Wisdom Givers - Introduction - Chapter I

I'm toying with the idea of writing another book. This one is called Wisdom Givers. I thought I'd share a chapter. If you like it, leave me a comment and let me know...

 

 "Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." C.G. Jung

1 - Introduction: Dawn – Waking Up


In the early morning hours of late November, I was struck by the darkness and coolness while gazing outside of my open window.  I was quietly contemplating the past, what might come today, and what the future might hold.  Deep philosophical thoughts often come to me over my morning coffee while I sit safe and warm in the comfort that is the home I created.  As the Earth continued to turn toward the sun, I took in a deep breath to prepare for a beautiful show and I was not disappointed.  There is a beautiful energy to sunrise that most miss unless they patiently watch with open hearted curiosity.   This moment felt particularly special.  Watching the sunrise has always felt like a sacred greeting or deep initiation that is soon rewarded with spectacular array of colors painted wildly vivid and then slowly fading into the normal blue sky and surrounds.

This day and moment was special to me.  It’s not that I haven’t seen a sunrise before but this sunrise was just different.  I sat transfixed by the sights and sounds, and I deeply appreciated the reality of the city stirring – waking up.  Maybe that’s why I love mornings so much because it is yet another chance in our lives to wake up, learn and become more aware of the grace in our lives and be touched by the light of the entirety of the cosmos.  I wrote this poem that morning to commemorate a return to awareness and a path I had diverged from more than a decade ago.   This time, no trepidation.  This time, I held only curiosity and courage…hard won sentiments and gifts given in the course of my life…blessings of time if you will.

Before the world fully awoke, something in me stirred…

 
A Morning of Grace
The trees stood, silhouetted sentinels
Emerging from the last traces of night,
Morning’s gentle brush painted broad swaths
Of smoky pink and orange light
Blanketing the view from my window—
A quiet unveiling, soft and bright.
The hum of distant highway traffic
Streams in with the cool morning air,
I become a silent witness
To this strange beauty—unfolding, rare—
Moment by moment, on an ordinary day,
In the tender hush of life’s daily affairs.
As if beauty couldn’t gather more notes,
Faint birdsong drifts in—
Soft at first, then drawing near
As Earth slowly turns to face the day.
Coffee warm, against crisp air,
Light emerging, darkness held at bay.
Witnessing, in silence, the uplifting birdsong,
Grateful for this moment in time,
This precious instant, deeply watched,
Each breath unique, each heartbeat a sign
That this moment, treasured and close,
Will not return—never again align.
When the turning in your world
Brings chaos, disappointment, or frustration,
Pare back your thoughts, your plans, your motion—
Return to simplicity, to quiet observation.
If you calm yourself into presence,
You might discover the notes of grace’s revelation.
That grace, woven through all that exists,
Awaits the open, vulnerable heart—
Meet it face to face, with curious hope,
And you’ll find your life set apart.
You’ll see how precious every form is,
Every moment—a masterpiece of art.
Thankful for this day, I send silent blessings—
Of gratitude, of peace, and gentle ways to everything and everyone.
May each passing moment infuse
Precious grace, to light all days.

Every day is another opportunity to live, to learn, and to love.  Making that seemingly simple concept more precious is the idea that no matter what it is we encounter in a day, our lives mean something.  Maybe you don’t yet realize what your life means or you haven’t thought about giving it meaning or becoming aware of the meaning it has to others. You may not have become aware of the light of grace weaving its way through your life and striving with an ever-present energy just waiting for you to notice it.  When you do, and when you feel the light of that grace, you will begin to see things differently.  You might be able to follow the beauty of a moment into the grace lighting the way for you attain precious wisdom in your life.

We encounter moments in our lives in one way or another that seemingly takes away from or mars our experience of safety, love, or trust.  You might feel safer limiting your world view through a sense of lack, scarcity, or fear.  You wouldn’t be wrong.  Some things in this world just seem to randomly happen at the worst time – no explanation – no rhyme – no reason – just random chaos or seeming darkness.  In such moments it may be hard to imagine anything could ever be light again.  But, as luck would have it…we often encounter situations that give birth to our awakening.  We may then come to realize that everything on Earth is transient and impermanent.  When you want everything to remain exactly as it is forever and ever, this truth may be devastating.  But if you are in a darker moment of your life, this truth may be just the thing that lights you up and brings you hope and strength enough to carry on.

Every awakening has a beginning, though most of us do not recognize it at the time. Long before we know how to name the sacred, we encounter it in subtle ways—through light, through intuition, through a sudden knowing that feels older than we are. These early moments become the quiet architecture of our inner life, the foundation upon which all later wisdom stands.

