Sunday’s Thought

I become continually aware of how much time I have spent searching in my life. Never satisfied.  Looking for what is next.

Life’s current lessons for me seem to be two-fold:

• There might already be “enough”
• Be okay with the “wait”

This does not always pertain to wealth or acquisitions, but it encompasses every aspect of life.

And so I leave you today with these words, which I wrote several weeks ago:

There comes a time when we must stop searching and look at what is already right in front of us.  We may have exactly what we need within our reach for our journey in life in order to live our purpose and to experience the love, joy and peace for which we so desperately yearn.

Are you in constant “search” mode?  What do you have now that can be enough…for now?

Finding the Beauty

I have been taking more time lately to enjoy what life has to offer.  This includes making time for the people who are wonderful additions to my life.

My beautiful, dear friend (of nearly four years), Samantha, and I have started spending more time together.  Nothing fancy.  Sometimes we’ll take a walk across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge kibitzing about the inequities of life and snapping photographs of dandelions, rocks, or the bolts and cables on the bridge.   Some see our photos and wonder about us and how we view this world and the things in it,  as strange or lacking a specific purpose.  We see them as interesting, worthy of note, and having beauty in unique ways.

At other times, we can sit together (as we are today) in a coffee shop as we write our prospective blogs, share a cup of coffee, stop for off-the-wall conversations, and just enjoy being in the presence of one another.  No pretense.  No need to entertain.  Conversation not required, but available when the mood strikes each of us.  There is beauty in a friendship such as ours.

We have remarked on several occasions about finding the beauty in things…in places.  “Here we are living in a ‘picture postcard’ and people don’t even stop to look at it,” Sami has stated on a couple of occasions.

We have both lived in, visited, and traveled through different parts of this country (and the world) and have seen so much.

Pittsburgh, the quintessential city of industry. Biloxi and New Orleans–each city having been ravaged by hurricanes of deadly proportions.  Abilene and its rugged desert.  Other small towns in Texas with small-minded people and their attitudes.  Agana, Guam and the outdoor kitchens of homes with dirt floors, and sharing space with the chickens pecking around, while a family prepares to celebrate the birth or death of a family member.  New York City and the (sometimes hideous) stark, concrete foundation reaching up to the heavens, as its melting-pot-flavors of people bustle along on the rising clouds of steam.

And now, Sami and I have both landed in Tacoma, Washington, another place on earth that has not always received much praise, as I wrote about several years ago in Tacoma, WA: Seattle’s Dirty Little Secret.

We each are able to see and experience this small city for what living in a town grown from the logging industry to a less bustling area steeping in the arts that is less pretentious, perhaps, than its “Big Apple” counterpart can be. Of course, we are also surrounded by all that is beautiful,  photographed so often by professional and amateur camera buffs alike for the magnificent sites of Mount Rainer and Puget Sound.

When we stop for just a moment, wherever we are in life, to truly look at what is in front of us, we give ourselves a gift.  We look at life more simply at times.  We are amazed by the magnificence of what surrounds us at other times.  We appreciate the people for what they are, rather than what they are not.

Think about what each place, moment, person or experience can create or represent.  If it were not for all that we have and experience in life, what would have taken place? There are stories to be told in all that exists.  There are moments to discover as we open our eyes.    We simply must be willing to see beyond that which we have come to believe is ugly.

 What can you look at today and where is the beauty

that you have not found before today?

How to Get Rid of Weeds

Yes, there is a subtle beauty in the “weeds of life.” We must learn how to use them to nourish us, rather than constantly try to mow them down.  ~~ C.A.L.

As springtime comes to the Pacific Northwest, it is not uncommon for us to find ourselves basking in the occasional rays of sunshine, only to dash for cover moments later when the darkened skies roll in and quickly dump buckets of rain.  Throughout the typical spring day, this can happen several times. For those of us who love life in the PNW and know that this is the price we must pay for living in a picture postcard setting, we revel in this manic display of springtime.

Of course, there are those who constantly complain about the clouds and the rain.  And if not complaining about the weather, they lament having to mow their lawns so often because of all the rain.  Or that the weeds are in bloom.

But these unwanted plants such as dandelions, blackberries, burdock, chicory, and many more can be a source of edible, delicious, and nutritious foods  for those willing to look at these plants as more than a weed to destroy.

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered. ~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

As weeds show up in our lawns and gardens, challenging our green thumbs AND our patience, so are we challenged in life.  Situations and people show up to test us. We spend most of the time trying to pluck them out, mow them down and destroy them until we are too exhausted to see what else life is offering. The next step is trying to ignore them, as if they do not exist, only to have them overtake us while we are not tending to ourselves.

What if we were to learn how to cultivate these “weeds” in our lives?  Manage them?  Use them for our nourishment?

What could come from our embracing these moments and learning from them, instead of maniacally whacking away at those things we would rather have never entered our lives?

I wish I could tell you how to get rid of weeds, but unfortunately I have not been able to accomplish that task…in my garden or my life. In this stage of my life, I am determined to learn which of these “weeds of life” can be used to strengthen and nourish me.

They whom truth and wisdom lead, can gather honey from a weed. ~~ William Cowper

What are the “weeds” that you are ignoring or trying to destroy?  Do you find them creeping back up through the cracks just when you thought they were gone?

Perhaps, like me, it’s time for you to figure out which ones are  nourishing.  It might be time to look at some of these weeds as plants and start to use them for the goodness they can bring to life.