Tulips in a Pot

I craved. And i caved.

Yes, indeed. I went and bought those tulip bulbs--100 of them for $25. That was a good deal. However, then i needed to buy 2 large bags of potting soil for another $25.

Then i spent an hour potting them up. Now i have 15 pots of tulips sitting on the floor of my garage. It's still above freezing in the garage, and it's dark. Hopefully, the tulips will have enough  time to grow some roots before they all freeze up. And, hopefully, the mice won't dine on those tulip bulbs before they freeze up.

Have you been counting the stress involved in this transaction?

1. craving
2. buying
3. potting
4. worrying about the pots
5. worrying about mice

All for the pleasant idea, the pleasant mental image, of tulips.

Photo from thegreenthumb20.wordpress.com

I Want....

The ground is frozen and spring bulbs are on sale. Oooh, the temptation is strong to buy those sale tulips. But then what?

Am i really going to pot them up? Am i really going to buy the bags of potting soil that effort would require?

Feel the craving in the body. Label the feeling "I want." "I want." Can you notice the "flavor" of the craving?

We see something pleasant, even if it's only in our mind's eye. Then we crave, we want, and we believe that feeling of craving is real. The actual craving comes and goes, but we don't notice its leaving, only its coming. "I want." "I want."

This Black Friday is an excellent day to notice craving. Your mantra for today, should you decide to accept it, is "I want." Notice how wanting feels in your body. Notice what happens when you walk away from the wanted object. Leave the store, and keep track of the wanting. Notice its coming. Notice when you can't hold on to it any longer, and it crumbles. It leaves. Notice that space. That's the space of peace.

 Photo from bellwood-garden.com

Pumpkin for Thanksgiving

Today is pumpkin day. Many of us are eating pumpkin pie. I'm baking pumpkin bread (with chocolate chips and walnuts :) for the gratitude sitting this morning at Vermont Insight. And since i'm using my own home-grown pumpkin, i made a batch of tamari pumpkin seeds as well.

I thought you might enjoy watching a porcupine eating pumpkin for his Thanksgiving dinner.

Let's give thanks for all creatures, great and small. Especially the ones we are related to.

Lawn Loves Sleet

It's sleet-raining this morning at 35 degrees--a raw, wet day. But the lawn is loving it. Suddenly, the grass is green, the flowerbeds are gorgeously green. The moss looks utterly Irish.

Sleet--unpleasant. Green--pleasant.

By accentuating the positive, we actually feel happier. Our immune system works better too.

Let's go for a walk in the cold rain. It's beautiful out there.

Photo from flickr.com

Plenty and Enough

I'm forcing hyacinths in vases. Right now, they're living in the basement where it's dark and cool. Usually, they start blooming in early February.

I've been collecting vases all year long. Every time i go to the thrift store or to the Swap Program at the landfill, i keep my eyes peeled for vases with narrow necks. Once or twice a month, i find an actual forcing vase.

Yes, it would be easier to just order a case of forcing vases, but also more expensive. I haven't found a supplier since my previous one dried up. Perhaps i could go to the florist and order a case through her.

 

But i have 50 bulbs in 50
vases, and really that's enough.

How much is enough? This week of Thanksgiving we give thanks for our plenty. Then some of us go out on Friday and shop for plenty more.

Enough. I have enough. My family has enough. A conversation with my 10-year-old grandson revealed that he doesn't really care about the stuff. He likes experiences--like rock-climbing camp or like shoveling manure out of Granny's truck. "Hey, I'm a farmer," he says. That's a feeling he won't forget, and that's enough for me.

Photo from maydreamsgarden.com

Blooming Narcissus

A minnow narcissus is blooming in the garden. It was really cold for a week, and now it's November balmy in the 30s and 40s. The weather fooled this narcissus into blooming. A friend has seen a lilac bush leafing out.

I love these fragrant Tazetta type narcissus. They are so sweet-smelling that i breathe deeply in their presence.

Some of us are so-called late bloomers. The conditions are finally right for us to show our inner beauty and follow our heart.

Let's begin our mindfulness practice now. The only moment we have.

Thai Mushroom Soup, Sort Of

I found galangal at the Food Coop! This Southeast Asian relative of ginger is a common ingredient in Thai cooking. My neighbor who lives in Bangkok sent me a simple recipe for mushroom soup. Now that i have galangal, i have to find substitutes for everything else.

Instead of lemongrass, i use lemon balm from my herb garden. Instead of shallots, i use onions. Instead of straw and oyster mushrooms, i use regular button mushrooms from the fridge. I use chicken broth instead of vegetable stock. There is no substitute for kaffir lime leaves, and i leave out the chiles.

This concoction probably would not pass the palate test of an authentic Thai, but i don't know any better, and the soup tastes delicious to me.

Some of us doctor our spiritual path. We follow our own hearts and minds. We adopt a philosophy that makes sense to us, and discard the teachings that we just can't believe. Pretty soon, we have a spiritual soup, which feels good and may even "taste" good.

But just how successful are we at doctoring ourselves? Is our doctored-up path going to take us where we, in our heart of hearts, want to go?

The Buddha offered a stiff prescription:

The diagnosis:                       
     Life includes stress and suffering.
                  (The First Ennobling Truth)
The etiology of the dis-ease:
     Craving.
                 (The Second Ennobling Truth)
The prognosis for our case:
     Cessation. Liberation is possible.
                 (The Third Ennobling Truth)
The remedy, the Rx:              
     The Noble 8-fold Path.
                 (The Fourth Ennobling Truth)

Shall we follow the Buddha's Rx? Or our own recipe?

Photo from shesimmers.com