a Place Called HOME

  "... time isn't a straight line along which we travel,  but a deep dot in which we dwell." ~Sue Monk Kidd Living deeply in one place has not been something I've been able to do... well. I have had more of a "horizontal existence" reaching out to places and people and things unknown to me. New experiences provided a rush of adrenaline that had me making those leaps quite consistently. Pair that with being a 7 on the Enneagram [more about that another time] and FOMO [fear of missing out]; it was quite a shallow life. I equated these experiences with growth outside my comfort zone not realizing that it WAS my comfort zone - avoidance! I was stone hopping experiences as Jumpin' Julia! I was avoiding the deep depths of pain that moving on left behind. Subsequently it didn't allow me to be my most compassionate self with anyone.  "Look at the bright side." "Find the silver lining." "What's the gift in this?" All dishonor...

  "Existence will rush to fill us and overwhelm us  if we don't meet the outer world  with an inner life." ~MarkNepo It is the proverbial making lemonade from lemons. We all experience difficult times personally and collectively but how we prevail... how we write the story into the fabric of our own life is where transformation occurs.  This reflection is more of a challenge for me to write. Am I able to write about isolation and fragmentation and loneliness? Am I ready to write about the darkness that fills me before the light reaches through? Is it the 'right' voice? It is a voice that I've often avoided to remain positive and hopeful, yet this deeper darker voice exists within all of us... especially now. For me, this is the voice I start with and move through to get to a more palatable "other side". Can I do it justice?  Most often when I write I focus on where I end up, not where I start! Once I've traveled my own road of transformation, I e...

  "The MYSTERY of deep living is that we become Life itself." ~MarkNepo I have known myself as a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none type of person. I know enough to do "just enough" to get through a job, a conversation, a project... Life! I'm a quick learner who processes information fast and understands my resources for anything I might need to research. It's exciting and fast-paced and, probably, hints a bit at FOMO - fear of missing out! Its allowed me to take in a wide expanse of knowledge for enjoyment.  Recently, I took notice of a local photographer on Instagram that only photographs Holy Hill... well, mostly only.  ONE subject over and over through 4 seasons, morning and evening with either his camera or his drone. Previously I would have dismissed that as boring. Yet during this Pandemic time I've been fascinated with discovering my own "backyard"; digging deep into the richness that surrounds me right here, right where I am present. ...

  Life doesn't add up it OPENS up! ~Mark Nepo My husband and I share a belief about relationships; be a well, not a fence. Imagine a horse in a corral where the boundaries are clearly delineated. It is unable to run to its full potential; always stopped by the parameters setup by the rancher. Whereas a wild horse can run free and knows where to go for hydration.  In a relationship, any relationship[self, others, God], much the same thing can happen. Expectations and judgements and opinions all work to create a limited space within the relationship, thereby limiting its potential. When we carry expectations or get disappointed because of an action or an opinion, we close down that relationship and make it smaller. You may decide to stop engaging that person in outings or conversations or even on social media.  However, when you stay open, you are a well! The ability to set your ego aside, create a space for understanding, then provide an opportunity for communication that...

In ALL that I do, may I be a channel for Your Light to shine through In the past few years I have been gifted with a slow and steady removal from the traditional workforce. The days of punching a clock, scurrying from one meeting to the next, and being on constant call are behind me. It was exhausting! Running at someone else's pace and responsible for someone else's agenda pulled me far away from my center. I was too tired to even look inside to know who I wanted to be and how I wanted my Light to shine in this world.  It takes courage and discipline to silence the noise of the world so that we can really listen to what matters. Courage means cutting through the chatter; even after you've found some time or space for yourself - are your thoughts/feelings your own? Or those of an ingrained pattern from reacting to the world around you? Unprecedented worry, unprecedented depression, unprecedented emptiness are there because we try to fill up on the "empty carbs" of...

Yellow Blazes mark the direction on the National Ice Age Trail here in Wisconsin. I've walked many segments of the trail, volunteer to field edit the trail, and have a "home" trail segment near Holy Hill that I walk frequently with my dog.  When I took the picture the word MANTEL kept coming to me.  Since movement opens me to inspiration, I allowed the word to enter though it didn't really make sense or seem to fit.   A mantel is where we place our most loved pictures of family & friends and seasonal decorations that make us feel at home. The hearth warms the house and makes it a home. It is the center; the heart of our gatherings. Consider the direction we each take in our lives. What informs that direction? How is our life impacted by that direction? And truly, there is no wrong direction because the markers, the Yellow Blazes, lead in all directions. During this season of fall, it's not about LETTING GO of what no longer serves us but rather LEANING INTO wh...

  (things revealed during the pandemic) It's been an interesting 6 months living pandemic life. The first thing that increased was my walking the dog.  It's amazing how nature and movement and a little sweat open me to some Universal Insights. Re-discovering my own "backyard" has me moving deeper into what's right in front of me; watching a tree move through the seasons, meeting other dedicated walkers on the trail, on what days other dogs are out (which causes a problem for Bailey), and other such oddities I may not have noticed had I not been gifted with this time: Speaking in generalities is dismissive...  I'm not sure if that's a period or a question mark because I'm still considering this. It does NOT honor an individual's own specific experience yet speaks to our connectedness as humans.  Thoughts? Walking is where I do ALL my thinking and not thinking (inspiration). Insights bubble up and they become images and writings and associations that...