If Dawn is the soul remembering itself, then the lessons that follow are how the Earth teaches us to walk with that remembering. My own journey began with a single moment—unexpected, uninvited, yet profoundly shaping. I didn’t understand then that it was the first touch of grace - only that something in me opened, gently but unmistakably.

And so the first teacher of my life arrived not in the form of a person, but in the form of a broken vase of roses…

 

© 2026 J.L. Harter

2026 Fire Ant Skirmish and Lessons Learned

 

I’ve been quiet a little while but not intentionally.  I’ve been busy just experiencing life.  I wanted to share a little story with you all.  Some of you may relate.  Anyway, a couple
weekends ago, I was mowing my back yard.  In Arizona, we have to do these things very early. Especially this time of year because it is so hot.  Anyway, I’m out at 8:00 in the morning, wearing my Tom’s, a comfy T-shirt and shorts doing my thing.  Unbeknownst to me, several colonies of fire ants had migrated into my back yard since I last mowed. In fact, they had taken over just about 50% of the yard.  So, I’m mowing like normal when I felt something bite my hand…and within the same span of time, several very painful bites on both of my feet.  I stopped (in the wrong place, of course) and brushed the swarm of black ants off my shoes, my legs, the tops of my feet and my hands.

I went into the house grabbed my gloves, and the hose to hose off the infantry assaulting my little push mower.  I like the exercise so use an old school push mower.  Although it’s pretty turquoise, it was covered in black ants.  So, I moved it away from the ant hill, hosed off the ants, made sure I didn’t have any more on me, and then I finished up the last third of my yard very quickly and only received a few more bites even though I was more aware.  The bites were super painful.  Within a couple of days I had very big raised red welts that were painful.  I think I only ended up with 15 or so bites/stings…whatever.  It was wholly unpleasant.  But I finished the task.

 

I called Terminix to come treat my back yard and they came out right away.  They treat it every 3 months and we’ve had problems in the past but never so wide spread. Anyway, two weeks later it was time to mow again.  I had decided a week ago, I needed better equipment to mow.  I had gloves – check!  I ordered some hiking boots, thick socks, and ordered myself a white long-lightweight T-shirt and put on a light pair of Khakis.  My thought was, tuck the pants into the thick socks so if they do climb, they can’t get skin!  Then the light colors were just to make the ants easier to spot.  My boots are also khaki color just so I can spot any hitchhikers.  

 

So, today was the day I had to mow the lawn again and trim all the shrubs.  I was apprehensive that morning, I’m not going to lie.  Woman versus Fire Ant Skirmish 2026 did not go well.  But I wasn’t going to surrender my yard to the ants.  Also, I’m just getting over a virus and so have zero tolerance for any form of nonsense or fire ant declarations of war on my person.  But today, I was better prepared.  I started on the other side of the yard furthest from the ant colonies.  If I had to stop, I did not stop on the grass.  I made it half way through the yard before the hitch hikers popped out in abundance.  I could easily see them on my shoes, if they climbed up my mower, got my gloves or my white shirt.   I spot checked every few feet and stopped at the pavement to stomp any off of my being, do a quick spot check and then back to it.  I was almost finished and had about two more passes to go when exhaustion and overheating set in.  I’ve always just pushed through things like this but a thought occurred to me – do you want to pass out on the ant hill?  Um, not so much I thought after considering.  I took a water break in the house where it was nice and cool, drank some water, and let the little warriors settle for a few minutes.  I got back out there and tackled the last two passes very quickly and finished the job.  I was even able to get out the trimmer and shape up my shrubs without encountering any more ant soldiers.    

 

Today was a success.  But not because I won or I beat the evil fire ants.  My thought was:

•         Understand:  Fire ants do what fire ants do…they swarm, they sting and bite anything that moves remotely near.    No need to take it personally.  Just call the exterminator and stay on top of “negotiating” a lower population in places my grandson would not be safe without intervention.

•         Prepare: Dress properly for the task you’re about to take on – your safety matters. 

•         Be Thoughtful:  Don’t push your luck in the AZ heat.  Heat exhaustion is real and happens quicker than you think.  Also, pushing through isn’t always the best way to accomplish a task – I mean I take a break between sets when I’m lifting weights for a reason.  I lift heavy and push myself but never too far.

•         Shift Strategies:  You can accomplish more with planning but do also be prepared to shift your strategy if you find it is not successful.  Don’t stress the process, just shift to something else that works and keep moving.

 

I have always appreciated the statement:  The Obstacle is the Path.  Today, I learned something from that.  The fire ants were definitely an obstacle but with some understanding, preparation, being mindful and openness to shifting strategies, I got the job done in no time and not one bite today.  The ants are still present in my backyard and that’s a discussion my friends at Terminix can help me with.  I need something a bit more intense than granules maybe but we’ll see what they think when they’re back out to my place in a few short weeks.  I learned today that I don’t have to fear the ants or consider them villains and myself a victim.  I could take a completely different path and do my best to co-exist.

