You are not a drop in the ocean,
you are the ocean in one drop.
~ Rumi
According to my A Year with Rumi: Daily Readings , yesterday (September 30th) was the birthday of the renowned Sufi mystic poet back in 1207. That’s over 800 years ago, and his work endures perhaps more than ever as the world around us becomes increasingly bizarre and uncertain.
Continue reading
My best friend’s partner is a lifelong activist. Her activist work career is in the environmental field but she is also an activist for important matters like urban cycling and transit, and various manifestations of human rights, dignity & equality. She is an impressive human in her commitment to beliefs, in walking her talk, and in the energy she puts into it all actions. Honestly, it’s beyond me how Continue reading “Staying Positive: Separating Actions from Outcomes”
One of my occasional pursuits since making the move to full-time rural living up here in northern Grey County has been making yoga blocks. I craft them from local White Cedar which I order from the Amish sawmill just a few minutes down the road. Blocks are a common type of yoga “prop” used for support or assistance manoeuvring into, or holding, postures. Though cedar is a harder surface than cork or foam yoga blocks, it is a light enough and soft enough wood that they are still comfortable to use, easy to hold on to, and with minimal slip. Unlike other types of blocks, there is a sensory experience with the light scent of White Cedar, the sight of intricate wood grain, and the feel of real wood.
Continue reading “Removing Blocks by Making Blocks”
When admiring a painting, don’t examine the paint.
When meeting an artist, don’t look at the brush.
~Taoist saying
Since early spring I have been spending a bit of dedicated time each day with a daily reader, 365 Tao by Deng Ming-Dao. Each day, a different saying accompanied by some notes, interpretation and perspective. Some click more than others—probably dependent in part on what mindspace and soulspace I am in on a particular day—but the July 27th entry titled “Essence” I particularly liked.
Continue readingLarge fires start small. ~Smokey the Bear
A well-known adage about forest fires, and commonly seen on materials promoting outdoor fire safety, it is simple, concise and true. The vast majority of raging bush fires got their start as a stray campfire ember, a spark from machinery, a carelessly discarded cigarette butt, or perhaps even a glass lens which just happened to be positioned in such a way as to focus the sun’s rays on a tiny spot of dry duff.
Forest fires are scary and destructive. But the notion of large fires starting small can also be adeptly applied to ideas and initiatives. Continue reading
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. ~Danish Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard
I was recalling this quote–though had forgotten its exact wording–while I was writing the previous blog post Letting go without losing control, during this COVID time. At first I was thinking sure we can only live life forwards but, even when we look backwards, Continue reading
What with being fairly recently retired (though I like to call it repurposement not retirement), living off-grid on a woodland property, always hands-on tasks to be done… plus being an introverty kinda guy anyhow… my daughter jokes that life since mid-March hasn’t looked all that different from normal for me. Continue reading “Letting go without losing control”
In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to. ~Dave Hollis
As governments, leaders, and the broad population, begin looking ahead to the COVID world past the hump of “the curve” it might also be worthwhile to look back at the past 6-8 weeks so that we can move forward with intention. Continue reading
During this COVID time here in Ontario most publicly-owned natural areas, as well as those owned or managed by pseudo-public agencies like conservation authorities, are closed—some (as seen in the GTA) even signed “no trespassing” to make the point. In contrast, elsewhere a number of countries, provinces, and jurisdictions are keeping some natural spaces open in recognition of Continue reading “Can’t hug a person? Hug a tree!”
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”
It’s probably not a big surprise to learn those words are attributed to John Muir, naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States. Continue reading
