November 15, 2015
(If we live with an open and
grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during
the year I turned 70.)
Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.”~ Yoko Ono
When life is going in too many directions at once,
a walk at nearby Downs Park helps me focus. Away from the radio, television and
everyday distractions, I listen to conversations among the woodpecker and squirrel
residents. I engage in one-sided conversations with a curious deer that
remains behind after its companions leap away in fear.
A small sign on one of the paths explains there is
an understory beneath the tall trees in a forest. I hear, see, smell and touch
life beneath these autumn-painted trees. Today, I relish the kwoosha-kwasha whispers
under my feet, a blending of crisp sharp crackles and smooth rustling. I walk
on the brittle breath of death softened with memory’s sighs.
Life has an understory—a friend’s laughter, a
daughter’s phone call, a husband’s hug, a cat’s purr. Both the sharp and smooth mingle
daily with a balanced offering. There is the inevitable treading on autumn
leaves of death but the rhythm of the sighs comforts me.
At no other time than autumn does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds...” Rainer Maria Rilke
My
gift today is an understory.
> Day 342: Climbing the Pyramid
You can find links to my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html
I, also, was fortunate yesterday, and walked in the woods. Sometimes I tread lightly on top of the leaves, sometimes I dug under and let the leaves swoosh and fly up in the air aways. As always, the wood wraps it's arms around me and lightly gives me a hug. And both my friend and I breathed in the strong, earthy aroma of Autumn. I go to the woods for beauty, for the quieting of the outside world, for calming and for gratefulness. I feel divine presence there.
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