How Low Can You Go?

Temperatures are dropping into the 20s at night. Still, the sorrel limps along--almost the only old green lady remaining in the garden. 

I've only just discovered a sorrel sauce for salmon. My sweetie can't eat citrus, so i pureed the (briefly) cooked sorrel, added maple syrup and tamari. Wow! The lemon-y sweet-sour sauce is delicious.

Sorrel is sour, so a touch of maple syrup makes it tangy and tasty.

Our sour mind states--such as irritation, frustration, impatience--can be antidoted with a bit of sweetness toward ourselves. Kindness and patience cure almost every negative mind state.

Just when you feel you want to go low, remember your long-term intention to take the high road. Go high by practicing kindness. Toward yourself first of all.

The Upside-Down Birds

The nuthatch parents are busy feeding 4 fledgling nuthatches. The whole family comes to the bird branch I have installed on my deck. My sweetie can't remember the name of this bird, so he calls it “the upside-down bird.” Even the very young birds think nothing of perching upside-down or hopping downwards on the bird branch, head-first.

Every once in a while, I put a handful of sunflower hearts (the plain seed without a shell) on the railing. The parents grab one or a beakful of the seeds to feed the nearby child who is crying hungrily.

The nuthatch teenagers are slightly larger than their parents now, with roundish bodies and Asian eyes. They shudder their wings and call plaintively to their parents, “Feed me. Feed me.” Food is inches away from them, but they do not recognize sunflower seeds as food yet. The parents patiently pick up a seed and drop it into a nearby open mouth.

I feel impatient with the young birds, but the parent nuthatches seem to know the developmental stage of their children.

Impatience is such a useless emotion. Life is unfolding as it is unfolding. I cannot hurry the process or the person (or the nuthatch) along.

Patience my dear. The nuthatches are a joy to watch.

Pulling Garlic Mustard

Garlic mustard, a biennial invasive, is blooming its tiny white flowers this week. Last evening, while waiting to meet a friend for dinner, i spent 5 minutes pulling garlic mustard on the nearby rail trail. Someone stopped to ask me what i was doing. "Practicing random acts of gardening," i said.

It's a small thing. Pulling garlic mustard on the roadside for 5 minutes. Today, i pulled Japanese knotweed near a stream for 10 minutes.

Yet this is what we do when we pull the weed of impatience for a minute as we sit at a stoplight patiently. We weed an unkind thought and replace it with kindness.

What would you weed? Irritation? Desire? Resentment? Envy?

Simply being mindful of these unskillful mind states leaves us, for a moment, with the spaciousness of mindfulness.

Walking the Labyrinth on Snowshoes

What to do with 15 inches of snow? One of my neighbors decided to snowshoe a labyrinth in the snow.

A labyrinth was, historically, more like a maze--a complex pattern, which, once you enter it, is difficult to escape. Perhaps you feel this way about a particular situation or relationship in your life.

Yet, if you keep walking, keep following the path, the answer finally comes. You reach the center of the quest, the center of the question, a small still point. Honestly, there's no need for rancor or impatience, frustration or hurt feelings. The answer is right there in front of you, if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other with an open mind.

Surprise in the Pot of Tulips

In March, i gave away several pots of tulips. Now, Paula sends me a photo of her pot of tulips (the tulips are long gone) with morning glories growing out of the pot.

Oh, yes, the joys of compost. You see, i added some of my compost to the potting soil last November when i potted up the tulip bulbs, and, well, i'm not surprised that Paula has morning glories. I have morning glories growing in my compost pile too.

Our habits of mind are planting seeds all the time. Invisible seeds that are nearly unnoticed because a habit of mind is, well, first of all, a habit. We are so accustomed to being slightly anxious, a little bit worried, slightly irritated or impatient, we have begun to think of those habits of mind as being "normal."

With mindfulness, we first of all observe our mind. Simply notice what's going on, without judgment. Notice as if your are a scientist conducting an experiment or a naturalist keeping a lookout for a skitterish specimen.

When you can identify even one habit of mind, you are really using your muscle of mindfulness.

