cucumber and green tea scented soap

Puzzled I kept walking up and down the hallway where it smelled like Cutter bug spray.   Then it dawned on me that I had purchased a soap I usually don’t buy (forgot to get my usual natural soap the other day).  I asked my husband whether he noticed the smell.  He replied ”smells like chemicals, what I grew up with.” At Target I had scanned the 6-packs of soap bars – nothing natural available.  The lesser of two evils seemed to be a 2-pack of soap that promised cucumber and green tea scent.  Sounded reasonably good.  But my sense of smell has changed over the years of not using mainstream cleaners, toiletries and cosmetics.  I have not even repurchased my once-favorite perfume because I now smell artificial fragrances from a mile away.

Not only did that soap bar have this artificial green tint of pistachio ice cream (which clashed with the mellow beige bathroom, although that was minor), it also smelled so overwhelmingly synthetic that I had to get rid of it.  

perspective and pizza

There is nothing like a vacation to reset thoughts and priorities.  We need the perspective of comparison to differentiate things and set them in proper light. For one I understood during our recent vacation in Italy why the Italians think American pizza is hard to digest (something I read somewhere recently).  In the little  Tuscan village  of Radicofani in a humble outdoor lunch trattoria we had the thinnest possible pizza, like a sheet of crumbling paper, simply covered with some choice but rather scant toppings,  a few shreds of prosciutto,  some arugula, scattered pecorino shavings (no parmesan here), perhaps on a thin smear of tomtoey sauce.  Nothing like that thick yeasty crust we are used to with gobs of toppings (kitchen sink pizza, anyone?) and a gooey and heavy layer of cheese on top.

take your time zooming...

…my husband said yesterday when I exclaimed I was going to zoom to the farmer’s market to pick up a few things and be right back to make breakfast.  Although he almost never sits still, he is the one who keeps reminding me to slow down and smell the roses.

The subject of living in the moment keeps creeping up for me.  Watching the fabulous fireworks in Warwick on Saturday night, the thought popped up that fireworks must be the one thing outside of meditation where I cannot be other than entirely in the moment.  The minute I think about what I see there is already something else to see.  So I have to suspend my thinking to keep up with the enjoying.

lawn mowing goats

I love it, the NYC Parks Department rents goats to “mow the lawn” at Freshkills Park in SI, as the NY Times reported recently.  Now here is a solution in the spirit of our times.  Eco solutions go mainstream, there is definitely hope on the horizon!

same time next year

It is comforting to me to live in awareness of the circularity of life.  That’s why I have always minded my children’s 6-day school schedule, it goes against the grain and is confusing.  Not that “if it’s Tuesday it must be meatloaf” is such an inspired idea, but there is something to be said about “if it’s Tuesday we must have Art.”  Today is June 22 and it is my birthday and I like the notion that it comes back year after year, like all of the holidays.

In reality, though, nothing ever stays the same.  Perhaps because of that, because life is all about change, the regularity of circular rhythms such as the seasons, the planetary revolutions, the tides, the full moons, the reoccurrence of our birthdays, even the rhythm of the school year, builds a reassuring structure from where to watch and live the change.  Children who grow up with a strong awareness of these rhythms, as they teach it for example in Waldorf education, can become grounded adults.   And as an adult I am learning to see the circularity of life beyond my own death as a continuous cycle - in and out of physical life, in and out of non-physical existence – in an even grander perspective.

it's the little things that count

Setting the table nicely is important to me.  It’s a little ritual that improves the quality of life, even though my son thinks I’m silly when I mind one yellow and three white dinner plates, and insist on four matching ones when the children set the table.  And we have other little rituals, like eating croissants on Saturday mornings, or getting special breakfast items from our favorite French baker in town for special breakfasts, like Father’s day or birthdays, or setting up the birthday table with a special table cloth, a candle, flowers, the birthday cake, and all the presents and cards.  Ritual and predictability add rhythm to life and remind us of its circularity; paying attention to little things makes life more meaningful.

summer time

Please note that blog postings will decrease temporarily in frequency between now and September due to any of the following: travel, hot temperatures, house building related stuff, kids home, house guests, time off.   Wishing all of you a happy summer!

my spiritual life begins with putting on lipstick in the morning

Swami Rudrananda, the spiritual teacher also known as Rudi, used to say that your spiritual practice begins with making your bed in the morning.  Although I do make my bed in the morning, my day begins with putting on lipstick.  What Rudi meant, though, was that your spiritual and your everyday life are one and the same, and your everyday life has to be in order as a basis for a good spiritual practice.  It is misguided to neglect your everyday life for the lofty pursuit of a removed spiritual life.  One such example was published in  The NY Times last week about a 3-year yoga retreat that ended prematurely and with a fatal consequence for one of two participants.  Instead, you eventually interweave your spiritual convictions and practice with your material life.  Since most of my work happens in front of my computer at home I need to get myself and the house in order before doing anything else; part of that is dressing up nicely and putting lipstick on.  After that I am ready for the day.

to weed or not to weed

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Weeds are not “bad” per se, after all they are part of the biodiversity of the plant kingdom.  It is more a matter of perspective how we see them.  Out of laissez-faire I have weeded relatively little in both our vegetable garden as well as the rest of the garden this year, and I am finding that the whole garden is just so filled with all kinds of plants, more so it seems than in other years.  Our bees are happy, wild flowers and herbs are spreading, vegetables are self-seeding from one year to the next – it’s incredibly abundant. Some “weeds” are actually edible, such as dandelions or purslane for example.  Other “weeds,” which we call wild flowers, are pretty in the garden or beautiful in a vase gathered in big generous bunches.  Others spread an incredible scent, as does our wild and wildly growing honey suckle.  Making weeds my allies, instead of “fighting” them as enemies, is a much more cooperative approach, as The Healthy Environment Group and Bill Finch explained recently in separate write-ups.

taking charge

A brief bout with mild depression a bunch of years ago taught me an important lesson and helped me to shift my thinking drastically.  At that time I felt like a victim of circumstances, believing that the world was to blame for where I was at in life.  I even went to an allopathic doctor and got myself some pills.  But then something shifted in my mind.  I realized that I create my life, my circumstances, my opportunities, the way I perceive everything around me, out of my own consciousness and beliefs, and that those are not static, I can change them.  I brought the unopened pills back to the pharmacy and took charge of my life. It is not only incredibly empowering to wake up to this wonderfully creative opportunity of shaping and creating my future today and every day, it is also an awesome responsibility.  And it has implications for the people around us.

Martin Luther King famously said something along the lines of “only when you are at your best can I be at my best, and only when I am at my best, can you be at your best.”  The more we realize our own creative potential, the more we illuminate everything and everyone around us.

To Life!