For Lily

Happy Birthday to my dear Lily.  A quarter of a century.  I am so proud of you - your passion and willingness to stand up for what you know is right, the kindness you show when you help promote the dreams of others, and the love you share so genuinely and freely. I am thankful everyday that I am your mother.  I love you dearly.

 

Introductions

 

 

Introductions
In retirement
living life slowly
on a family farm
I fight honeysuckle
talk to my chickens and bees 
stand in wonder under the majesty of trees
appreciate that my gardens can nourish
and am warmed by the sun 

living alone

sewing, reading, reflecting, and writing

grateful to be joining this community

may we be surrounded by love and kindness

and find a way to live in peace

Muses

 Muses

From Joan Walsh Anglund

In A Slice of Snow

On

    the thin line

                      between dawn

                                             and darkness,

Sunrise

           writes

                      her

                            poem. 

***********************************************

Me looking out my window in the morning…..

Cedar tree,

               dancing in the wind,

                                             what song do you hear?

Mu from the Zen tradition

 Mu, no, nothingness….

A monk asked Master Chao-chou, "Has a dog the Buddha Nature or not?" Chao-chou said, "Mu!"

From The Heart Sutra:

Avalokiteshvara while practicing deeply with

the insight that Bring Us to the Other Shore,

suddenly discovered that

all of the five Skandhas are equally empty,

and with that realization

she overcame all ill-being. 

It is in the binary.  Has a dog buddha nature or not.  No to the not and no to the has.  All is empty.  All is full.  Interbeing.  I am the dog and the dog is me. We inter-are.  Both empty and both full.  The same is true of the Buddha.   I am the Buddha and the Buddha is me.  The dog is the Buddha and the Buddha is the dog.  Both empty and both full.  Empty of self and full of being.

Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!

Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!

Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!

Reading

 read using all your intelligences  

Don't just follow words on a page 

but instead  

use your entire being 

to ascertain truth and story

in the beauty 

that surrounds you

 

Sunday Morning Mental Meanderings while giving feedback to a friend's article

 A lot of thoughts are floating around in my head. I often think of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Brene Brown when confronted with the difficulties of today.  So here are some ideas in general, perhaps not always specific to this portion of writing that are rolling around in my brain. 

I will start with Brene.  The definition of empathy  "  Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position."  I emboldened a part that I feel is the most important.  When I hear the word empathy, I think of the wonderful Brene Brown video on the subject.  I am saying all of this because I think that these are important points to make and come back to over and over again.  (Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them.)   You talk about listening and we know active listening from our rules to live by.  But others do not have that perspective.  Some might say they have listened, but have never truly heard.  I would offer that a principal who says s/he has listened to teachers and then does PD on something totally different has not listened. Then, when the explanation about why this is the right PD is given, that is also not going to be heard because these actions are reciprocal. I think it would be good to write about empathetic listening - active listening.   Today every generation has a cell phone or a computer screen that interferes with listening in the present moment.  Thoughts about the future and ruminations about the past control many minds. For people to be empathetically present for each other is not a common practice. 

Maslow.  Empathy is the cornerstone for each of the stages if you are a person trying to facilitate others in their trajectory upward on the hierarchy because deep listening to others is vital. Security and safety are needed for vulnerability (Brene).  One has to be able to take risks and that can only happen in an environment where others have your back.  I would talk about Maslow at the beginning.  It is something educators know and accept.  It applies to all of us who want to continue to learn and grow.  Risk taking and questioning are important and are evident in schools with an empathetic leader who wants everyone to learn and grow to reach self actualization.  Again, I would suggest that empathy is the foundation for each of the stages in the hierarchy, if one is creating an environment where all reach the top.  One more thing...  if the principal is going to become self-actualized, s/he must also be supported, so creating an empathetic community of learners to support the leader on her journey is vital.  

And just now the idea of "why?" being the most important question/idea just popped into my head.  I remember that from a Marilyn Burns workshop.  It somehow seemed to belong in this note.

This is probably more than you wanted.  Sunday morning mental meanderings!  

Abundance

 I am so grateful for my daughters.  They make my heart sing.  This year, Carrie surprised me for my birthday, a four day visit.  While here, she made a tictoc video of me which I am sharing here. Love in abundance.