Transition

This is a moment of transition.

Stop for a moment and see if you can feel it.

Fall has begun, and with it, the first wafts of cool air. The mornings now darker, while sun sets in the evening much earlier.

The fall equinox is a moment where night and dark come into balance, twelve hours of each. Globally, this is a moment where northern and southern hemispheres receive the same amount of light.

Shana Tova (Happy New Year) to those celebrating Rosh Hashanah, a transition to a new year in the Jewish calendar.

And now, good people, a chance to look inward to our own points of transition.

Yesterday and all of the yesterdays it represents, now a thing of the past. 

All of it serves as the kindling for the fire that we will light today, as we transition to tomorrow and all of the tomorrows it represents.

Those twigs of yesterday provide fuel for the fire. And some things just need to burn, so that we can move forward.

Through the smoke, two questions waft into our vision.

How do you want to be?

Who do you want to be?

These are the simple and quite profound questions that ground all transitions. The caterpillar surely feels the gravity of these questions as they transition to butterfly. The tadpole similarly confronts them as they think of the frog they are meant to be.

And yet, we often skip the How and Who aspects of transition, distracted by the What. As in “What is on my plate for the rest of this week?” and “What is my to-do list for the rest of the month?”

My hope is that we make time and space for the How and Who questions, allowing them to ground and inform the What aspect of our metamorphosis into tomorrow’s version of ourselves.

Take time to write/reflect/draw/pray/move today as you consider How and Who you want to be.

In doing so, you are already transitioning.

It's Okay to Rest

“It’s okay to rest.”

The quote came my way through an unexpected messenger. It was a cup of flavored tea that a co-worker was drinking, and this was the quote hand-written on the side of the cup.

Being one who needs that message, I paused.

Questions started to bubble to the surface:

Is it okay to rest?

What would rest look like for me?

What would it feel like?

How would I benefit from rest?

What ways can I work toward rest today, this week?

 

What questions arise for you when hearing the simple words: It’s okay to rest?

Write them down.

The questions themselves are telling you the answers. But do work on answers for each of the questions.

And find time and space to share those questions and answers with someone close to you today.

My hope is that this upcoming 3-day weekend will give us opportunity to rest. Or more correctly, that we will take and make the opportunity to rest over the weekend. And next week. And the following week.

The Miracle of a Teaspoon of Honey

Imagine for a moment…

A teaspoon of honey

Take a good look at the glistening gold

And now, the anticipation as you bring it to your mouth.

It touches taste buds, setting off something magical in the neurons a few inches above.

Feel, for a moment, the pleasure of that honey as it overwhelms your senses.

Bask in it.

Enjoy the moment.

(If in a meeting as you read this, try not to smile too big, or others may become suspicious and accuse you of not paying attention, or worse yet, may accuse you of having fun while on the clock.)

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having just harvested honey from our honeybee hive, taking from these wonderful creatures their most amazing creation, I am inspired to share.

In that one teaspoon we just imagined…

It took 12 honeybee girls their entire 40-day lifetimes to produce that honey.

12 of Creator’s creatures spent their lives making that one teaspoon come to be.

And in their 12 lifetimes, they visited a total of 31,000 flowers and flew 1,000 miles to harvest the nectar.

One each foraging trip, they visit 50-100 flowers, storing the nectar in their honey stomachs where digestive enzymes break down complex sugars into simple sugars (glucose, fructose).

The nectar was carefully transported to the hive, regurgitated to other bees who add enzymes and place it in the hexagon combs in the hive.

Nectar comes in as 80% water, and was then dehydrated through fanning from the bees’ wings over a course of days until it is 15-18% water. Finally, they cover it with beeswax, also made from nectar, preserving it for the months ahead. If they make a mistake and make honey that is 21% water, it will ferment. (Capped honey thousands of years old has been found, and once uncapped, the honey is still good!)

Our bees are now in the mode of preparing for winter, as the nectar flow usually ends at the end of July in New Mexico. They will now survive on their stored honey through mid-April when nectar starts flowing again.

May this reflection on life and nature, via these wonderful creatures, sit with you and enhance your day’s journey.

May it make the taste of honey that much sweeter.

May it give us pause when we see a bee today visiting a flower.

May gratitude and awe overwhelm us when the next teaspoon of honey finds its way to our mouth.

First Day of School

The sweet, waxy scent of a new 64-set of Crayolas

The crisp feel to notebooks not yet worn and weary

Perfectly sharpened pencils

Students in their new shoes and clothes

Teachers there to welcome in the new crop to their classroom

Everyone with a clean slate as the new chapter of learning begins

 

For those without children, today is the mid-point of summer, 6 weeks from the beginning of fall. But for those with kids, today is the beginning of fall as we send our children to school today to begin another school year.

I want you to push back from work and life for a moment, and take yourself back to the first day of school. Let’s go together to 3^rd grade, first day of school. You didn’t have middle school drama or high school love triangles just yet. Life was simple.

You are on the way to school, first day of 3^rd grade.

How did you get there? Who took you?

Picture the front of the school building as you entered. Was there a special friend by your side?

You are entering your 3^rd grade classroom for the first time. Your teacher there to greet you and the other students. Picture this as vividly as you can. Smells. Sights. Sounds. Feelings.

