Suffering and Joy

From Steve: Temple of Joy

Going through chemo is no party. I lost 12 pounds during my first infusion 3 weeks ago. No need to go into the gory details. 

I did learn something about suffering. It is possible to suffer and to experience joy in the same moment. So much of suffering is about the past and the future. the first step to mastering suffering is to come into the present moment. 

There are many ways to do this so I won’t elaborate. It’s a pretty popular topic now. 

The second step is to embrace joy. My role model is.Thich Nhat Hanh. He spent the first 45 years of his life in a war torn country, where a struggle for power created much cruelty, death and destruction. 

How could anyone think that stopping communism by killing innocent women, children and entire villages was the way to peace, and yet my otherwise intelligent father with his focus on stopping the spread of communism, believed it. 

I got a fairly hard draft number. I rolled the dice and the draft board got to number 172 and my number was 180.

Thich Nhat Hanh watched his people suffering and he suffered with them. He realized that when you give up on joy that you stop living …..and he looked for ways to create more joy in his life within the suffering.

No matter what you believe about our chaotic political and social milieu, there is likely to be suffering involved. Families have been split apart. If it were 150 years ago we would probably be in a civil war where you would have to choose sides and take up arms

So we have opportunity here to place our focus on joy. When we awake each day, we can be aware of the gift of consciousness. We can be grateful for the mystery that we live in. And that every day brings with it the potential for joy 

Yes, there will be reasons for concern. These concerns travel along with the potential for the great joy we can experience.  Especially in this time of uncertainty, the opportunity is ripe to experience great joy. The joy of caring for our neighbors, our families, the land that we live on, the starlit sky, music, art, and quiet times.

Every  hour is precious.gift. Let our hearts live in peace. 

From Debbie: Where I Sit To Watch The World Wake-Up

Today feels like a brand new world. The temperature dropped 20 degrees. The leaves are falling. The woodpile is starting to look purposeful. It’s a bit grey and rainy. I imagine a pot of soup beans and cornbread. I LOVE Fall. And Fall loves me right back. It fills up my senses (thank you John Denver). Cozy socks, flannel shirts, the smell of hot chocolate, the feel of that extra blanket as morning nears, the sounds of migration, the gratitude that the hummingbirds are still here and the taste of pumpkin bread. Oh yeah, Fall is good.

I got up early this morning. Light was just breaking through the cloud cover. I settled into the corner of the red couch with an outstandingly delicious cup of coffee. And I just gazed out the window.. then felt shocked that even before it was truly “morning” the hummingbirds were there! I know this sounds crazy, but I believe it’s true….there is one hummingbird that is my buddy. It hovers at the window off and on throughout the day, right in front of me, and looks me in the face. We pause together and let the moment be as it is. I am delighted by my little buddy.

A wise friend sent me a wonderful description of How The Forest Heals You….a great reminder to me to let myself be healed. This world reaches out to me whether I sit in the corner of my couch, walk to the mailbox, or head up to Sadie’s Place to walk the Mountain-to-Sea Trail. It reaches out to me in love. I only need to open myself to its care.