WU WEI

“What are you doing up there? It’s awfully quiet.”

“I’m doing nuthin’.”

“It is way too quiet for you to be doing nothing.

Don’t make me come up there.”

As old memory enters, I hear a mentor’s words rolling around in me. “Relax. You’ve done your work. You are moving forward. From within. I say again, relax and enjoy your steps.”

I teach and live leadership development: learning to let go, hold hands with Being: let Being do the heavy lifting. My mind tells me that I may as well be taking a pass at an Olympic gold medal as to drop completely into the zone. Some part of me, a marathon runner, sees the next goal post up ahead. She cannot stop running. Must have been all those Wheaties I ate as a kid.

Saturday arrives with my declaration for rest. “Ah, nice to kick back.” Seconds later in the shower the saboteur enters: “Be nice to get your desk cleaned.” “ George and Linda seem like they hit a rough patch. Call them, eh?” I turn up the hot water. “Today, relaxing; no agenda,” I tell my Wheatie’s fan.” If a mind could pout, mine certainly would have.

Nowhere to go. “Ah, but the project,” the yelping voice protests. “Ah, we’re not doing that today.” “Huh?” And so it goes.

Surrender comes: Wu Wei. “Go to the pond,” the no voice says. And so I do. A sigh from body, groan from mind.

Once there, I notice the quietness of water, the lilt of fountain spray, Canadian geese resting. Calla lilies in cozy harbor. My neck releases taut muscles. My legs move slowly in steady stride. Camera hangs loosely. I walk to the water’s edge and to the calla lilies. Casually, I lift my camera.

Wu Wei is the wisdom of non-action or non-doing. Laozi tells us that when we are in harmony with the Tao, we conduct ourselves in natural and uncomplicated ways. I like that.

The geese slowly paddle near my favorite bench. We hang out together, in stillness. I remember hanging out. Just sitting, resting. No reading. No nuthin’.

Quiet for a while. Then mind blurts out: “Do you think the camera will bother the Mallard ducks?” “Will that couple make the geese swim away?” No longer engaged by its chatter, I let my thoughts drift in and out, as if clouds wandering by.

“When mind moves away from noticing breath,” Vipassana meditation teachers say, “gently bring it back.” “When your mind wanders away from a passage prayer line,” passage meditation teachers say, “quietly bring it back to that line.”

Geese continue to groom as I tell my mind: “Slow down, slow down, slow down.” As ducks take to flight, I let my camera join them in play and gratitude.

I watch ripples of water, ducks swimming, their smooth landings from flight, a thing of grace. When thoughts enter, I gently return to the water, just noticing. It calms my spirit.

Camera down, mind quiet, I lie down and just “be”. Doing nuthin’. The geese now cease grooming, stare into the water, not moving, as when I arrived.

“By jove, I think she’s got it,” warm breeze seems to say. Geese and I are present, in tranquility. Doing nuthin’.

IN THE NAME OF LOVE

Togier Berge Photographer, photo used with permission

In the eyes of the law, the fox kit was out of place, a weed, expendable. To me, his individual life was precious, his death arbitrary.

                                                                                          Priscilla Stuckey

All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.

                                                                                          Buddha

Fragmentation, competition, and reactiveness represent three key aspects of cultural dysfunction, in organizations and society. They are not just isolated behaviors but powerful strategies that have outlived their usefulness.

                                                                                          Peter Senge and Fred Kofman

     

The first quote broke me when I first read it. It broke me the third and the fourth times too. Broke through my sluggishness. Life expendable? Dylan has it right, “the answer is blowing in the wind.”

In Kissed By a Fox, Priscilla Stuckey writes of our western creation story that shaped a rupture in our understanding of the world. It is the separation story of mind split from body and spirit from matter. Tracking Descartes, Plato, Augustine, Malthus and Hobbes, Pricilla brings to light the western confabulated creation story, producing hosts of paradigms: humans steeped in original badness, (and there is nothing we can do about it); animals as unfeeling mechanistic forces; and the belief that if we cut ourselves from our bodily experience, heaven will redeem us. Well, “basta” on that.

History books and the media sirens are rampant with old embedded views, moldy cheese stories. Even the mice don’t want that cheese. Who Moved My Cheese? What I love about paradigms is that untruth can be released. Poof! Goodbye old world-views. Hello life connection!

“In the Andean story,” Priscilla writes, “humans as well as llamas, potatoes, maize, beans, ancestors, rains, and mountains all keep life running smoothly by loving and allowing themselves to be loved.” West African couple, Sobonfu and Malidoma, says that each child is raised knowing they were born to bring a special gift to the village.  Basil, Francis, Thoreau, Butterfly Hill and The Achuar found radiance in connection with our environment, taking stands to protect and honor Father Sun, Sister Moon and Mother Earth. Unlikely Loves written by Jennifer S. Holland chronicles animals who share love between species as they bear their special gifts.

