In Zen Buddhism, satori defines the inner, intuitive experience of enlightenment, perhaps similar to having an epiphany.
Satori is said to be unexplainable, indescribable, and unintelligible by reason and logic.
It is comparable to the experience undergone by Gautama Buddha when he sat under the Bo tree and is the central Zen goal.
It’s a moment of total presence, of no mind and no thought but a flash of insight and awakening of the light of our own consciousness.
I also discovered that in Japanese folklore, Satori are mind-reading monkey-like monsters said to dwell within the mountains of Hida and Mino. That sounds pretty scary to me, so I’ll stick to the other definition of satori as instant enlightenment.
Have you experienced satori?
“Satori is the sudden flashing into consciousness of a new truth hitherto undreamed of. It is a sort of mental catastrophe taking place all at once, after much piling up of matters intellectual and demonstrative. The piling has reached a limit of stability and the whole edifice has come tumbling to the ground, when, behold, a new heaven is open to full survey.”
“A child who reads will be an adult who thinks.” Unknown
I always have a book with me, my son always has books with him, and I always have books in the car.
Any time I hear, “I’m bored”, my response is “go read a book.” I said this even before he could actually READ, to encourage the good habit.
Later, I’d tell him to pick out all the sight words he’s learned; it, he, she, the, but…and then we built on those skills by sounding out other words phonetically.
I love functional reading too, and often pretend (lie) that I don’t have my glasses on so I can’t see a recipe or directions and ask him to help me out. He takes the bait every single time and that makes me very happy. To be completely accurate, almost every time. There is that one time he brought my reading glasses to me and that kinda sorta called my bluff, but I simply thanked him for finding them and found a better hiding place next time.
Even his Pokemon cards spark reading skills. “I can read this, Grandma” and I honestly didn’t believe him (there were some big words). Of course I didn’t reveal my skepticism and when he read the back of the cards, truly read them, I gave him a giant hug.
Recently, driving home from the airport with everyone in the car, we heard Angel Boy’s voice in the back seat. He had picked up one of the books I leave on the seat and was reading to his sister.
We all looked at each other in wonderment because this hadn’t happened before. Angel Girl was intently listening to the story and we were speechless with the joy of it, as we’re all big readers who know the importance of learning to read.
When the book was finished, we praised his ability and kindness toward his sister, who asked for the story to be read to her again. And he did. It was a win-win for both of them. And us.
Reading is everything.
“Reading is the gateway for children that makes all other learning possible.” – Barack Obama
Tomorrow, September 29, the full Moon will also be a Supermoon because it’s at the nearest point in its orbit of Earth during the full Moon.
Known as the Harvest Moon, it will also be the year’s fourth and final Supermoon.
If your skies are clear and you can see the moon appear on the eastern horizon, you might notice that it’s orange, which is due to Rayleigh scattering, the deflection of light off molecules of nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Harvest moon will be radiating with gratitude, a perfect time to take a few minutes to acknowledge, appreciate, celebrate, and manifest positivity, joy, and abundance.
I took this a couple years ago in early October. I have no idea how I got such an amazing photo, but it’s one of my favorites. I’ll try again tomorrow but I think it might be too cloudy…
She held within her hands
A forever glowing light
Filled with love
O how it shined so bright
And everywhere she did go
Whether it be near or far
She left a little
Of her delicate, loving light
For everyone’s
Delight - Athey Thompson
In my own little rose-colored fantasy world, I wish I was wearing a sheer gossamer gown with butterfly wings so that I could share love and sparkles with all the flowers.
Since I was fortunate enough to NOT die last week and still slightly anxious from that near-death event, I stayed home this morning.
As I was taking out the trash, I saw a single bee on the deck. I crouched down to get a better look at the little guy and while he was still moving, he seemed lethargic and tired, but not dead, thank goodness.
I ran inside to get a shallow plate which I filled with sugar water, placed a rock in the center, and brought out a toothpick. I set the plate near the little bee and watched as he took a couple of sips from the drops hovering at the end of the toothpick.
I scooped him up with a seashell and placed him on the rock in the plate. After the thirsty little guy drank a bit more of the sweetness, he gathered enough energy to buzz away.
There are no pics of that miracle because I was too intensely focused on bee rescue, but I felt really good about the outcome especially since I’m allergic to bees and have always been afraid of them.
Bees are incredibly hard workers and if you do find a bee on the ground for an extended period of time, then in most cases there is nothing wrong with the bee. It simply needs a little rest. It’s pretty easy to revive tired and exhausted bees. A simple solution of white sugar and water can work wonders to give them the energy they need to fly away. 🐝
I’ve had the strangest dreams these last couple of days. Now I know why…as above, so below.