© July 2026, Jaie Hart

The Simplicity of Grace and Gratitude

 

 

The trees stood as silhouetted sentinels emerging from the last traces of darkness.  Morning light came in gently painted broad swaths of smokey pink and orange light that gently blanketed the view from my window. 

 

The hum of highway traffic echoing in the distance streamed in along with the cool morning temperatures. 

 

I became a silent witness to this strange beauty unfolding second by second on an otherwise ordinary day in a life.

 

As if this weren’t beautiful enough, the first traces of bird song began faintly and grew closer as the Earth turned toward the sun.

 

Coffee warm in contrast with cool fresh air, the emerging light and fading darkness, the silent witnessing and uplifting birdsong – I’m so grateful for this moment.  

 

This precious moment I took time to watch closely and feel every breath of is unique and will never ever come again.

 

When the turning in your world finds you feeling chaotic, disappointed, or frustrated,  pare back your thoughts, your plans, and your motion to the simple and basic.  Observe the beauty in life and if you can calm yourself into the presence of the moment, you might just be fortunate enough to find a moment of precious grace.  

 

That grace is woven through everything in existence, and should you take the time to meet it face to face with an open, vulnerable, and curious heart, you will never be the same.  You will come to realize just how precious life is in all of its myriad forms here. 

 

I’m thankful for this day.  Sending you all blessings of gratitude.

 

© 2025 photo and words, Jaie Hart

My Spiritual Journey

 

Often at times in my life, I’ve had this deep almost visceral feeling that there just has to be more to this life than working, raising kids, eating right and exercise.  For many years, I’d have to say I was on a spiritual quest.  Along the way, I’d have to say that I came across some pretty amazing things, unexplainable things, and things you wouldn’t believe even if I were to explain in great detail.  But, at the end of the day – none of the things that I discovered satisfied that inner feeling that there was something more. 

 

I’ve had plenty of subtle hints left at perfectly timed and pivotal moments of my life.  But as I sit here today, I feel like all the different shoes I tried on to walk that path, didn’t take me anywhere I didn’t have access to all along within me.  Nothing in the “New Age” or even purported ancient teachings brought me what I was looking for.  There was still that feeling of home, like I’m missing it terribly that sometimes washed over me.  I can’t really explain it well enough to give it proper meaning and in nearly 60 years of this life journey, I’ve not run across anything outside of me that quells that feeling entirely.

 

However, there were often things that I could do from time to time that satisfied that longing for a time.  It wasn’t teachers, books, classes or chasing knowledge.  It was something by far more simple. Believe it or not, getting up early to have a quiet moment to watch the miracle of the Earth turning into the sun and then again, at the end of the day, seemingly turning away from it while watching a miraculous fiery display of light in every warm color imaginable at sunset did it for me.  Other things too, like noticing the quality of light etching the leaves on trees, a blade of grass or a simple weed, it brought me a sense of that feeling of home.

 

In quiet meditation, I have found much solace and comfort for that feeling.  Other things impacted it positively as well like holding a new born, stroking a fluffy kitten or playing with a bouncy land-shark puppy or rising above a vexing psychological matter in myself or others – all of these things seemed to quell that longing a bit.

 

If I’m honest, I’d say my spiritual journey was a grand disappointment on one hand.  It took me down many pathways and rabbit holes.  It had me spending time and money on what equated to snake oil.  At the point I discovered I wasn’t finding what I was looking for, the path disappeared and pointed me right back to myself.  Not a bad thing but an unexpected thing.  Some other things I learned along the way (random truths - at least truths for me):

 

1.     Everyone holds dark and light within them.  There is no point decrying the darkness in others when we are holding our own darkness either in ignorance or denial. Remember – what you see is because it is within you to understand.

2.      True love is as it has forever been – inside of you and readily available at any time you become willing to dig deep inside and find it.

3.     Whatever seemingly calls to you in the outside world comes from within you – nothing in the outside world will bring you as much as if you explore your own inner depths and seek understanding – your personal whys.

4.     We are One at many levels – we all co-experience this frame, this Earth and each other.  Ego gratification never truly soothes the soul but the Ego isn’t something to be destroyed either.  It’s best understood as a necessary part of us during our travels here on Earth.  It’s best to make friends with it, accept it, and in a way maybe to tame it with love.

5.     Finding self-love enough to stand on your own two feet and make your way through life in confidence and compassion can take you far in terms of understanding the meaning of your life.

6.     While there may be this grand design in life, you will never definitively know it.  You are best served finding within your life -  all of those things that you are truly grateful for, treasuring and appreciating those things and then learning what you can do to give something to this world and Her inhabitants rather than figuring out ways to take things from this world and Her inhabitants.

