Something about the Green Mountains makes me all at once calm and joyful. The rolling valleys dotted with farms and the graceful sloping mountains in the distance give me space for my soul to soar.
Category: Photography
Listening Summer
I am becoming more discerning of what I listen to. I want beautiful noise: great books, beautiful music, uplifting advice. To do this, first I had to get very, very quiet.
Color-Curious
This summer, I am color-curious. I look out my living room window to the meadow and woods beyond. I congratulate myself for getting through the drab, bare winter into the spring that exploded with golden forsythia, and now unfolds to summer surrounded by all shades of verdant green.
Summer Zen
We are not hurdling towards the end of June. I am trying to put the reigns on summer: "Hold up, Summer! Don't go running wild. Slow and steady, now!" I cajole as if speaking to a spooked horse. I am just beginning to unwind, just beginning to take a long slow breath, look up into the impossibly blue June sky and be grateful for this season, for this time away from work, for this time to spend with friends, family and myself.
Your Own Best Mother
To spread some loving-kindness: to be a shoulder, an ear, a cup of tea – some sympathy. I had a world-class mother, and she taught me the first rule of mothering: “Be good to yourself.”
Spring Offering
Spring Offering - some flower and poetry to provide calm, peace, and renewal.
Spring Mosaic
We have traveled the long dark cold tunnel of winter and made it into the light! This year that journey is especially sweet. My confirmation of spring came this week at school where first and second graders have been busy writing poetry.
Possibility of The Blank Canvas
This got me thinking of my own process of creating. I think a blank anything whether it is a canvas, paper, or piece of cloth - gives the artist a moment to ponder and stress. Something about the purity of the whiteness maybe. We don’t want to put something down that is wrong, ugly, or unintended. We want the marks, whether words, a painted image, or a quilted line, to be beautiful and meaningful and what we envisioned in our minds in the first place.
Zen Toolbox Redux
According to some recent research, 66% of teachers want to leave education and 41.3% of new teachers leave teaching within the first five years on the job. Given those numbers, I feel quite successful. I must have a secret, some ancient wisdom I can bestow on my fellow teachers.
Belonging
BELONGING - Oxford defines belonging as an affinity for a place or situation. Webster says it means a possession or a close or intimate relationship. I’ve been reflecting on what it means to belong this week. I am getting older. I could and have said this at any age, but now approaching sixty-five, now it is a very true statement. I feel it, especially with the holidays upon us and my family members quarantined and scattered across the country. Actually, I have yearned to belong since I was quite young. It’s a human thing. We all need connection.
