December 7--Re-entry

    I'm home, woohoo!!! I had a foggy but easy drive the rest of the way home, mercifully with many fewer semis. My husband was working, so my angel dog Barney had me all to himself, and it was a sloppy wet greeting of pure love and joy!

    I've spent time over the past couple weeks with family members who are wonderfully devoted to their church communities. That's a good thing, but it brings along with it a long list of both approved and disallowed behaviors. No longer adhering to any religion, I do not fit in those molds. 

    Here is a description by Mirabai Starr about being an "ordinary mystic," saying yes to Spirit: 

I want you to want to be exactly who you are: a true human person doing their best to show up for this fleeting life with a measure of grace, with kindness and a sense of humor, with curiosity and a willingness to not have all the answers, with reverence for life.

You do not need to chant all night in a temple in the Himalayas. You don't have to be the newest incarnation of Mary Magdalene. It is not necessary to read or write spiritual books. You are not required to know the difference between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism or memorize the Beatitudes. All you have to do to walk the path of the ordinary mystic is to cultivate a gaze of wonder and step onto the road. Keep walking. Rest up, and walk again. Fall down, get up, walk on. Pay attention to the landscape. To the ways it changes and the ways it stays the same. Be alert to surprises and turn with the turning of the seasons. Honor your body, train your mind, and keep your heart open against all odds. Say yes to what is, even when it is uncomfortable or embarrassing or heartbreaking. Hurl your handful of yes into the treetops and then lift your face as the rain of yes drops its grace all over you, all around you, and settles deep inside you. (Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation, Dec 6)

    The Dalai Lama nailed it when he stated that his religion is kindness. 

        Leta

While I was away, my sweet husband
hung my painting outside the woman cave 👍