State of the Garden (Very Rainy Day)
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Found Exhortation
To this I would add, and make sure to rest well.
Best Possible Holiday Walkabout
I may have a nagging cough from a cold that started over a week ago, and it might not have been the ideal of a walk in the woods with a beloved, but I had the best walkabout possible today. The air was mild, and the rain held off until mid-afternoon, leaving plenty of time to get out and appreciate the day. Enjoying that I did not need hat or gloves, I walked for a couple of hours around the neighborhood before I went to the Sunday jam to dance. I picked up a few things that I needed, said hi to neighbors who were also out walking, and looked at trees and clouds and invited myself to be filled with gratitude for what I have.
I was thinking about the exhortation to have the “best possible day.” Before I started my walk, I got an email from a friend about setting a date for lunch, and she said that she’d had the best holiday possible. I think it was in response to my wishing her such–the best holiday possible, that is.
I’ve long stopped exhorting people to have a happy holiday or a merry christmas because I have no idea what might be going on with them (or, I do have an idea). I have enough friends, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances who are facing serious challenges–illness, difficulties with work or difficulties getting work, kids stumbling to get through life, relationship complications, elder care navigations, loss of a loved one, or loneliness–that wishing a happy holiday might be kind of clueless. And then there is the state of society and the world.
Thus, I wish that we are able to recognize and experience what we have that is good (while working to make healthier and more life-enhancing choices/changes for the things that are not good that can be changed) and bring out the best in ourselves in navigating all of life–the best possible holiday, day, year, etc.
- Gardening | Meditation | Photos | Poetry
Solstice Light
How luminous the
Low, long, afternoon light come
The winter solstice.
Nightblooming Jasmine in Winter (and sadhana)
I walked into the dining room yesterday and caught a hint of an exquisitely sweet fragrance. I knew the paperwhite bulb I was forcing was only in bud. What was it? I went to look and saw that there was a single blossom on the nightblooming jasmine. Inside, in winter, the single bloom emitted as much apparent fragrance as dozens outside. I have had this plant for 12-13 years, since it was in a three inch growers’ pot. The last time I repotted it was several years ago, but I faithfully bring it inside and out every winter/summer cycle, and feed and water it plentifully. In response, it keeps getting fuller and offering blooms. When it is outside, it can have dozens of blooms at once. Sometimes I harvest the buds before they open and use them to scent green tea. When I find open blossoms in the morning, I harvest them by the handful and put them on my alter or in the bedroom, where they will provide scent for a day or two. Outside in the summer, while profuse, the blooms last only a single night. Inside in winter (with an average 24-hour a day temperature of 61-62F), the blooms, though coming more occasionally and only a couple at a time, can last for three or four days.
I think the blossoms of yoga and meditation sadhana (practice) are not dissimilar to the way this plant blooms. With steady care, they will always bloom, though sometimes more than others, sometimes with a different character, and sometimes with just growing periods with no apparent blossoms. Sometimes, there will be a wild profusion of vision and offering, but those tend to be fleeting. The memory of the intoxicating perfume, though, keeps us tending the practice, knowing it will come again. During the time between the wilder experiences, the nectar still comes, and though in less dramatic ways, perhaps all the sweeter for coming in a time wh
en we are just practicing and tending and not expecting any great revelation.
