June Morning Thoughts.

The plant kingdom is springing in the four directions.  For all the life that rests below the soil and the few hands that tend to it -- there is a constant desire to remain in movement both in thought and in body.  As winter turns into this spring, and this plant life awakens there is a sense of relief, knowing that the family is alright.  And then the plant family grows.  Extended relatives show up and it's a lot to hold together.  The momentum of the growing season pulls one in and it is time to surrender, (or struggle.)

There is this saying, "keep up, and you will be kept up." I think this is how this relationship works.  As we tug on a one weed, right under the surface we are gently awakening another weed seed.  And often all we can do is keep up.

At the end of a full day in the fertile air -- we have to let go -- to step away and tend to other families in our life that need to be kept up.  The family of meals, the family of dishes, the family of cleanliness, the family of friendship and love.

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Each morning as I awaken, I must do everything in my power to march myself up the stairs to go sit on the cushion.  Sometimes I must talk aloud about the process.  And then I sit and it is the same feeling.  Keep up and you will be kept up.  Each morning, through each session of meditation.

Afterwards, when I walk into the fields and gardens it is with a mind a bit more spacious.  And then coming from this place, I can surrender to the plant kingdoms power and complexity.  Oftentimes I wonder if a mind can be trained completely within the garden.  With our feet rooted on the ground and our hands in touch with the many textures of the sun.  Well with my karma, I find, if I do not make it up to sit regularly the life of the garden consumes me and I can not hold my mind in any sort of vastness.

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The keeping up in this sense, both in the garden and in meditation must be tied to a sense of joy.  A sense of meaning.  Not a mindless keeping up, like chasing after a bone over and over again.  There is a need to revisit why to keep up at all.  A greater view to hold, so our heart and mind are not numbed by the pace, by the repetitiveness, by the drive to continue.  So that our hearts and minds are enlivened and enriched and so that this overflows into all sentient and non-sentient beings.



May our efforts and energy be of benefit.