Tri-Color Kalanchoe

My tri-color kalanchoe is blooming. It's an ornamental plant i put in my flowerpots at the front door in the summer, where it pokes along, but doesn't bloom. Until now, when snow is on the ground, and it's 12 degrees outdoors.

Somehow the conditions are right in my solarium with radiant heat in the floor. Passive solar gain through the big windows tends to bake the plants in the solarium.

What are the conditions that help meditation bloom in your life?

One friend is thinking it's time to get back into the meditation groove again, so she's taking a half-day Zoom retreat this weekend.

There are so many Zoom opportunities for meditating with a group or going on retreat--for 3 hours, for a day, or a week.

Let your meditation practice bloom with an additional sit. Your heart will feel warmer.

Change and Vanish

 

Everything i cherish will change and vanish.

This is one of the 5 Daily Recollections--a reminder of impermanence. This past 11 months, so much has changed. So much has vanished.

I'm quite happy with the silver linings of these COVID times: Zoom. No commuting. A lot of gardening. Having the time to be a naturalist; noticing, really noticing birds and their habits. A smaller life.

What am i missing? Busy-ness. Miles on the car. Miles in the car. Travel. Going to the movies.

Everything is changing, all the time. We've had a lot of social change this past year. Black Lives Matter. A change of president and a change in the Senate.

How do you feel about change?

One of my personal mantras is Flowing with the river of Life. I aspire to flow with events as they happen. Stress disappears. Ahhh.

Cardinals at First Light

 The cardinals come precisely at sunset for a last bite to eat before bedtime. They are also early risers--here at the first light of day, half an hour before sunrise.

Sunrise and bedtime--excellent times for meditation. I've been trying out a new meditation schedule:

5:15 a.m.  half an hour by myself

6:00 a.m. 1 hour on Skype with 2 meditation friends

7:10 a.m. half an hour at our local meditation center on Zoom

8:00 a.m. 20 minutes with my neighbors on Zoom

I find this 1-2-3-4 schedule very helpful, like doing repetitions.

And i see the cardinals at first light.

Angel Hovering Round

 

While attending a meditation class on Zoom, it looked an angel wing was behind me. Our local hospice choir sings a song at the bedside of the dying, "There Are Angels Hovering 'Round." What if angels hover around us all the time?

Sometimes, i do think my guardian angel is keeping a watch out for me. Close calls and i am still alive. Unaccountable luck. One of my great good fortunes this week was to receive my first COVID vaccination because i am a hospice volunteer.

As my mother was dying, i found this hand-written poem in her purse:

Angel of God, guardian dear,

To whom God’s love entrusts me here.

Ever this day be at my side,

To lead and guard, to light and guide.

If i had a quick glimpse of my guardian angel this morning, i say, "Lead on!"