7.     You are entitled to nothing here in the Earth School. You are given a body.  You are given consciousness.  Everything from there stems from your earnest effort and seeking to understand your life lessons.  Right action, right thinking and right presence is required to succeed (and know that even when you fail, you are learning so – that can still be right for your at parts of your unique journey).

8.     It’s okay to feel however you feel.  You can wallow in darkness for the entirety of your life.  You can find ways to understand and then shatter the darkness that you feel in your life.  You can walk in the light understanding that even when the sun shines unobstructed, you may not feel it – walk any way.  Keep going.  Never give up.  Never quit.  Always have faith in yourself to master your life.

9.     Grief is real here and you must learn to process it.  We come in at different times and we go at different times.  If we fight change too hard, our grief will be protracted.  Learn from your grief and understand that the depth and level of your grieving is very likely equal to your love.  Seek help if you should struggle.  Help is there for you if you seek it.

10.  Never fall into the trap of equating your worth based on what you observe in others. Envy is a trap as is keeping up with the Jone’s.  Your path is uniquely yours.  Find your gifts that are unique to you and appreciate them. Focus inward and what you have to work with and not what you think others are given. Remember, you are entitled to nothing in this life.  But you do have free will.  Use it wisely without circumventing or imposing on the free will of others.

 

After many years of searching, I’d have to say I willingly stepped off the path.  I came to terms with much uncertainty and worked hard to grow comfortable with change.  As I got older, energy began to wane some, lines and wrinkles appeared as did glorious and sparkly silver strands comprising the covering of my head (I spent so many years dying all manner of shades and still do today just for the fun of it). Change is a constant.  It’s best to make it your friend. View aging not with fear and trepidation but as graduating to the class of Elders on the Earth.  If you make it to this stage in life where age shows in your reflection, you are one of the fortunate.  Aging is a gift not granted to all equally in this frame. If you can, strive to hold gratitude instead of fear.  When your body dies, your consciousness lives on but you transform from the existence you have become accustomed to here.

 

I love my life today so much.  I don’t have deep, burning, or all-consuming desires to know this or that about life.  I’ve learned in my life that taking time to better understand my inner landscape, learning self-love, full acceptance of self and a lifetime’s worth of action was necessary for happiness.  The more I engaged in self-understanding, the more that feeling of connection to Source returned and the more that sense of longing quieted.  I still have desires and goals and I will succeed in them as I always do.  It’s just that my reason or mission has changed.  I think I’m at a place in my life now where the idea of contributing to life has more meaning than anything.  Lending a voice, an ear or compassionate presence – that totally kills that old greatly diminished now feeling of longing for home.  When I stopped looking for something to fill that longing, I found it.  I am home (as I have always been), I’m comfortable in my skin, I’m happy, satisfied with a life well lived and hopeful for tomorrow despite the chaos of information constantly bombarding me. 

 

I’d have to say that I do appreciate the spiritual journey I embarked upon and all of the magical and unexplainable things that I have experienced.  I’m really glad that this grounded comforting feeling eventually caught my attention and noticed that it was coming from within after all that searching in the outside world.  Our lives and our journeys here on Earth are intensely personal and uniquely experienced just for ourselves and our growth as souls.  You can’t read your life’s purpose in a book.  You are so unique and precious that no one else’s words, thoughts or ideas can describe you or your purpose. Living your life and doing what you do is what you came her to do.  If your life brings you sadness, that’s okay.  Consider it a message to you from you that you might potentially benefit another way of learning or living along your journey.  If your life brings you comfort, that also is a message that maybe you are on the right path for the moment.  In those moments that you find bliss, that’s a YES from the Universe. 

 

One of the many phrases I’ve come across in my life that inspired me the most – more than any practice, books, classes or whatever was: The Journey Is The Destination.  It inspires me still.  We are all born in this frame and our bodies die at the end.  If we continually wait for happiness only until this or that happens or we put off relaxing or wait continually to do things until all lights are green, we’re missing the point.  Our destination is ultimately to die after living a life well lived.  So, go and well-live your life.  Find something in the day to day that you like, love, or appreciate in some way. Enjoy your spiritual quest or existential explorations as is your desire but live and appreciate something in your experience that is truly good, light and bright. Respect the darkness for that does truly exist within us all.  Strive to find a place of balance and equanimity.  Know that tough times will come and go and still you will learn and achieve all that you were meant to in life. Relax your judgement of yourself, others, and this world.  Be the amazing you that you are.  That’s what my journey taught me most loudly and most clear.