This weekend, several cosmic events combine to create a unique energy mix. These include the Equinox, the beginning of Libra Season, solar storms, and various planetary retrogrades.
The Equinox signifies a balance between day and night and encourages us to reflect on our lives, asking if we’re in sync with our true selves.
Libra Season brings a sense of harmony, emphasizing cooperation, reciprocation, and compromise in our interactions with others.
Solar storms, bursts of energy from the Sun, may intensify our emotions, disrupt our sleep, and lead to vivid dreams.
The upcoming weekend offers us a cosmic reset, an opportunity for personal growth, and the promise of blessings and opportunities as we step into the next season. It’s a time that will leave us feeling refreshed and in harmony with ourselves. Curated from Alex Myles
At one point, Angel Boy 2.0 would often ask me to do something for him; for example, he’d ask me to reach something or make him breakfast or a snack or to play MagnaTiles, anything really, and he would become incredibly impatient if it didn’t happen RIGHT THIS MINUTE.
As an impatient type myself who wants everything RIGHT NOW, I totally understood.
Instead of getting angry or telling him to wait, I started to say, “BLINK.”
It was enough of a distraction the first time I said it that he stopped and said “WHAT?”
I repeated myself, “Blink.” I mean do it, really BLINK YOUR EYES, OK?”
He blinked and looked at me.
I said, “Did anything happen? Am I magic? Do I possess magical abilities?”
He slowly shook his head…nope. (I’m sure he thought his grandma was totally cray, and he might be right, but he was engaged and interested.)
“Well, I wish I could blink my eyes so that what you want would happen in the blink of an eye, and since it obviously did NOT, it’s going to take as long as it takes. What do you think about that?”
He laughed and I did, too.
It must have been the perfect response for him because we’ve continued the tradition.
“BLINK! Did it happen? Nope, not for me either. I’m still not magical, I guess, still only human.”
It was a more fun way to get my point across that he could be a LITTLE more patient. I think I got the idea from watching Bewitched. Although I can’t twitch my nose like Samantha, I can blink my eyes.
Angel Girl recently did the same thing as I mended a torn dress for one of her dolls. Watching me, she kept impatiently repeating, “Are you finished, are you finished, why is it taking you so long?”
“Blink, girl. Blink your eyes. Is your doll all sewn up yet?”
She blinked and shook her head while her brother nodded with all the wisdom of his 7.5 years.
“See”, I held out my hands. ” I’m not magic. These hands of mine can only sew one stitch at a time and if you want me to do a good job, it’s going to take as long as it takes.”
It’s not like I have the powers of Bianca in Wishenpoof, the story about a young fairy girl who grants children’s wishes, although SOMETIMES I do swirl my arms around and say “Whish” like she does in the show, but sadly, I’m still not magical. Not at all.
No matter how many times I blink MY eyes, I’m only human.
It’s all going to take as long as it takes. Lesson learned. 🪄
I rescued this treasure at the thrift store, an adorable penguin box crafted of Capiz shells from the Philippines. Used extensively for jewelry and even window panes, it’s the shell of the oyster, Placuna placenta.
The way the light hits it is stunning and artistic for such a small thing.
I love little boxes.
And bowls I can fill with owl and hawk feathers I discover in my garden or on walks.
This sort of reminds me of Mary Oliver, “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.”
No darkness here as you can see, but I guess I’ll have to fill my box of nothing with something, probably and predictably rocks or seashells, and then it will no longer be a lonely box of nothing.
"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right."~Søren Kierkegaard
It seems as if I’ve see HOKA shoes everywhere. Do you know the brand or what HOKA means? HOKA is a verb meaning to soar or to fly.
I’ve worn mostly all the brands, but never HOKA. Well, never before yesterday, that is. I’m like Cinderella with shoes; they have to fit perfectly or I reject them.
I went to a local athletic shoe store and tried on a mountain of different brands and styles, resisting the HOKA for no real reason, I guess.
I was feeling dejected and a little embarrassed about the wasteland of boxes around me when the really nice and exceedingly patient employee suggested I try HOKA. “Just try them.” he said.
At first I demurred and then I acquiesced because I had literally exhausted their entire stock. When I slipped them on, it was as if my Prince Charming was sure to magically appear because they fit like a glove, so comfortable that I didn’t want to take them off. Now I understand why I’ve seen so many people wearing them.
I was drawn to the rose gold with black which is a change for me as I usually pick the brightest colors in the shoe palette.
(I guess this is a kind of review, but solely from my own experience because I didn’t get them for free or any other form of compensation.)
Even with a torn meniscus and all the other broken stuff in my knee, I will continue to perambulate, to move my body — because like Kierkegaard said, “if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”
Or, as I like to say, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Anyway, that’s MY philosophy.
