At long last, now that the leaves are turning color and leaving the trees, and the days are getting shorter, the solar system I had installed was turned “on” this morning. I am hoping to watch the meter go backwards during this low usage month.
I took this photo earlier in the evening before failed attempts simultaneously to photograph the cat on my lap and the impeachment proceedings on streaming video. I think of all those working so hard and so bravely. For some time, I sat paying attention and also meditating–my personal variation on a Quaker practice of having someone present sit and hold all in the light while the business of the meeting is being conducted.
And I also made an extra donation.
Capitol Hill Neighborhood, Eastern Market, House Office Buildings, US Botanical Garden, Barbara Kruger at the Hirshhorn, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington Monument, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (Sculpture of Eleanor Roosevelt), Vietnam Memorial, Street Art on George Washington University Campus, and various points in between.
What do you see when you walk down the street or into a room? Do you see more or less depending on whether the surroundings are new to you or familiar? John Friend has said that when leading a class teachers need to be able simultaneously to see the whole room (and how everything and the students are in relationship to each other in the room), each student as a part of the whole and as a whole person, and the individual alignment of each student.
What it takes to do this is the ability to be completely soft, spacious, and open in our seeing (“open to grace”) and also well enough educated and experienced to appreciate and understand the details. I think that when we can see both the big picture and the details simultaneously, we have the greatest opportunity to experience the most of life, are more likely to be able to look for the good, and to make the most positive changes.
