Older and Wiser (?)

My sweetie has been bothered by an incomplete pruning job for the past few weeks. So he belted on my pruning saw, climbed up a ladder, and into the hemlock tree.

Yes, that's an 83-year-old man hanging by one hand in a tree--20 feet off the ground. All for the aesthetics of sawing off one offending branch.

Is this an example of "older and wiser"?

What is wiser, anyway? What is wisdom?

Part of wisdom is having good judgment. Judgment doesn't necessarily need to be good or bad, right or wrong.

Wisdom can simply discriminate between what is a skillful action and what is an unskillful action.

My sweetie had an exciting time climbing the tree, and he was very pleased with how the tree looks now--minus one branch.

Oranges on the Orange Tree

When our friend David moved out of his apartment a year ago, he gave me his potted orange tree. In the summer, i set it outdoors with the other houseplants. Now, it is loaded with little oranges the size of big marbles. These "oranges" don't actually taste good; they're all skin. But it is fun to see a little 3-foot tree loaded with little oranges.

Outdoors, during the summer, the wonderful-smelling orange blossoms were naturally pollinated; something that happened indoors only with the aid of a Q-tip.

When we are first beginning our meditation practice, it may feel as awkward as pollinating orange blossoms. Is this the way you do it? Eventually, we find our meditation community, and then things start to happen "naturally" as we surround ourselves with the Dharma and people who talk about Wise Action. In several more months, we begin to see the fruits of our practice. A bit more calm. Fewer regrettable words. Labeling our emotions. Practicing kindness.

Tropical fruit to warm our hearts, even on a cold and snowy winter day.

Photo from annies-garden.com

It's Raining

The next 5 days are forecast to be cloudy and rainy. Yay! I can transplant!

Foremost on my list is to place creeping thyme between stepping stones. Creeping thyme is very low, which means its roots are quite shallow and will dry out quickly in even a brief blast of summer sun.

I dig into the sandy gravel between the stones and place a divot of thyme. Then i bury it up to its neck with compost. The rain will do my watering for me. Hopefully, the furry little green spot will establish itself in the next few days and thus survive the summer.

Sometimes our lives seem dry as we repeat the same routine every day. This is it? We glance at a spiritual path, but we hardly have time for a spiritual practice in the blast of information that surrounds us.

We can begin with the Noble 8-fold Path:

• Wise View            -- We aim to decrease stress in our lives.
• Wise Intention     -- We follow through with our aim
• Wise Speech         -- We notice how we talk, to ourselves and to others
• Wise Action          -- We act in accord with our conscience, and this puts our mind at ease.
• Wise Livelihood   -- We earn a living in accord with our conscience, putting our mind at ease.
• Wise Effort           -- We aim our effort in wise directions and forego some unskillful bits.
• Wise Mindfulness -- We keep body & mind together.
• Wise Meditation   --  We meditate regularly.

In this way we establish little green spaces in our lives that cool our minds and bodies even in the toughest situations.

Pour some cool, refreshing water into your life. Choose one wise action today.