July 16, 2021

01

Sit quietly
and observe what happens 
in the silence.
Just watch, listen.
Without engagement--
without being hooked,
kidnapped,
shanghaied,
carried off,
with emotions aroused 
and looking for a fight,
or a pizza,
or anything in between,
or beyond.

If you find yourself responding
to something arising, 
reflect on that.

Ask the questions that beg to be asked,
see what occurs to you in response
to the questions.

Allow the questions to raise,
to lead to,
more questions,
and reflect on all that happens
to the point of new realizations.

You will be following hints and clues
to new discoveries,
and uncovering an infinite wonderland
of ideas and perceptions.

The silence is a doorway
to worlds waiting to be explored,
marvels waiting to be revealed,
and more truth than can be imagined,
and we are imagining it all.

Look around.
Everything not an original part
of the natural world 
came out of someone's imagination.
Out of someone's well of silence.

Everyone would do well to be quiet
more often.

–0–

02

We spend a lot of time
between times.

Like seeds lying fallow in the earth,
we wait for something to happen
to know what to do next.

If we wait long enough,
the roof will begin to leak,
the dog will need to take a leak,
or we will...

Something will happen
requiring us to do something
about what happened.

That's the way life works.

If we don't know what to do
we wait to see what we do
without doing anything more
than waiting it out.

Just wait it out.
Something will happen.

Everything waits for something to happen.

What we do in response
will move us a bit closer
to wherever we will be when we get there.

Until then,
we wait to see--
letting come what's coming
and letting go what's going.

How well we make the adjustments
tells the tale.

–0–

03

Step back from what you want to happen,
and focus on what needs to be done.

What is the situation calling for?
What response can you make 
to the situation
that is the most appropriate one
you can imagine?
Go with that!

There is nothing like wanting
something inappropriate to the occasion
for blocking the flow of life
and interfering with the balance and harmony,
spirit, energy and vitality
in each situation as it arises.

This swamp is an ecosystem
whose needs supersede the needs
of each individual species
composing the ecosystem.
What needs to happen
does not depend upon what any
individual member of the ecosystem
wants to happen.

Wants and needs may coincide
from time to time,
but, for the most part,
want acquiesces to need,
"and the beat goes on."

When want imposes itself on need,
and demands primary consideration,
the beat goes to hell. 

Put what you want in its place,
and serve what needs to be done
in each situation as it comes along,
and allow your life 
to take shape around that priority,
and things will be pretty well,
whether you like it or not.