Jennifer writes of Piper of Oklahoma, a Pit Bull, who was first responder in licking rejected baby goat back to life. “Piper and GP (Goat Puppy) were like Mother and Son after Piper revived the little goat that night.” Posed Paws, a group of pet photographers, posted this jewel of love between the species, http://posedpaws.ca/edmonton-pet-photographer/real-life-fox-and-the-hound-best-friends-will-melt-your-heart/. In 2010, the positive news media reported the story of Buddy the German Shepherd, that went viral. Buddy raced to get the lost Alaskan state trooper after Ben Heinrichs let Buddy out of their burning house. Once found, Buddy raced ahead, leading the trooper to the burning house and his family in need.

Martin Buber also got it right. We exist in relatedness. There is the I-Thou relationship. The Wind’s been blowing into a better creation story all along. Many of us are setting sail. The fox kit, indeed ALL life, is not expendable.

Togier Berge, Photographer, used with permission

BEING THERE: NATURE’S ENDURING CONVERSATION

This blog is featured in Eric’s Hope: (http://erikshope.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/being-there-natures-enduring-conversation-by-guest-blogger-karla-boyd/) and in Spirited Women. With planes arriving at 3 am with weary travelers back from the east coast ice storms, this blog is replicated to warm some bones.

I wake up to a hot shower, liquid hot packs on tired shoulders. Later I climb a mountain trail close to home. At the lookout, I gaze over a vast panorama and inhale deeply. The view looks good from here.

Heather Armstrong, writer and lover of Super Mutts, Chuck and Coco, took her daughters, Marlo and Leeta, on an outdoor adventure. Hand gliding, Crocodile Bungee Jumping or Volcano Boarding you might ask? No. Who needs to lean over cliffs when we’re cut off from our roots?

Heather packed her kids in the car and drove 3.5 hours to Arches National Park in Utah in the snow.  The oldest daughter after seeing this magnificent red-orange, brick-hued arch quipped, “Awesome, being out here is, like, nothing I’ve seen ever.” With the media’s unruly playground, that says it all. Nature, it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen.

In our American scarcity conversation, our hunt for the next adrenaline rush, we ignore the obvious. Connect with Mother Earth. We all need to recharge, powered by slow walks and energized runs out onto grassy knolls. Nature is a magnificent host anchoring us, granting inspiration to fuel our day and stay in relationship.

I love nature’s creatures. Okay, I love most of them. But in nature, there is an enduring conversation that is constantly teaching us. As William Shakespeare said,  “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” That certainly was true for me yesterday.

I was at a beautiful gathering in a community on acres of rolling hills, wisteria and gardens that overlook fountains and a little Buddha planted amidst bright yellow and indigo flowers. I was there in birthday celebration of a woman’s life of 92 years, her contribution inspiring. As I walked toward the assembly hall, I was surprised to see the gathering crowd staring off at the grass as if they had not seen green earth before. Granted many came from nearby brown hills with temperatures sweltering in the high 90’s, but this is a wet ocean town. The grass is always green.

As I approached so did a friend, a community resident. Momentarily I saw the grass come alive. Bryce glided through the crowd and swooped the snake up in one smooth movement, holding him then in the air. People gasped. A photo was taken. Bryce ceremoniously draped the snake around his neck, smiling. Astonished vocalizing ensued. Some laughed. The snake squirmed. Bryce departed, snake in tow.

Later, I asked Bryce about his experience. To my admiration he responded, “Poor guy, he got scared when people laughed.” My snake phobia melted. Bryce confided he felt himself a snake in a former life. He recognized his great-grand nephew. We both smiled. We’re all connected. What better way to be reminded of this interrelationship than in celebration of a 92 year-old life, engaging nature’s paradise?

           

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE BREATH

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, and our hearts must be very quiet to hear them.   Minnie Aumonier

One beautiful day in gorgeous summer heat, I, on behalf of Namaste Global Vision, find myself driving over new roads to meet Stuart, a newly recommended animal whisperer. Stuart and his apprentice, who has just arrived from England, meet me at the gate. Horses are there to welcome me. In the jeep, I am handled two gifts. A candle from the gardens and a charming camel sun-catcher to hang in my window, which I do.

At the end of the wending road, we arrive at Sacred Camel Gardens. Not since Africa have I felt this peace of animals and humans coming together in one sacred spot where love is the way of greeting each other and the day. Here with Stuart, it is clear that he and the camels are equal souls. He is there to guide and teach, and to serve them. They know it and so does he. The world melts away and my worries disappear. The day unfolds.

Have you ever felt the presence of a camel, that big heart, just allowing your breath and his, with the next moment to come? Walking among these gentle giants, I feel complete serenity. Stuart slowly introduces me to each individual camel who is in the garden near us. He tells me of their stories and canceling travel plans to Australia and family, twice, just to stay by the side of an elder camel statesman, Jingle Baba, in his final years.

Sun pours down, camels' gentle sounds, their big eye engagements, a teenager trying to playfully connect with me. This warm communion of camels and humans. We stay in sanctuary all day until dusk calls me away from this delicious interlude. That day, the moment of connecting more deeply with Hi Ho and all the camels lingers within me. Such wonder I met in 2013. I can't wait to discover what new magic awaits me in 2014. How about you?