"One Fine Morning"

Tripping to the Upper Peninsula – a birthday trek – half a century put to bed.

A dirt road through thick pines leads to the lake and a loft of windows looking down on the entire state. Michigan is magic. Ask the mushrooms if it is so.

What if our bodies and mind could be at peace together? A serene encounter of reality calling. Bill Callahan sings about the mountains bowing down like a ballet in the morning sun. And the water is clearer. The grass greener.

In the past when asked what I wanted, I said I wanted it all. The reason is because I am the flowing river; I am the altar and the knees; I am the pebble and the mountain and the trail leading both towards and away from the summit. Inside of everything is the chance for peace and the promise of healing. I want it all because all of it is us.

What I lacked was true compassion. I have acted out of knowing instead of acting out of love.

Dipa Ma opened me: when you're really present, aren't you also loving? And when you're really loving, aren't you also present?

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The garden rests after a difficult growing season. Offerings are made under the Autumn Equinox in gratefulness for the soil and the chance enter the dirt, no matter the yield.

wildflowers ending
I can no longer name
most of me