“Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.” —Zen Proverb In any kind of spiritual practice, whether that be prayer, routine meditation or silent retreat, we might glean sudden wisdom or understanding for something that previously had us feeling stuck. No matter how profound the discovery, life will give…
I know we’re weary. I know we’re worried. I know we’re impatiently waiting for an answer we’d hoped would come quickly and decisively. This whole year has been about waiting and worrying and being oh-so-weary in the face of an unprecedented global pandemic. For those of us in the Cedar Rapids area, the last three…
What is it about taking a deep breath that settles everything? A deep, full-belly breath is like touching a reset button somewhere inside. When I do this, I instantly feel calmer and more relaxed. I remember my psychology professor sister telling me once that taking deep diaphragmatic breaths stimulates the vagus nerve. My artistic self…
The Killdeer is a bird that lays its nest on the ground, a couple of brown-spotted gray eggs in a raised hole of roots and stems, in the middle of a field. When you approach, they act wounded in an attempt to draw your attention away from what they are really concerned about. For thousands…
We all need the opportunity to get distance and perspective. Unfortunately, this can be especially difficult in the midst of a pandemic. Last week, I was lucky enough to get away to the North Shore of Lake Superior, to a cottage where I could be safely distanced from others while also having a much-needed change…
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…
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…
“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…