As we approach Oct. 31–Nov. 2, the days of Halloween or All Hallows Eve, Day of the Dead, All Saints Day, All Souls Day and Celtic Samhain, I am thinking of my ancestors. I feel a deep curiosity, a sense of wonderment and gratitude. When I ponder the mystery of my ancestors, as I often…
The topic for the day was “faith journey.” I wrote this poem some time ago for a gathering of the Women in Interfaith Dialogue, a group that has been meeting for many years at Prairiewoods (now virtually). I share it here in honor of the Interfaith Women, hoping that we are finding nourishment for body,…
I walked that early morning path of stillness and embraced that felt comfort of expansive solitude, the moist air, and wind-inspired whispering trees. Looking left and right, what should I see, but two shadows there beside me. Walking in lock step. How could this be, how could this be? It just isn’t natural. It just…
Two drops of spring sap, pinched out along high branch, hang side by side, catch March sun. With fiercely sparkling crystal tears the elderly maple, weeps. Each drop falls reluctantly, from limbs above, felled one by one, inch by inch. Mutual Wake ache reveals our ingrained bond. —Mary Martin Lane, friend of Prairiewoods (photo by Jenifer…
“You are going through all this emotional upheaval because your coziness has been, in some small or large way, addressed.” —Pema Chodron When things come together, life feels great. When things fall apart and we feel groundless, what then? Does anything come together that doesn’t, at some point, fall apart? The more sudden or surprising…
I have walked the labyrinth at Prairiewoods many times. Each time, the experience offered something new, maybe unexpected, an insight. On one summer morning, several years ago, a butterfly became part of the journey. I have no photographs of that specific day, but the wonderful memory remains. LABYRINTH The border stones still cool from…
What spiritual seekers require for today’s challenges is a deep dive into the “imaginal realm,” a liminal space which hovers between the visible and invisible, the spiritual and the material worlds. Noted spiritual author Cynthia Bourgeault says the “imaginal realm” finds its native home in the heart. It can be accessed through a pervasive perennial awareness…
“It feels as though time is evaporating …” and ”I hope we are learning and will be different on the other side of this pandemic …” Many and varied expressions of these sentiments echo our collective experience of “pandemic fatigue.” The way we live our lives each day affects how we perceive the passage of…
You may have heard the story about Margaret Mead’s take on the earliest sign of civilization. Dr. Ira Byock tells this story in his book The Best Care Possible: A Physician’s Quest to Transform Care Through the End of Life: A student once asked anthropologist Margaret Mead, “What is the earliest sign of civilization?” The…
Many mornings, lying in bed and not wanting to get up, I tell myself, “Time to get up. Time to take one step.” This is not an inspiring mantra or motivational affirmation. Just a simple reminder that, even if I can’t see where the day will take me, even if I have no control over…