© 2024 Jaie Hart (photo and words)

Chasing Dreams and Lessons Learned

 

So many miles have come between me and the land of my birth.  If I think about it too long, my heart starts to ache for the sound of the ocean, a strong and cool salty sea breeze, and the sound of gulls.  How many days did I sit at the shore just to feel the power of the waves, feel the enormity of the depth and the breadth of the ocean? Through sunny summer warmth, and cool, cold and stormy days, I’d find my way to the coast and gaze for hours in solitude.  I miss those days sometimes.  Fortunately, those memories will always live in my heart and bring me comfort still when most I surely need it.

 

As many in life have come to know, the land of your birth won’t always support your dreams and if those dreams are strong enough, you’ll pack up all that you own, kiss your loved ones goodbye and begin a journey to find whatever it is that calls to your heart and soul the most. Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to go to far to begin to fulfill my biggest dream.  It was a simple dream to own a home on my own - large enough for me and my children, a yard big and green filled with flowers and trees, and some space to breathe with rare beauty.  I did find it and I’m so grateful.  But these words echo in my mind, “now what?”  

In my mind I have visited the echoes of yesterday and the enormity of lessons learned, love lost and found, broken, and bruised pieces of my heart and psyche along with the strength of the inner light that can and will carry you through the darkest of places if you just find a small shred of hope to hold.  I have not lived an easy life by any stretch, but I have learned above all else to trust my inner most urges and intuitions.  In all the times that I learned to listen and heed my inner guidance, I have found resolution to outer and inner conflict, new paths where all once seemed obscure and a beautiful light to reveal what lay hidden in the darkness (that of my own thinking and that brought to me by the lessons of others).

 

 When I look at all that I have accomplished, I feel really good.  Humble beginnings was the start to my story.  Where I am now I am not married to because I have learned in life that all is fleeting, transient and impermanent at every level.  I have come to know that it is not what I have and what I have done that matters most.  The greatest of my life’s lessons has been learning to take a measure of comfort in what is as it is in the absence of judgement or fear.  I have grown and gone far beyond anything I ever expected.  It only took me learning to let go of what this world, society and my family expected of me.  The conventional has never suited me and I will no longer entertain it.  I am content now, more whole and happy even - most days.

 

Life lessons still come and the pain can sometimes feel soul crushing.  But the key to leaving that prison is accepting what is, sitting with the pain without reacting, and allowing yourself to cry, shout, scream or be.  In time, we expand beyond the painful spaces within us.  We learn to bring in more light to shine more clearly into the darkness and we find our way back to the sun as long as we spend no time in resistance.  That is so hard and can take years and years.  It’s not an easy lesson facing grief, sadness and pain.  These things are part of the human condition and when we encounter them we must always remember – this is not it.  It is not all we will ever feel again.  We will expand, we will grow and as we do we create more space within us to take in other things – joy, love, curiosity, hope and so much more.  I think the pain never goes away but we take in more and with balance, we learn to live with the good and the bad seeming within us.  It’s amazing how that works, and it has worked for me time and time again.

 

 I stand here today so grateful for all of the mountains I have climbed, the darkness I have faced, the disappointment, the anger, the bliss and love – all of it.  My time is not yet done.  I just plan to live a little wiser, with more patience and acceptance.  Maybe find a little more courage, curiosity, and wisdom to face the rest of my journey wherever it is it may lead me.  I think sometimes the journey is within and without simultaneously.  How can it not be?  It’s like magic at times and it can make me laugh or cry depending on how I look at it.

 

If you take anything away from this piece, I hope you take with it hope, trust in your journey and yourselves to live your lives as perfectly and as meaningfully as you were meant to.  Count your blessings and lessons both (you’ll find they are one and the same in the end).

 

 

© Copyright 2023 Janice Harter (photo and words)

Another Mindful Moment

 

It’s been so long since I could actually sit down, collect my thoughts and just write.  I’ve had a lot of down time this year.  A lot of time to think, a lot of time to not think and I have to say, I think I’ve enjoyed the not thinking moments most of all.  I wouldn’t be the first to say this has been a challenging year.  I’ve lost friends, my Mother, and have been simply bewildered by much of life as I greeted each day.  But, I greeted each day.  I held gratitude, hope and even faith when I didn’t really seem to have much of a reason to do so.

 

I had no big plans for this year.  After the big change of moving state’s from last year, I really just wanted to coast a bit, learn to sleep in a little, relax a little and forget about capturing the world of my experience in words and pictures as I had become accustom to doing for so long. I have been working on just being here now in whatever moment I have faced.  Being present and mindful has saved me from harsh emotions, terrible regrets and traumatizing experiences.  It didn’t make them go away but it taught me how to be with the feelings, the thoughts and the energy without judgement.  It’s been surreal.

