy.
poverty is no disgrace for us; the true disgrace is in doing nothing to avoid it.
we alone regard a man who takes no interest in public affairs,
not only as indifferent but as a useless character.
they are surely to be esteemed the bravest spirits who, 
having the clearest sense both of the pains and pleasures of life, 
do not shrink from danger.
in doing good, again, we are unlike others; 
we make our friends by helping, not receiving favors. 
we alone do good to others not upon a calculation of interest, 
but in the confidence of freedom and in a generous spirit.

                                                   ~ thucydides
                                                    460 bc - 395 bc

even as mercury goes retro mañana,
holding to the center free of a self..
o sure!
we are lovers of the beautiful; of each other ~
i will love
no longer desiring love,
or asking love,
or looking for love..
i give love..
i am love.


another side to the useless character story...

hui tzu said to chuang tzu:
i have a big tree,
the kind they call a stinktree.
the trunk is so distorted,
so full of knots,
no one can get a straight plank
out of it.  the branches are so crooked
you cannot cut them up
in any way that makes sense.

there it stands beside the road.
no carpenter will even look at it.
such is your teaching ~ big and useless.

chuang tzu replied:
have you ever watched the wildcat
crouching, watching his prey -
this way it leaps, and that way,
high and low, and at last
lands in the trap?

but have you see the yak?
great as a thundercloud
he stands in his might.
big? sure,
he can't catch mice.

so for your big tree. no use?
then plant it in a wasteland
in emptiness.
walk idly around,
rest under its shadow;
no axe or bill prepares its end.
no one will ever cut it down.

useless? you should worry!

use less.. be more!