Have fun with it – draw it out, write about it, and play like a 3^rd grader at recess!

What if we we mix that nostalgia of our own journey with the energy of the students and teachers today?

The fresh Crayolas, crisp notebooks, and perfectly sharpened pencils waft the air of renewal our way today, my friends. Breathe it in!

Carolynn, our beloved niece, as she begins kindergarten today.

2 AM in the hospital

Eerie silence + stillness

Patients weary, needing their rest

The machines rumble a low hum while their alarms scream for no apparent reason.

(I often wonder if maybe the alarms are there solely to keep the night nurses and techs awake)

(and annoyed)

 

There is a sacredness to 2 AM in the hospital

You feel the deep sighs of patients trying to heal

Their dreams must revolve around how they will talk their way to a discharge the next morning.

Freedom to return to their own beds and kitchens and bathrooms and routines

 

In the calm of 2 AM in the hospital

The broken healthcare system even seems okay for a moment

 

I stand at a window, staring out at the darkness beyond.

I ask for strength as eyelids have become heavy.

I give thanks for this moment, 2 AM in the hospital

 

[Selfish Stanza]

I am soooo tired.

I see that ER room #7 is empty. Would anyone notice if I snuck in and just laid down for a few?

I wish I were a coffee drinker right now.

Where did I go wrong in life 

that here I am at 

2 AM in the hospital?

Yerba Mansa Wonderland

as I scuttle along the Bosque trail,

east of the river,

south of the city,

the noise and distraction of life and Cesar Chavez Blvd recede.

 

my          bigness becomes smallness

               beneath

               grandmother and grandfather Cottonwoods.

the           river hums away

    carrying away all that does not serve

    a constant in a world of chaos.

 

suddenly, the landscape

    abruptly

    amazingly

    beautifully

    becomes a meadow of our medicinal relative, Yerba Mansa.

 

it is the Disneyland of the Bosque.

it is paradise.

it is heaven.

it is stillness.

it is abundance

it is healing.

we give thanks.

 

Yerba Mansa moves earth and takes care of stagnation, aerating the soil for other plants to grow roots.

in our bodies, it also addresses stagnation, acting as diuretic for the kidneys, as expectorant for the lungs.

Acting as energetic diuretic and spiritual expectorant as well

coaxing into motion

things that need to move on

places that need to move again

 

How and why this patch is abruptly, amazingly, beautifully there, I am not sure.

The historian’s theory: As Yerba Mansa tea was a mainstay of the Tuberculosis treatments in this desert climate that promised to heal those with the disease, maybe it was planted by hands human.

The biologist’s theory: Water table below is quite shallow at this spot, with enough shade from Cottonwoods above.

My response: I have no idea “how” it came to be, and am not too worried about finding the answer. I am very much excited by the question of “how” this Yerba Mansa patch brings me and all who visit its embrace to a place beautiful.

It lovingly reminds us to care for the earth that it (and all of us) need to grow, to protect the water that feeds it and all of us.

we give thanks.

scuttling further south after basking in Yerba Mansa,

suddenly, the landscape

abruptly

amazingly

beautifully

returns to the Bosque normal, not a single Yerba Mansa plant to be found.

here, I find that my heart gives thanks the loudest.

 

Directions for those who wish to visit for themselves: Park at National Hispanic Cultural Center and enter the Bosque, heading south. The Yerba Mansa patch is 0.75 miles south of Cesar Chavez Blvd. You cannot miss it. Peak bloom (early to middle of June), but like Disneyland, it is magical 365 days a year. Pro tip #1 – bring friends/family, as it will enhance the experience. Pro tip #2 - rub your hands in the soil right at the stalk of the plant to get the oils from the plant. Pro tip #3 - let gratitude overwhelm you.

The Journey Continues

As I get ready to release the 2^nd Writing to Heal book this Saturday, I think back to where it all began.

A few of you may remember emails with a word document attached in the first weeks of the pandemic. “A Gratitude Perspective on Coronavirus”, a piece inspired by my oldest daughter, began the Writing to Heal Journey. I felt that words were needed in a moment where COVID left us all speechless. I trusted that I could heal myself through those words. I trusted that as I healed myself, I could bring others along for the journey as well.

From word documents, it became a blog. And with the blog, a community.

And from the blog, a book emerged in 2022.

That one was focused on healing from the pandemic. COVID was a co-author of sorts, providing the impetus for me to write, providing the gaping hole in our lives from which healing was needed.

This time around, Writing to Heal: The Journey Continues is about re-emergence. It is about the next stage of life and healing that follows a traumatic period. Journeys are filled with valleys and peaks. Struggles alongside triumph. It is not that we re-emerge from the pandemic with an easier life, but that we re-emerge with a sense that we have learned something about the life journey from what we have endured.

A little about the book.

It is a collection of art, poetry, and reflections on social justice, movement, and nature. My children each have pieces in this one.

I hope it will feed and nourish those who peek into its pages.

We also recorded an audio version of the book, with a link to this in the book itself. We plan to release it as an audiobook on Kindle and other platforms this fall.

As we head into the holiday weekend, the journey continues. May we continue our re-emergence journey with joy and resilience, guided by love and gratitude.

I look forward to seeing you at one of the book launch events this next week!