 

For the remainder of this year, I plan to just keep doing what I’ve been doing…resting, relaxing, doing nothing.  I’ve been an over-achiever for most of my life.  I was never happy just being.  It used to feel like a fate worse than death to have no plans, nothing to look forward to and nothing fun or exciting waiting just around the corner.  I get excited about Saturday morning coffee after waking without an alarm.  Goofing off, staying in, going out briefly for short-masked trips here and there in this new world we now live in. I’ve learned to cut my own hair pretty well and to create from what I have instead of buying everything.  Definitely a new approach.

 

It’s strange.  I’ve been on this planet for only 54 years and I still have no idea why I’m here.  I guess I thought when I hit my 50’s I’d know.  I’m starting to just become accepting of the fact that everything may, in fact, be just completely random and no matter what happens, I have to just completely trust myself to manage whatever it is I experience in this life.  I didn’t have that in my 20’, 30’s or 40’s.  Now in my 50’s, I know where I’m going…some day.  I’ll leave this Earth.  So, I’m not in a rush.  I’m glad to slow down and treasure every moment of work stress, collaboration, and smile just for the pure experience of it.  I count my blessings every day, grateful for the strength to accomplish all of the things in my life that I have accomplished and I know there is much more life to accomplish.  I just don’t have the egotistical drive to do whatever that may be perfectly, first or better/best.  I have learned to trust that I always do my best and I do it for no one else but me.

 

I don’t have any deep emotional troubles I’m trying to figure out or understand.  I think somewhere all of this mindful thought has given me the strength to accept me for me, trust myself to do what is the right thing for me and not to worry about who I must defend that too. If I have to defend anything, there is no real use explaining.  Let people think what they want to about me because in reality, what people think in terms of judgement of me doesn’t really have anything to do with me.

 

I think I like my 50’s now that I approach the half way mark.  I’d say it’s brought me a lot of acceptance, a lot of understanding, less striving and much more being. I have questions and big thoughts but I’m just not as interested in sharing them these days.  I have more interest in the process I go through myself.  I love that.  I have nothing more to prove.  I just want to be.  How did this happen?  When did it happen?  I just don’t know but I’ll tell you, I’m grateful to take a breath, take a walk, have a little lie in unplanned…be lazy sometimes, do nothing sometimes and just enjoy life.  I’m enjoying life.  I hope you are too.

 

Blessings of great acceptance to you for all that you are, all that you’ve done and all that you are, have and will become.

Morning Thoughts Over Coffee

It seems such a strange time but I suppose everything moves in cycles and circles and those said cycles and circles continue to spin time out of time.  I’ve seen so much in terms of present day experience from cosmic order, to conspiracy theories.  I can’t pretend to know which is the truth, so, to be completely honest, I don’t bother.  It’s not that I don’t care, it is that maybe I care a bit too much.  I can’t worry so much about who did what…cover up…or why because if I carry each thread to it’s nuanced conclusion, I’m still right back where I started and so are all of those that choose that particular path.  It is a path to nowhere and so…and those two little words are so powerful: “And So.”

Regardless of this theory or that disaster, so far, my family is being safe, cautious and just getting on with the days as much as we can.  My heart breaks every time I hear about my fellow human beings suffering and then I pray.  What else can I do that would be more helpful?  Social media is filled with ridiculous judgment and rather than get too upset, I understand what it truly is…fear, fear and, you guessed it, more fear.  There are times in our lives where the prevailing energy of the masses seems to be stemming from the energy of fear.  Try, if you can, not to get caught up in sticky negative fear.  It’s a big old human fly trap, a non-starter perspective that will have you spinning, spooled up and spat out no better than before you started.

The trick in these times is just to breathe,  stay here in the moment, focus on what is directly before you without reaching too far ahead in your thoughts or reaching behind you wishing things had been different.  If wishes made a difference, we’d all be in a different boat I suppose.  But we aren’t.  So, for now, right now, I’m sitting here breathing…grateful for a nice cup of half decaf in my favorite Doctor Who Coffee Mug.  The sun is up and the birds are singing.  I’ve got a delicious desert breeze gently blowing through the open screen door. My part of the world is gently stirring and I know that each human will do the best that they can this day and honestly in many ways, it’s like any other day and any other time in life. It isn't the end of the world.  The sun is up, the skies are there and the grass still sways in a breeze.

Starting a daunting task with fear isn’t the end of the world, it just means you let fear ride along a little bit until you decide to let it go.  And when it goes, you can find and grab hold of gratitude.  It is a saving grace, I assure you.  So many lives are lost day in and day out - some for understandable reasons and many not.  Is that new?  Is that something to be afraid of?  Is that something that would make you revert back to the stature of a cornered cat striking out at anything and everything that comes within reach hissing and claws out?  How does that help at the end of the day?  Who does that truly hurt, if you give it a cold hard look?  Truly it hurts only you and those who love you.  So, relax a bit as much as you can.  Take in a slow and intentional breath. 

