Your Houseplants Slow Dance

 Time-lapse photography shows houseplants dance. It's a slow motion dance, but their leaves are constantly, imperceptibly moving throughout the day. A video of prayer plant and oxalis next to a clock demonstrates the continual slow dance of houseplants.

We look at a houseplant and think Oh, I know what my philodendron looks like. Look again. And again.

Nothing stands still--not even our houseplants that are pot-bound, house-bound, and perhaps root-bound. The pots aren't moving, but their occupants are.

We think we are sitting still--sort of. Standing still. But we are in constant movement in and around our home. Our bodies are in constant motion--breathing, eyes blinking, heart beating. Every thought tenses some little or big muscles in the body.

We think we are sitting still and the world is moving around us. Look again.

Flowers Spell L-O-V-E

 

For my birthday, my sweetie brought home a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Such a delight to have fresh flowers on the kitchen table.

F-L-O-W-E-R-S spell love. So does T-A-K-I-N-G  M-E  O-U-T  T-O  D-I-N-N-E-R.

Love comes in many disguises. Some are sweet and feel good, like a hug. Some disguises are hard to swallow, such as tough love. And some disguises feel so entirely ordinary that you take them for granted--the air you breathe, the chair you are sitting on, the body that makes you think you are a self or have a self.

This self thinks she's a year older. A year older than what? 

The self is born anew every second.

Winterberry Feast

 

The winterberry shrub is becoming a bird and squirrel feast. Today several chickadees were eating the berries. Then a squirrel visited.

That wallflower of a shrub is the center of attention now that December has arrived. What fun to look out the kitchen window and see surprise visitors eating to their heart's content.

What contents our hearts? What contributes to our contentment?

Contentment is wishlessness--not wishing for anything different than what is. When we eat to our heart's content, we are satisfied. One definition of dukkha is dissatisfaction.

Look around you right now. What satisfies you? Our negativity bias wants to focus on dissatisfaction. 

Calm down and look at your environment right now. Temperature? How does sitting feel? Desire for food? In a lot of ways, my heart is already content. Simply notice that.

A Really Tall Hollyhock

A 12-foot tall hollyhock is growing just outside my back door. And the miracle, to me, is that it's standing straight; it's not falling over. It has reached past the rooftop, headed for the sky. When i see it, i want to stand up straighter myself.

An erect posture is important for our meditation, whether we are standing or sitting. Since we, in our society, are accustomed to slouching--on the sofa, in an easy chair, even in our cars--we often don't have the back muscles to support an erect posture, which actually enables the rest of the body to relax. Think of the spine and shoulder blades as the hanger on which the flesh of the body rests.

Do a quick body scan, even while you are reading this, and notice where tiny tensions reside in your face, neck, shoulders, hands, back, gut, thighs, feet.

Now relax. Settle in. As your crown heads toward the sky, and your sitz-bones settle down toward the earth, relax.
Relax; don't collapse.
We maintain an alertness of posture and, thereby, an alertness of mind.
Feel the tranquility, the calmness, which is different than sleepiness, different from laziness, different than torpor.

Be inspired by a tall, really tall, hollyhock.

Sprinkling Life with Mindfulness

I came home from the Garden Club plant sale with a sprinkler. Another sprinkler. I am weary of buying plastic sprinklers that stop oscillating for one reason or another. Fortunately, this sprinkler was free.

I like to have a sprinkler near every outdoor faucet for ease of access.

When the hot weather of life stresses us, it's good to have a mindfulness practice nearby to sprinkle our life with.

• The stress of traffic --  Driving with loving-kindness
• The stress of co-workers-- Practicing loving-kindness
• Anxiety about the future -- Bringing the mind to the present moment
• Worrying about the past  -- Bringing the mind to the present moment

Wherever you are--in the garden, at the kitchen sink, or in the car--simply become aware of the body breathing or the body sitting or standing.

Sprinkle your life with mindfulness.

Photo from deanandemma.blogspot.com

Sitting on My Deck in the Morning

Do i wish the robin would sing a different song?
Do i want the woodpecker not to rat-a-tat-tat?
Or the chickadee not to hop into the birdfeeder?
Or sigh, "If only the frog hadn't jumped into the pond"?

Do i think the phlox should look different that it does?
Or that the columbine really shouldn't wear that color?
Don't the geraniums know that red and magenta clash?
Or the rhododendrons that their colors are so yesterday?

Sitting on my deck in the early morning,
Nature unfolds moment-by-moment.

My comparing, judgmental, critical mind comes to rest
in the calmness of what is.
Revealing the uselessness
of any coulda', woulda', shoulda'.

Tranquility reflecting the stress
of wanting anything to be different than it is.