Houseplant Haircut

While i was on my month-long retreat here at home, i took cuttings from most of my houseplants. Boy, they really look better, all trimmed down and very neat. Less is more. Less plant is more beautiful, in this case.

Another chore i did while on retreat was to go through my attic, one box at a time. The attic is looking "thinned out" too.

Reliquishing stuff is one of the qualities of a bodhisattva.

Simplifying my possessions or my houseplants feels so good. Counter-intuitively, having less feels good. Amazingly, having less feels better than wanting more. Take a look, feel for yourself.

Spring Cleaning

It's time for spring cleaning of garden paraphernalia.

I bought these great ideas, but due to some glitch, they don't work. I don't throw them away because:
#1.  i can't believe i spent that much money on something that doesn't work
#2.  maybe, if i sit down some year, i can repair it.

• The mister for hummingbirds attaches to the bird bath. It worked the first year, but then the 1/8 inch tube for water for the mister got holes in it. (from gnawing raccoons?)
• The battery-operating bird feeder that begins spinning when it senses the weight of a squirrel and flings the squirrel off. (Don't i wish!) A raccoon overloaded its battery power the very first night. Now it's stuck. I spent $50 to have a bird feeder cluttering up my garage.

It's time to renounce bad ideas and desires that lead to suffering (see #1 and #2 above).

Spring cleaning--a great time to practice the third supreme quality of a Bodhisattva and simplify our life.

Photo from hanover.wbu.com

Walking in the Woods

I have a woodland walk--a path in the woods that loops around and is about 200 feet long altogether. Although it doesn't go far and is just a few feet from the road, still, it enables me to take a meditative walk in the woods.

Kwan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion, sits on a bench and waits for me. I walk by her nearly every morning on my way to meditate at my neighbor's house.

We can bring mindfulness to walking in our daily activities--on the street or in the grocery store. Or maybe now, as we stroll through our gardens, with nothing really "to do," except walk and notice the body walking.