I knew it would happen again, and sadly it did, at the EXACT same location. It's not a good outcome when emergency vehicles stay on-site for more than an hour.
Another update...After talking to a couple of local police officers, and at their suggestion, I called the traffic division. When someone returned my call two days later, I can't say she was all that interested in my near-death experience but gave me some mollifying type of assurance that she'd request enhanced patrols on the weekends at that busy intersection. It was a spectacularly unsatisfying conversation. I felt placated and patronized. I have every belief that nothing will change, someone else won't be as agile as I was and they'll have a more tragic outcome to deal with.
Quick update: Is there something in the water here? Just now as I was grocery shopping, yet another almost collision occurred. The lanes I was driving in had no stop signs or a light, but the cross street had a stop sign. There were two lanes and a couple cars and I were traversing in the same direction when a car that SHOULD HAVE STOPPED and waited for us decided for some unknown reason to NOT stop. If we hadn't both been going slow and able to swerve safely out of harm's way, there would have been a collision. I swear, you could probably have heard my horn on the east coast. The errant driver yelled, "Sorry!" but that doesn't change the fact that it's dangerous to be a pedestrian OR a driver. The moral of the story is to be extra careful, extra cautious, and alert!
I think I just used up about four of my nine lives on Sunday. Without being accused of being melodramatic, it was the closest to death I’ve ever been.
I woke up around 6:30 a.m. because I heard a really loud diesel truck idling outside, which is unusual around here.
When I ran downstairs and looked out the living room window, the street in front of my house was filled with the bright flashing lights of fire engines and paramedics. I watched as they took away my neighbor strapped on a gurney, but I don’t know what actually happened.
A similar thing occurred last week to the neighbor on the OTHER side of my immediate neighbor; paramedics and even police cars were there for a couple of hours. So far, I don’t have any intel on that event, either.
I think these odd episodes set the stage for what (almost) happened. Could it be due to cosmic forces and planetary tumult? Don’t things happen in threes? I think I heard that somewhere.
Anyway…
There was surprising and UNforecasted welcome rain last night and it left behind much cooler temperatures, so I decided to walk to the beach.
I was almost there and stopped to cross the street at a well defined four-way stop and pedestrian crosswalk. (That’s at Garfield and Tamarack if you’re from my town.) There were stopped cars at three of the stop signs. Knowing there are distracted and horrible drivers everywhere, I pay careful attention to stuff like that.
I began to cross and as I approached the middle of the intersection walking north, the SUV that had been stopped at the stop sign going south, just started going like a bat out of hell, making a speeding left turn, directly at me, as if I was invisible or something. Which I’m NOT.
There was no real time to think about avoiding being hit because in that split second, I knew I was going to be badly injured.
What I recollect and what four witnesses corroborated, was that at the point of NEARLY being impacted by this accelerating vehicle, I actually slapped the side of her left hood with my hand and did a very ballerina-like twirl to avoid being hit. The SUV almost touched me as I evaded the collision. There was truly about an inch between me and the vehicle, an INCH!
I didn’t call the police because not one of us could get her plate number since she sped off as I believe she realized what she had done. It was a woman in a ubiquitous white SUV, and there are literally a million of those around here. We couldn’t identify any specific make or model because it all happened so fast.
People came out of their houses to see if I was OK. They said it looked as if I had been hit. I was a bit shaky and shocky from all that adrenaline so I sat down for a few minutes and had a glass of water.
The four witnesses high-fived me (really!), commented on my agility and how that saved me from serious injuries. They said they had never seen anything like it because the impact seemed unavoidable. They were also suitably charmed by the string of unfiltered expletives that I hurled at the driver as she sped away.
I’m beyond grateful for those many years of ballet training because if I hadn’t reacted like that, I can’t even imagine how many broken bones and internal damage I’d have to heal from. The whole thing probably took less than five seconds and as quick as it was over, it also felt as if it was happening in slow motion — all very strange.
There are two ways to think about it. Either it wasn’t my day, or it really WAS my day. I can’t for sure say it wasn’t divinely scripted. Do angels exist? Did angels intervene? I really need to stop and think about it.
I feel like I’ve used up several of my nine lives – I only hope I have a few more. There’s so much to be grateful for, that’s for sure.
I finished my journey, took a photo of the ocean, calmed down, and walked back home without any further scary experiences.
There it is, the peaceful serenity of our Pacific Ocean. Sadly, there weren’t any whales or dolphins, but it’s still an eternally beautiful and nourishing sight.
Reaching my destination almost killed me, but I persisted, prevailed, and live to tell the story.
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 