Mostly Sitting Still and Learning to Be

Looking north from the shoreline at Point Reyes.



Looking east from the hills of Point Reyes.

I spent the past week camping at Samuel P. Taylor State Park near Point Reyes National Seashore. I attended a Four Foundations of Buddhist Mindfulness workshop at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center not far from San Anselmo, California. Lots of people out enjoying the pleasant weather and beautiful lush green hills.

Back home now in Red Bluff. Much to reflect upon in the next coming months.

Here I am reading in the afternoon shade of the eucalyptus tees that surround our tea house. As I read, a hose is slowly watering the new fruit trees I planted. Hard work!!

"My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever."
- Mary Oliver, Messenger