Friday, August 14, 2015

Composting with Bears

Wednesday's bear got into my neighbors' compost. Diana had put out some burned granola on Tuesday, and when she looked the next day, the granola was gone, and everything in the black plastic composter had been mixed up. How's that for "turning" your compost? Have the bear do it for you!

Isn't this just what our minds do? Our minds are burning about someone or other. We try to set that infuriating issue/person aside. We want to throw our problem away like we throw away our trash. But the mind revisits that bear-of-a-problem when we don't have our defenses up. Like not having the lid on the black plastic composter. The bear revisits our mind and jumbles everything up.

If we are truly going to compost our grudge or our garbage, we have to practice a lot of patience. We have to treat ourselves (and the other person) with kindness.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Amish Paste

Amish Paste tomato
I harvested my first tomato yesterday--an Amish Paste tomato. I hadn't planned on planting any tomatoes this summer, but Dawn, the gardener at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, gave me 3 seedlings in April. She said that the staff had done taste trials last summer and that Amish Paste won. This summer, they planted only Amish Paste--100 of them.

As you taste different "flavors" of meditation, which "tastes" best to you? Insight meditation? Yoga? Tibetan? Zen? Thich Nhat Hanh? Centering prayer? Tai chi?

Listen to your heart. Follow your heart. Take time, even if that means making time, for your heart of hearts to taste the full juiciness of quiet.


Wednesday, August 12, 2015

A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear

While i was at meditation group this morning at the neighbor's house, a bear ambled through the woods near our house.

Another neighbor who was out for her morning walk managed to take a couple of photos with her mobile phone.

I have no doubt that the bear was checking the ground underneath our birdfeeder. We only put a handful of sunflower seeds out at a time on our second-story deck, but i see the birds flicking seeds here and there. I know some wind up on the ground underneath the deck.

A fed bear is a dead bear. This means i have to stop feeding the birds. Whether my sweetie also stops feeding the birds is another question.

How do we subtly "feed" the bear of a problem in our lives? We tell ourselves stories about that other person who rubs us the wrong way, and then we believe the story we have told ourselves. It's time to stop. Stop telling our self that story. That bear of a problem person exists only in our minds. And it's really time to stop. Just stop. Stop feeding the bear.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Gigunda Garlic

Time to harvest garlic. This year's harvest is gigunda. One head of garlic is as big as my palm! And i have a couple of hundred of these. It's time for roasted garlic and.... Send me your garlic recipes.

I love this stiff-neck garlic--it grows really well for me. Much better than the soft-neck garlic you buy in the grocery store.Of course, i haven't bought garlic in a grocery store for 20 years.

It's time to give away garlic. But first, i choose the biggest heads and put them away for planting in October.

It's a form of loving-kindness. First, we are kind to ourselves. Then we can share our inborn feelings of kindness and caring with those around us. The more we give, the more open-hearted we feel. We create a positive feedback loop. Just like we do when we plant the biggest garlic cloves for next year's harvest.