Chilling Out

 
  The big thing I learned when I moved North from Midwest was to take whatever the season was and work with it. I have always disliked ice and snow, grey and chilling atmospheres, yet I moved right into it for part of each year.

    I escape whenever possible from the cold winters of life but sometimes it is necessary to encounter the uncomfortable weather and stay warm. Up is down on this earth. The Equator is the line of demarcation. Far from the center the atmosphere may be clear and crisp but it becomes cold and icy.
We are adaptable but seem to each have areas where we feel better or worse as we travel the years and experiences of our lives. If you think this is the one and only life, or that we are dependent on the success of this particular evolution, it becomes intensely important to find what matters and what feels good and what brings fulfillment. Living without self fulfillment is a cold and hostile reality.
 
    NOW is a complicated world we are negotiating. Others affect us in ways we aren't even aware of. Our modern culture has us in such thrall of comfort and self expression that we are out to enjoy life rather than struggle. Good! Turn the tables on traditional acceptance of the need to suffer to gain merit in the other worlds of being. Create your own design. Go where it feels fine. Live the new paradigm of conscious evolution. See the underlying beauty in even the things you dislike, they may teach you to be strong and invulnerable to the cold winds. Dance in the rain, roll in the snow. Find a way to be where you wish to be and thrive.

Seasonal Evolution

    There has been a cooling of the breezes here in Nova Scotia this week; promise of the autumn. So many beautiful warm weather scenes will be transforming and slowing and resting in the next 6 months. We prepare for a cold icy season up in Canada every year. Sometimes the expectations are for a 'hard winter', other times we hear predictions of 'mild' months to come..who knows till it happens?
    But it is not time for that, yet. We have a sunny day now and can enjoy the weekend before rain from the southern states hits us. If it does. Anticipation of discomfort is not a fun mindset. Somehow, the human species keeps on going regardless of the traumas we create for ourselves. An aware population is conversing about 'creating your own reality' on all forms of thought conveyance and individuals and groups are learning to stick to the positive side of their dreams and expectations. Once you hit a pothole, barrel on through or back up and detour. 
    With crude politics, ill health issues, and earthly eruptions still in our experience it is a challenge to remain in the bubble of self-creating inspiration at times. Hang on, the winds are changing, seasons evolve, and we become stronger. Enjoy the day! Grow your own!

The Best of What We Have

    It is so easy to see what is missing or needs to be done or fixed or jettisoned in our lives. When we have the kind of confusing public reality that is happening in so many places now, keeping to the good of what IS can be a little challenging.
   
    NOW is the time to see what is right and keep it going.
This summer in Nova Scotia has been the best weather ever. People are out on the lakes and beaches, in the cafes and on cruise boats, walking the streets and boardwalks, enjoying the ambiance and the colorful moving live design of the moments.

    Personal life is where we create the flow of happenings in the world. Keep to the best that you are and see the best of what you have!

Where are You?

Whatever happened to

The brave young men?

They're meditating

With the trees and

Listening to tales

Of the breeze

What has happened to

The kind young women?

They are working

Deep in the cities

Learning to serve

With sunshine smiles

While ragged aggressors

And shark-suited oppressors

Clash for 'equality'

My brothers and sisters

Balance the weather

With dreams of Forever

A,Hart, Baddeck, NS, 1981

Doing the little things

     I must mop! I've thought about the state of the world's trouble spots and decided the best thing to do is stick to my own flow of stability and small meaningful daily activities. It matters how we live. 

 

     I would not be caught at a podium or in the back of a pickup truck with a megaphone yelling liberal values and challenges into the crowd's applause. I will not likely be writing op ed's for Time or the New York Times although I've considered it occasionally in the 45 years I have lived outside the United States. I can, however, care for the sick and help harried mothers with spunky children and shop frugally and watch my fossil fuel footprint. I can write to sad parents and friends and paint the light coming through the dark and meditate to a happy harmony of sounds and thoughts.

     What else CAN we do in a time that seems the insane and uncaring are surging to the front of loud and killing activities? Living a quiet 'good' life has it's frustrations. The news is bad all over the place. With the internet and communications so instant we are vicariously included in happenings the world over. Ignoring all the chaos doesn't quite work. In this age of emerging 'awareness' of our interconnectedness we are affected whether we like it or not. Beyond religious dogma we all know this is an experience with certain value lessons personal and collective. How to negotiate happy daily life and social safety and fine values when so much seems to be flying out the window of sane humanity? The opposites are in play.

     Beyond seeming opposites there are spaces to think and feel true beauty and kindness. There are areas of activity that weave the fabric of fun and celebration. Magic is all around us. It takes faith in our own individual goodness and in the benevolence of the Unknown design to be able to keep to the life-giving rhythms available as we travel through time. Are we a bad species? Is the Shadow in charge? Is it all worthless?

     Mop the floor. Plant a seed. Give a smile. Allow some appreciation for your own vibrating self. 'Other' may be an illusion. Who knows? Someone will love you if you let them. In the right way. Because they love life and find meaning in the breathing of it's promises. Carry on!

Travels in Time

 

     From the dry Chilean hills and rough Pacific surf to the heat of Miami to the early spring chill in Missouri and back again through Florida to cold wet Nova Scotia: It was an unexpected detour to rush to see my mother for the last time on this Earth. She died peacefully March 22 in the morning. I saw her the night before and felt I got there in time to tell her she was loved and greatly appreciated. She was good and true. She lives in our hearts and minds, DNA and habits

     In still chilly April I retreated to a northeastern shore in Canada to see old friends and watch the winter turn to spring. The horse and artisans and goats are at home there. Most of my gang has 'come from away' (COA'ers) and made inroads into the woods and shores building homes and lives intertwined in the interest of self-actualization. There is an underlying harmony and respect for individuals and a learned patience for eccentricities that the locals have established. The feuds are heartfelt and dealt with in some humor and story telling perspective. The weather is a key presence and control. Fiddle music keeps us warm and jigging free.

    The city guys learned to fish on a cold rough sea. The ladies carry wood, bake from scratch, and help build their houses. Everyone has an art, craft or hobby in the interest of creativity and development. Most have eliminated the tv dramas of our larger culture and see happenings with a viewfinder once removed from the hype and extreme opinions. To build your life in a new land with kind and inventive neighbors is a good way to go. Self education, sharing, and physical vitality are so much a part of the lifestyle there it is a norm.  

 

I am back in the city now with kindred friends cooking up some fun in this September season of my Life. 

 Cherio, carry on!

Rarefied Worlds

    We visited a remarkable environment last week. It is one of those places that is a constant work of art being created, a world of its own. The entire time-space-mind-feeling atmospheres are enclosed with good intentions, cooperation, inspiration and appreciation. Have you found places like that in your life? They make the mundane seem dull in comparison.

    The big farming plantation we visited is run by a family dedicated to natural lifestyle and self sustaining technology, vision, and ever-changing developments. The children of the parents fit right into the scene as do some of the locals and enthusiastic world travelers who pass through. This eco-creation is in a valley in Chile. There are other places where I have found the same high spirit of endeavor and success: in the hills of St. Ann's Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia communities; with acoustic musicians in the countryside of southwest Missouri; among masters students at an art college in Totnes, England; on a small urban farm on top of a wooded hill in Halifax.

    People are productive and the life is magical when working together to build a vision incorporates allowing the dream to grow with respect and skillful work, joy for the small things in life and understanding of the worldly perspective the endeavor brings. They can let it flow with deep commitment and ease of expectation.

    Lets find our heart places and give them a boost of appreciation and participation!