just flowing along

 the quince is 

finally blooming. 

happy hummers

I am loving the calendar I chose for this year. April's bit of wisdom had such a great quote as a goal for the month.

Anything and everything can become our teacher of the moment, reminding us of the possibility of being fully present: the gentle caress of air on our skin, the play of light, the look on someone's face. Anything and everything-- if it is met with awareness. 

Jon Zabat-Zinn

 Where it comes to being in the moment, do we have to let go of all the questions? Do we stop compartmentalizing, something I'm quite good at? I think compartmentalizing gets us through a lot of our complexities and yet do we live a whole, organic life when we do it? Maybe being in the moment is just another compartment... 

 Reading the newspaper, talking to a friend, sitting at my computer to write or read, thinking of loved ones, considering my life, where it's at, what I want it to be, all of these things lead me to be aware that I am again compartmentalizing. I am where I am and who I am at the moment, but if I stop to think a lot of other aspects of what matters are also there at the moment.  They are what I have put aside for thinking about at a more appropriate time.

What gets me even more than compartmentalizing or boxing is realizing all the other people I have been. Should I integrate them into the me of today or are they in the past and gone. Frankly, it's hard to believe the little girl playing with the paperdolls she had made, the one heading to school and feeling out of place, swimming in a river or climbing a hill, those were all me. 

The way we age, the different roles we take on, the choices we made that preclude other choices, they are all boxes of a sort and enable us to function or are they what keep us from the whole that we secretly desire?

Maybe the boxes are like when we take a photo and narrow down what is out there to the tiny part we want to capture. They enable us to concentrate in a way that constantly considering the 'whole' would not.

Part of what has made me think about this is frustration over so much that is going on in the world. I am trying to put the political stuff from me as it's an ongoing worry/depression machine, but to even think about the cultural issues can become overwhelming. If I turn on the news, it's all aimed at creating a culture of rage which might be effective if it led to positive change. Does it or does it instead just lead to upset?

How about instead thinking about this video, one of four or five that we took, neither of which tell the story of what it's like to watch hundreds of geese take off and land on a pond.

 Finley -- March 31 

If we, as humans, could be like our stream, changing with the seasons, moving on but not trying to figure out what is coming would we miss a lot of what being human is all about or is it the true secret to a happy life?

 our stream April 2. 

I am soooooooooo 
ready for summer.