Pruning Apple Trees

The apple tree pruner came yesterday and cut back the flowering crabapples. Interesting how a tree flowers and fruits more when it has less (branches).

How about us and our spiritual inclinations? We too can flower and fruit by trimming away excess in our life. Renunciation is the 3rd paramount quality (of 10) that the Buddha recommends.

Oh! It's hard. Renunciation is counter-intuitive. We want more. More food, more money, more stuff, more attention, more i-Toys, more friends on Facebook. More, more, more to wall our hearts off from the slings and arrows of the world.

Be honest with yourself. What's one thing you want more of?




And now ask yourself: How can i simplify my life? How can i allow more space for my true heart to simply open to life?

Petunia Beauty

My neighbors, Lynn and Cliff, have a small greenhouse attached to their house. The summer impatiens and zinnias froze to death in November, but the hanging petunia is still blooming. Wow!  How warm-cold is it in there anyway?

Here in my neighborhood, 3 mothers died last month. Cliff's mother was 87, Orly's mother was 83, and Carl's mother was 99. I do wonder if really old people become lonely for their cohorts in their 90s, or even their 100s. One friend's father died at 105 recently.

How does it feel to look around and see that all, or almost all, your friends are dead?

The impatiens and zinnias are tender. They died when the first frost fell on them. And the petunia blooms on. Sharing its beauty with all who simply look at it.

Chinooks

The wind blew all night long, making us restless sleepers. We assumed it was a cold front blowing in, and yet, this morning is (relatively) warm--34 degrees, which even feels warm.

Here in the North Country (of the east), we are not accustomed to the chinooks of northern Montana and southern Alberta--the warm, dry air that blows down the eastern slopes of the Rockies and melts a foot of snow by noon. Chinooks give  a mini-vacation from the Arctic deep-freeze, and then, winter returns, full blast.

The breath of winter is warm now. We could call it the January thaw, although, surprisingly, the skiing is still good (i.e., not icy).

Feel the warm air exhaling from your body right now.
Cool air in.
Warm air out.

Take a mini-vacation from stress.
The wind of your body, always changing, sometimes restless, sometimes calm.

And how is the wind that enlivens your body different from the wind that surrounds you?
That wind may be restless, or it may be calm.

The wind is blowing.
That is all.

Before i dare open up a seed catalog, i first take inventory of what i already have.

√ pole beans

√ zucchini

Then i know i can skip over those listings.

Now comes the hard question: Am i going to start seedlings this year? I will be home in March (which i often am not), so seed-starting is a possibility.

Desire wants every new, beautiful, shiny thing. Feel desire arising as you turn the pages of the seed and flower catalogs. The wanting is a strong magnetic pull, and it sticks like Velcro.

Desire is delicious and yet uncomfortable because we are happy to be rid of it. Usually we call that getting-rid-of "satisfying our desire." But the happiness does not come from having and holding the object of our desire. Rather happiness co-arises with the end of the desire. Really.

Take a closer look.

Let desire be. It will end of its own accord.

And we feel so happy when it's gone.

Latest Sunrise

Today is the day of the latest sunrise. Beginning tomorrow, we gain a few more seconds of daylight every morning.

Evenings already have 16 more minutes of daylight than they did on December 7, the day of the earliest sunset. Beginning tomorrow, we gain daylight at both ends of the day. Glorious daylight.

In our darkest days, we keep practicing mindfulness, sometimes through sheer faith. Then our faith is verified as we see occasional glimmers of light resulting from noticing the serenity of the present moment. In this moment, the mind calms and a flicker of happiness gleams for half a second. Notice this mini-vacation from darkness.

Could we take a vacation in the present moment? A stay-cation of staying at home in the here and the now.

On the coldest night of the year (so far), i went to the Some Like It Hot yoga studio for a yoga warm-up.

Afterwards, i walked into my mudroom and looked at the cyclamen on the windowsill. Some like it cold--cyclamen, for instance. In London, in January, you can find windowboxes filled with blooming cyclamen, and maybe a bit of 30 degree snow.

What's your inner climate when you sit down to meditate?

Really, we are just watching weather patterns blow through our mind. The scorching heat of anger. The chill of rebuff. The rains of grief or sadness. The tornado of too much change happening too fast.

We don't need to have an opinion (or a judgment) about any of these weather patterns of emotions. Just watch them come and go.

As they say here in New England, "You don't like the weather? Wait 5 minutes. It'll change."

Photo from fineartamerica.com

A Tradition of Christmas Trees

"Did you grow up with a Christmas tree?" i asked my Jewish neighbor.

Lynn shook her head and frowned, as if to say, "No way!"

"So when did you start having a Christmas tree?" i asked.

"When our daughter was in kindergarten. She brought home Christmas tree ornaments."

Lynn's daughter is 31 now, but the Christmas tree is still adorned with elementary school style decorations.

Another Jewish friend said, "Christmas tree? Naw," and shook his head.

How do we feel about adopting a new tradition? Sometimes it slides in easily. Sometimes, it just doesn't fit.

We can try on the possibility of taking refuge, finding a sanctuary in our meditation practice. Formally, we could consider saying:
I go for refuge in the Buddha.
I go for refuge in the Dharma.
I go for refuge in the Sangha.

"I go for refuge in the Buddha" means considering the possibility of awakening. "Buddha" means "awakened." Do we have faith that awakening is possible, maybe just for one split-second at a time?

"I go for refuge in the Dharma" means going for refuge in the teaching of the Buddha. As a Christian neighbor says, "I prefer Jesus because he seems more compassionate. But i like the teachings of the Buddha because they are so internally consistent."

"I go for refuge to the Sangha" means our group of meditating friends. Sometimes that group is just 2 people, me and one other person. That's enough.

Try on this new tradition. See if it fits. Be a refugee from your busy life, and take refuge in the safety of the present moment.