There are two orientations to which I continue to return. Both are more Eastern in origin, yet practiced globally. These are orientations that I find bring life. They bring invitation. They bring practice to be in rather complex things. And for me, they also bring bridges to connect things that aren’t typically rooted in Zen notions of “now” or “flow” — I’m thinking places that I facilitate groups. I’m happy to say that most groups appreciate these invitations to “now” and to “flow.” They may use different language, but so often, through “now” and “flow” we can find something transformative.
Now — present moment. Lessened worry for the past or for the future. Beauty often brings me back to the now. Like the beauty in this morning’s bonus walk (I often save my walks for the evening). The large garden growing in my urban-meets-rural neighborhood. Mama horses with young horses born this Spring. “Now” is all of life energy — the everything found in the anything.
Flow — natural movement. And alignment with life energy. Aliveness. Serendipity abounding. Revealed deeper purpose and deeper why. Ease. Joy, like what I experienced in these recent morning images at a nearby lake. They bring an inherent joy. Joy seems to run so easily with flow. Or point the way. The joy of a reservoir next to 12,000 ft Mountain Peak. The joy desert flowers. The joy of water held my surrounding mountains. Where “now” is a of life energy, the everything in the anything, “flow” is access to that energy, to being with it, contributing and being moved by it.
So, now and flow, beauty and joy. Available as any of use learn to look and to be with. Not to consume. To abide with. To move with. To be moved by.
From that comes much needed ability to be alive and conscious as a human being.
The poet in me finds it this way, this morning.
Today is only today.
It isn’t the rest of all time.
It isn’t restart of all time passed.
It isn’t all problems, piled to overwhelm.
May a spirit of kindness live in abundance.
Appreciation.
Honesty.
Consciousness.
May I and other humans contribute peace
within ourselves,
with others,
with circumstance.
May the simplicity of today,
lived in our hearts,
guide
with flow.
To you readers, thank you for reading, dwelling, inviting, experimenting with what what you see and be with now and flow for you.
“To move with. To be moved by.” This feels like a simple understanding of *flow* for me. At least, this morning.
and …
“Today is only today.
It isn’t the rest of all time.”
I’ve been making peace with the heat, telling myself this is just the season of “hot.” It will be with us for a few days and then it will pass into another season. I can find ways to “be with” the heat, not resist what is, go with the flow, perhaps.
and …
“May the simplicity of today,
lived in our hearts,
guide
with flow.”
For me, today, this feels like paying attention to the aliveness that is found in a day with a great deal of openness. A day in which I have choices about the time I spend on various forms of life. Today, the question with which I began the day: Can I write poetry and also clear space in my house? (including both in some balance that remains life-giving and life-enhancing)