Listen, you are precious.  Your every breath and step matters.  Life is hard sometimes but sometimes you have to just get on with it.  Eat a cookie! Paint a picture. Meditate under a tree.  Pray if you want to.  Smile at strangers instead of sitting in judgment of them while making a hundred thousand assumptions about why and how they are out to get you for this reason or that.  Do something helpful for yourself or better yet, others.  You have infinite power to make a difference in this world in the positive but you’ll never do it if fear has settled over your soul and you succumb to it.  We must be vigilant against letting fear settle in over our souls.  See it, acknowledge it – don’t try to change it – but realize what it is and know this – I mean really know this, you can still be the best you despite the fear and worry that this awful permeating energy can bring you.  

Every day, do something kind.  Instead of finding what is wrong with someone today, whoever crosses your path, I challenge you to consider what good you can find in them.  Shift your thinking from fearful judgment to helpful acceptance or aspirational compassion.  Be disciplined about it.  If your mind automatically goes towards negative judgment of others – okay fine – let your mind be but then, add in a complementary thought.  Strive to understand.  Understanding won’t fix what is wrong in the world but it sure does take the personal sting out of an illusory attack!  If you want to take a war-like stance, do it to minimize fear! Hold compassion as the highest ideal today if you want less of a bumpy ride today.  At the end of the day, we are one.  My prayers go out today to all who struggle with fear, anxiety, worry and dis-ease.  I pray the beauty in this world and in her inhabitants shines today brighter than the sun and in the most beautiful  of ways.  Be strong you beautiful souls.  You’ve got this.  You really do.  I’m rooting for you, everyone of you.  Blessings of peace, compassion, health and safety to one and all.

Copyright 2020, Jaie Hart (photo/words)

The Wisdom of the Elements

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon?  I have, some time ago.  Nothing could have prepared me for the absolute breath-taking view.  You don’t realize how very tiny you are until you stand beside it, feel the ancient energy of it and imagine its creation.  I don’t know exactly why, but I was remembering the Grand Canyon in a dream I had a few nights ago.  I didn’t recall it for its aesthetic beauty and grandeur.  I recalled it because of what my mind has been wrestling with forever, it seems.

The steadfast rock and Earth surrounds us, water flows within and around us.  Great rivers erode the rock slowly over time and yet in some place and at some times, the work of the water flowing etches gently and cuts deeply into the Earth.  If you think about it or truly realize it, as stunningly beautiful as the Grand Canyon is – remember, it was created by water flowing over rock and wind whipping through it over time. I think of us, mere mortals, our daily trials and tribulations and even the minor things we tend to get so upset about.  To me, it’s all like water flowing over rocks and wind whipping through.  We may be etched and cut into by the various elements of existence that flow around and through us in our experience but we are no less beautiful in the end than before our lives began.

We do so many things, we strive to achieve this or that, to acquire, to gather and hold things to us and that is a funny thing to me.  Nothing remains forever just as it is.  Life here is forever changing, merging, falling away - blowing away even. We fly, we crash, and we tumble and flow.  Just like the wind, the water, just like the rocks we live upon.  We can stand firm in the fullness of our being and let life flow within and around us.  It doesn’t matter what we do, what we achieve, what we learn or acquire, the part of us that witnesses all of our life-experience, remains the same – unharmed and ever transformed.  We live, we breathe and we die but there is that part of us that remains untouched like the day we were born, pure and pristine.  It doesn’t matter what we go through and grow through because in the end, that pure and pristine part of us lives on.

The point of this is not that you should not acquire, grow or learn as you live and breathe in this life but rather that you should understand what remains and what changes.  In a way, what remains and changes is the same.  That is confusing in a way.  Perhaps it is all about aspects and perspectives of what we choose, how we take in an experience or how it is we might use it?  We ARE.  No matter what we have or don’t, who supports us or won’t, how we live or die – no matter what, we still ARE.  We are made neither greater nor lesser by what we do really.  We still ARE.  If we dress Class Act, or bare cozy and comfy, we still just ARE.  I think that the more I live, the more I understand what nature is trying so hard to teach us.

These observations and thoughts didn’t come to me all at once.   These thoughts didn’t occur to or comfort me as I acquired and gathered, or while I surrendered and lost.  Whether I was climbing ladders, or admitting defeat, I still AM.  There is a part of me that remains pure and pristine no matter what it is I mire myself in.  It seems that what I do, is for my entertainment, because I feel moved to do this or that.  It feels good sometimes to do this and that.  It feels bad sometimes to do this or that.  But when the feelings of whatever it is I am or was engaged in fade, I remain just as whole as I was.  I still AM.

