Small Stone Day 31

Today is the last day of the January small stone challenge.  I didn’t write one everyday, but most days.  I realized how easy it is to want to stop or give up when a day is missed.  Nevertheless, I learned it isn’t about missing days in a disciplined practice, it is about starting over again, fresh, new, with no judgments about what wasn’t done.  I liken it to the moment in meditation when you realize your mind has gone astray from your purpose and you get to celebrate the fact that you noticed this and bring it on back to the present moment.

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Pale gray patches of sky; the brown willow sashaying in the breeze; one nimble squirrel, free and fearless, jumping from tree to tree.

Thanks for reading this month!

Small Stone Day 29

With the rain so immense, I feel a pulse of dread.
Then, I turn to see my dog sprawled out on the bed.

She is white, bright and spun open like a flower.
How quickly I find peace and forget the previous hour.

Small Stone Day 28

Only three days life of the January Small Stone Writing Challenge!  If you haven’t written one, I encourage you to do it now.

A cup of coffee….
waiting for the bitter taste
to sweeten the mind

Small Stone Day 26

Today was made of passionate rain, Li Po poems, the soft quiet
of folding clothes, and the scent of eucalyptus in a mid-morning bath.

Small Stone Day 25

“To be simple means to make a choice about what’s important,
and to let go of all the rest.”

John Daido Loori

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Blue…
when the clouds
fall away

Small Stone Day 24

Sweeping
the tile floor…
I accept
my ordinary nature

Small Stone Day 23

Today, the air is the color of pumice.
A line of crows sit on the telephone wire across from my house.
They seem quieter, gloomier than usual, maybe it’s the sideways rain.

I wonder if they ever feel melancholy in those gothic capes?

Small Stone Day 22

“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time like dew on the tip of a leaf.”  Rabindranath Tagore

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One dew drop
on a dogwood branch

a tiny universe glitters
while I dance inside

Small Stone Day 21 (and an extra something special)

I read this poem today by William Stafford and felt it spoke to this “paying attention practice” I’ve been attempting to do this month.  My small stone for the day will come after his poem….you will see why.

You Reading This, Be Ready

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now?  Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day.  This interval
you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life-

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn
around?

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When I turned around, this is what I discovered:

Hundreds of Mallards mingling on the lake.  The sound of their shrill whistles criss-crossing the cold air like a well-choreographed concert.  I stopped to applaud the show; they bowed their green and brown heads into the water.

Small Stone Day 19

Spirituality in Seattle:

A gym packed
with sweaty people
lifting weights
and singing a grungy song…
whoa, oh oh, sweet child o’ mine!

Who says you can’t find god in Guns N’ Roses?