Rest the Body

Nonnie, Christmas, 1985

My gardening grandmother, who was crippled by arthritis for the last 30 years of her life, often chuckled that she had a hitch in her git-along. Now i have a hitch in my git-along too. I can't even bend over. Oh! It is so hard to look at the garden and not be able to do anything. I can't pull a weed or transplant tomatoes or.... anything.

The Buddha recommends the Five Daily Reflections to us:

1. I am of the nature to become old. Aging is inevitable.
2. I am of the nature to become ill (and have a hitch in my git-along).
3. I am of the nature to die. Death is unavoidable.
4. Everything i cherish (like the garden) will change and vanish.
5. My actions are the only thing i own.

I'm focused on the body this week--aging and not doing what the mind wants it to do. The relationship between body and mind becomes clear: the mind orders the body around and the body thoughtlessly obeys, until it just can't do it. The body sends pain signals, which the mind responds to with impatience. The mind throws a tantrum. But this is so inconvenient! I want my functioning body back!

The body has been the slave of the mind for all these years. The body is aging. The body has been stressed and strained. The body wants to rest.

Rest in the garden. Rest in peace.

Bear in the Bird Feeder

Oh-oh. My birdfeeder is on the ground, minus its cover. The bird feeder is empty. Totally cleaned out. It's arcing hanger is bent into a V. And the C-hook it was hanging on has been straightened out by somebody heavy.

My bird feeder is squirrel-proof, but it is not bear-proof.

The bears are awake and trundling through the garden. No kidding. It is definitely time to stop feeding the birds and store the bird feeders away until it snows again next December.

Don't feed the bears.
And don't feed the bear of a problem that lives in your mind either.

First of all identify the food with which you are nourishing that bear of a problem: worry? anxiety? impatience? anger? frustration?

Notice that "nourishment" every time it arises. Simply notice it.
Then feel how that worry-anxiety-impatience-anger feels in your body.
Really become interested in the sensations of that uncomfortable, unpleasant, grrrr feeling.
Label those body sensations.
Keep your attention on the sensations.
Notice the changes.

When you're ready, practice some self-compassion.

Note the hanger, bent from a C to a V. Somebody was hanging on the bird feeder!

Cleaning Up

As i mentioned yesterday, i have too much lead, one of the earth's elements, in my body. Really, due to our industrial society, we probably all have some sort of body burden--an excess of some element or other in our bodies.

Chelation is the method of removing heavy metals from the body. I'm using green clay, another earth element, to chelate the lead, to draw it out of the body.

Green clay looks like powdered wasabi; just add water and smear it onto the body. In this way, eventually, the body can be purified of the toxic elements.

Our minds, too, can be purified of toxins by practicing qualities of kindness, compassion, joy, generosity, and the cure-all, patience.

Choose your poison. I'm sure you already know your very familiar poisoner of the mind--a grudge, impatience, anger, wishy-washiness, greed.
Then choose the antidote. (Message me if you need some help with this.)

Let's clean up our act. Clean up our body, but even more importantly, clean up our mind.

Pruning Red-Twig Dogwood

Red-twig Dogwood

Today my sweetie and i toured our shrubs and made strategic cuts, down to ground level.

The red-twig and yellow-twig dogwoods are a case in point. Left on their own they develop brown woody stems, but the new growth is bright red on the red-twig dogwood. Cutting them back to the ground enables new red growth to spring up.

I often say that i have pruned my habit of aversiveness--spouting off quick opinions and judgments, irritation stemming from frustration,  impatience when other people don't "see" what is so obvious to me. I still have all these habits, but what springs out of my mouth is not the old, hardy woody stem of deep-rooted aversion. Rather, i vent in a momentary way, and often ask for forgiveness within a few minutes or definitely within 24 hours.

This admission that i have spoken harshly, even if it was only a small prick, usually keeps my relationships on an even keel. Some of my friends find it easier to "take" my irritation because i quickly come around to softening it.

I've been pruning aversion for 14 years. And i have to say, my mind is a lot more beautiful than it used to be.