I go back to my memories of the Grand Canyon and take a slow and easy breath in and out. The water is not evil because it cut the walls of the canyon.  The colorful rocks that have withstood the years and seasons are not weak because they stood still.  No matter what the experience, they still ARE and yet they are beautifully transformed in a way by the experience but their essence and their power is not lost or made lesser by interaction with the elements.  When I see the rocks now, I feel gratitude and deep appreciation for their existence.  When I see the rain, water flowing – I feel grateful and a deep affinity for it’s existence.  When the wind blows it carries aspects of rock and water and I’m grateful as the air I breathe carries the pure power of transformation.  When I feel the heat of the sun, I am reminded of the gifts of transformation it too brings.  These things can harm and support me but I am made neither greater nor lesser for my experience of them.

You, in your lives, living day in and day out, working and achieving or learning and growing – you are made no greater or lesser as a result of your experience.  Even though you may be transformed willingly or unwillingly remember that there is an aspect of you that will remain pure and pristine as the day you were born.  Live, laugh, play and love.  Enjoy fully the richness of your experience here.  Appreciate your surroundings, check in now and then to see if you find value in what you are learning. Strive if you feel moved to – to understand all of your amazing and magical teachers in this life.  Everything matters. You too matter.  Never mind how life has shaped you, cut through you or changed you.  Your soul is still beautiful and filled with magic.  You still ARE.  Blessings of great love to you.

Copyright 2020, Jaie Hart (Photo NPS.org)

Random Thoughts on The Decade Passing

I sit in the cool and darkness becoming light. The sun slowly greets the day and me, here, mind empty and heart full. Not only does another year come to a close but the end of another decade does too. I don’t know where the time has gone.  It trickled away bit by bit while I was busy with other things.  Don’t get me wrong; the time I spent, I am most grateful for. My grandfather barely saw 54 years and my father never did.  Their time here was brief, so much so that I barely knew either of them. I send them my love wherever they are and hold nothing but gratitude for the blessings their existence brought me.

I have in my pocket, a seeming lifetime of good and hard life lessons learned in just this last decade and although I don’t care to repeat them (and pray I never do again), a part of me has come to terms.  A part of me is glad to be nothing else but simply present.  I’ve made so many changes in just the past 10 years.  I’ve come to a number of realizations.  They are by far too many to recite here and likely, they’d bore you to tears, but my life isn’t for anyone else’s entertainment but mine I suppose.

I used to think I knew where I was going and what I was doing as well as why but the funny plot twist in my life is that I never knew a thing.  Learning that now, is a very strange blessing.  I don’t know where I’m going and I do whatever it is that I am called to do without attempting the pre-determining of the outcome.  The results are more entertaining when it’s a surprise any way.  I’ve seen dreams shattered and brilliantly born in this past decade.  It’s been a joy, all of it.  But its strange to feel more self-assured not knowing what will happen.  It’s not as fearful when you truly know you can trust yourself to manage whatever it is that presents itself squarely upon your path to contend with.  If it is that and only that I have learned in this past decade, it was all well worth it.

The next decade holds just as much promise - of that I have no doubt.  So, I’ll slip into it gently, in full awareness of the past, pure enjoyment of the present and much hope and faith for the future, whatever it brings.  I’ve had seasons come and go, family and friends too.  It’s always a challenge to say goodbye but there is a strange comfort and peace in letting go and letting things and people be just as they are – even if far away.

When I look at the miniature world of this life I have created, I am content.  It isn’t perfect and I think that is the best part of it.  The beauty in the imperfection…it can sometimes seem magical.  To dare to be and do whatever it is your heart calls for is an amazing experience.  I say, pick up and move, go and explore, be a stranger in a strange land, be anonymous in the crowd, be one with the energy and stand in awe and wonder of every moment of every day.  Stand in the sunlight and feel the warmth.  Stand under a vast and depthless seeming sky and feel every single star and planet. Know the motion of it all is not only something you witness, but something you are a part of.

The ripples and waves we create in this life can be good ones if we can simply learn to relax and flow.  I don’t know.  It’s been a while since I have allowed myself to wax contemplative.  No reason behind that really, it’s just a side effect of staying ever-present.  Thinking really big thoughts is cool and all of that but it is entirely another thing all-together to just be so very present in a moment to truly appreciate all the moment has to offer you…the richness, the simplicity, the breath, the heart beating, the sensing and gently holding and then letting go.  It is a different sort of magic I guess and that is what the last decade brought me.  It brought me a deeper appreciation for all that is just exactly as it is while letting go of any thoughts depending upon some egotistical desire to change things or people. The now moment is a powerful thing. And it is right there for you, Now. How will you experience it?

I wish for you as this decade comes to a close, many realizations, the beautiful culmination of lessons learned, laughter, love, hope, courage and faith for the next one that comes to your door.  Breathe in; Breathe out.  You’ve got this and the Universe has got you!  Thank all that is good! 

 

© 2019, photo and words.