portal

The prayer is thank you. If we understand our life as our guru, then whatever comes to us is for our evolution, emancipation, and empowerment. What interferes with that posture, that paradigm, is judgement. The perception that X circumstance, Y person or Z event is tragic, harmful, toxic, wrong, shameful, embarrassing, etc., eclipses revering our life as guru, eclipses gratitude. Judgement rains down as shoulda, woulda, coulda. Comes like a hailstorm of critique, comparison, and complaint. Judgement also keeps us in the pain of a situation because it imprisons and disempowers us. Our emancipation and peace are on the other side of that because our life is always inviting us to discover—to access—more power, deeper response-ability, wider options within. To choose gratitude in the face of what comes is both brave and vulnerable. Whatever it is, we have the opportunity to raise our consciousness, to evolve, through it. In this way we also contribute to the raising and evolving of the collective consciousness. Gratitude is our portal to empowerment and emancipation.

leave the leaves

Yes, leave the leaves for birds, bees and other insects. Yes, leave the leaves for soil health. Yes, leave the leaves because they'll support new plant growth.

But let's also leave the leaves for ourselves.

Earth is showing us, showering us, giving us abundance. Always. Why rake that abundance away? Why scour, shove and smash abundance into bags to be discarded? Why partake in rituals that insist on scarcity? Why deny what is generously given?

Even if we don't understand it, even if it seems messy. Maybe instead, be grateful for the exuberant colorful messiness. I suspect this could invite abundance into the parched places in our lives that have become too accustomed to scarcity. How might leaving the leaves provide shelter, nourishment and support for the us that longs to be drenched with the sweet smell of leaves, the kaleidoscopic autumnal palette, the splendorous heaven underfoot and all around?

heart path

While hiking, I came upon a side trail where once before I had stumbled upon deer. I took the detour hoping to catch sight of some. As I walked, I thought, oh heart; let’s call deer with our heart instead of seeking only with our eyes. Although I held an image and sense of deer within my heart, I didn’t see any on the detour.

When the path joined the main trail, all of a sudden, I noticed a deer alongside me. She was on the shoulder where the trail merges into woods. I stopped walking and the deer and I gazed at each other. How long had she been there, beside me, while I crunched the gravel path holding her in my heart? She then crossed barely a meter in front of me and went into the woods on the other side of the path. There, she munched on honeysuckle, still eyeing me. This made me chuckle because I have an affection for honeysuckle. I watched the deer, flooded with gratitude and wonder.

Did the deer hear my heart invite or did my heart invite align with the deer’s path? Does the heart prepare the eye for seeing? For synchronicity? How do we walk with our heart, knowing what we seek is already alongside us?