Mustard Gone to Seed

Last summer i planted a feathery red mustard in my garden. After a while, I enjoyed its yellow flowers, and then it went to seed. Now red mustard has volunteered in my garden, and i have quite a patch of it.

We are all going to seed too. Whether we are young or old. Perhaps we are past our prime.

What seeds are you setting? Kindness? Generosity? Patience? Compassion? Equanimity with the way things are?

I have spent way too much of my life setting seeds of irritation, opinion, judgments, and impatience.

So now it's time to plant the seeds that will condition my mind in the positive ways my heart truly desires.

What's in the Front Row?

It's time to start making space in my solarium for the spring plants. I'm potting up the rooted cuttings of many of my houseplants. I need more space even though I've decided not to start seedlings (although it's not too late to change my mind).

So it's time to take the front row plants and give them seats either in the balcony or the pit orchestra (i.e., my sweetie's music studio in the basement). Then i can push other, younger, more tender plants into the sunny front row.

What are some of our front row re-actions? Impatience? Anxiety? Frustration? Worry? Planning? Yearning?

The Buddha spoke a very clear poem on just this subject:

The thought manifests as the word;

the word manifests as the deed;

the deed develops into habit;

and habit hardens into character.

So watch the thoughts and its ways with care,

and let it spring from love

born out of concern for all beings.

We take one of our bad habits and start working backwards, mindfully.
We mindfully suppress the deed, the action.
We mindfully suppress the words on the tips of our tongues. Oh, this is hard work.
We mindfully feel the thoughts and emotions in our body. Oh, this is painful.

After several workouts of our mindfulness muscles over the course of a month or two, we will be surprised by the occasional arising of patience and kindness, concern and compassion.
Born out of concern for all beings, ourselves first of all.

Sumac Tea

My friend Trudy served  sumac tea and stinging nettle soup for lunch the other day. She's a great forager, so her freezer is full of wild things. She sent me home with a staghorn of sumac so i can make my own lemon-y tasting tea.

To make the tart sumac tea hot, take the sumac "berries" off the stem. Otherwise the boiling water will leach tannin from the stem into your tea.

Sumac trees are often considered to be weed trees, but i have come to like their short height (8-12 feet) and lovely shape as a backdrop to the garden. And their fall color is spectacular crimson.

Birders also report seeing robins and bluebirds eating the sumac berries all winter long.

We all have "weedy" thoughts that we'd like to chop down and get rid of. Sometimes they form the on-going backdrop of our mind. "What you resist, persists."

Let's love those weedy thoughts.
Name one or two of yours right now.
Irritation. Impatience. Lust. Frustration. Procrastination.

Then say,
I love myself as i am, irritated.
I love myself as i am, impatient.
I love myself as i am, lustful.
I love myself as i am, _____________. (Fill in the blank with whatever unlovable qualities you think you have.)

Yes. I even love myself as i am, feeling unlovable.

This is one way to make lemonade out of lemons.













Photos from trustedearth.com and teaandfood.com

Wanting Something Different

Yesterday i had 1 hour to spend in my community garden plot. My plan was to turn over the last 1/3 of the garden, plant Brussels sprouts and red cabbage seedlings, plant turnip and rutabaga seeds. And that's as far as i got. The other 4 things on my to-do list would have taken another hour.

Since i don't usually garden by the clock, i was surprised that my body couldn't accomplish all that the mind had planned for it. I was also surprised by how time-less the garden is.

Sure, when i'm home, i often squeeze in a few gardening chores before driving off to an appointment, but i know i'll be back that day or the next. My community garden plot is a 10-minute drive from home, and i know i won't return to it for a few days. Planting the squash and the sungold cherry tomatoes will have to wait.

"Waiting" is when stress arises. I want something (planting) that cannot be had right now. Impatience, frustration, and anxiety arise--more stress.

I had a lovely time-less hour in the garden, chatting with another gardener working in her plot. That calm is overwhelmed by the desire for things to be different than they are.

Wisdom is accepting things just as they are: plot turned over, seedlings transplanted, seeds planted. Ahh. A beautiful breezy day interlude in the sunny garden.