“I have lots of things to teach you now, in case we ever meet, concerning the message that was transmitted to me under a pine tree in North Carolina on a cold winter moonlit night.
It said that Nothing Ever Happened, so don’t worry. It’s all like a dream. Everything is ecstasy, inside. We just don’t know it because of our thinking-minds. But in our true blissful essence of mind is known that everything is alright forever and forever and forever. Close your eyes, let your hands and nerve-ends drop, stop breathing for 3 seconds, listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world, and you will remember the lesson you forgot, which was taught in immense milky way soft cloud innumerable worlds long ago and not even at all. It is all one vast awakened thing. I call it the golden eternity. It is perfect.”
“I am no longer waiting for a special occasion; I burn the best candles on ordinary days.
I am no longer waiting for the house to be clean; I fill it with people who understand that even dust is Sacred.
I am no longer waiting for everyone to understand me; It’s just not their task
I am no longer waiting for the perfect children; my children have their own names that burn as brightly as any star.
I am no longer waiting for the other shoe to drop; It already did, and I survived.
I am no longer waiting for the time to be right; the time is always now.
I am no longer waiting for the mate who will complete me; I am grateful to be so warmly, tenderly held.
I am no longer waiting for a quiet moment; my heart can be stilled whenever it is called.
I am no longer waiting for the world to be at peace; I unclench my grasp and breathe peace in and out.
I am no longer waiting to do something great; being awake to carry my grain of sand is enough.
I am no longer waiting to be recognized; I know that I dance in a holy circle.
I am no longer waiting for Forgiveness. I believe, I Believe.
Yellowstone. Majestic earth workings of every sort. Power. Everlasting change and evolution. Steaming water, geysers, grand waterfalls, canyons, a deep and wide lake, fumaroles, mud pots, elk, bighorn sheep, grizzlies, black bear, cats, moose, and wolves!! Nine packs of wolves vying for dominance and survival, taking care of their families, broadening their empires. What a vision of nature’s overwhelming diversity and drive for balance. Life continuing in all its exuberance. There is never enough time to take it all in. I want to return and spend weeks in the Lamar Valley, getting to know the wolves and the landscapes. To become part of it, to know it. Undiminished by the island it has become, it is still becoming. So alive, so magnificent. Mysterious and overwhelmingly powerful.
“A thousand Yellowstone wonders are calling, ‘Look up and down and round about you.”
-John Muir, 1898
“There is nothing so American as our national parks…. The fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”
– President Franklin D. Roosevelt
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“This past summer I became really clear that my #1 prayer for my life is that I want to be living in gratitude all of the time. I asked myself “How can I be in every moment, action, and word, a walking thank you card to the Universe? How can I be in the spirit of Thanksgiving all of the time?”
It’s one thing to take a few moments out of the day and write down the things I’m grateful for, which can be a great practice for shifting perspective (and I do daily), but what if I lived every day like my only purpose was to express the immense appreciation I have to the Universe? That would be the ultimate Thanksgiving. How can we live in that feeling all the time? That is a question to examine in this holiday season.
Since I started asking myself that question and bringing more awareness to this idea I’ve noticed that I’m seeing the beauty everywhere and in everything more clearly. I’m taking the time to slow down and be grateful throughout the day. I give compliments more often as I’m seeing the light in others. I’m allowing myself to receive compliments fully. I’m being kinder to myself, and honoring my body with loving attention. I’m taking care of my family with joy and love and feeling more patient than ever. I’m regularly finding myself in awe of all Divine creation.
So even if it’s just for one day – what if we all tried to see the light, to be the light, and share the light with others?
“Every day, I walk myself into a state of well-being & walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, & the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”
-Soren Kierkegaard
“We should take wandering outdoor walks, so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing.”
-Seneca
“It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth.”
-Nietzsche
“It is a paradox that perhaps the single best way to still one’s mind is to put the body in motion.”
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“Don’t kill animals for glory, that makes you the worst kind of bully.” -Seth Kantner
A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help. -Albert Schweitzer
“Our treatment of animals will one day be considered barbarous. There cannot be a perfect civilization until man realizes that the rights of every living creature are as sacred as his own.” -David Jordon
