24/24/24

 They say that when you sit at a computer for a long time, you should practice the Rule of 20...every 20 minutes look 20 feet away for 20 seconds.  Sound advice to save our eyes from fatigue...and perhaps even our sanity at times.  I was reminded of that health tip today after texting with a friend who SO wanted to stop the work she was doing, because as she put it, she was "feeling drawn to pen some words."  I encouraged her, as I did everyone on Day Three of my blog, to take just 15 minutes and write what she saw out her window. I was hoping that this might energize her, letting her brain break the cycle of planning and prepping she was engaged in, to finish her day's work with a fresh, maybe more creative perspective.  

OLD BONES / OLD SOULS - Day Three

Lots of crunching and cracking
interrupts this quiet fall morning,
the kind of perfect day I wish 
could enter every cell of my body.

But it's not just my old bones I hear,
it's the twig snap of a white-tailed deer
running scared when the path turns.

It's the squirrels making provisions,
their chins looking charred from
gleaning black, cracked walnuts

It's the blue jay, high in the canopy
hammering hickory nuts and letting
the pieces splatter to the dry ground.

It's hundreds of grackles and blackbirds,
chattering as they mass migrate from one
tree top to another, that comfort me.

Their chorus, which is for me not them,
(they know how to navigate this world),
says, "It is time now...

...get ready
...wind down
...make soup
...plan to have some folks over
...choose something to learn
on those too soon nights
when the wind threatens harm
just outside the frosted window.
"Study blackbirds," they say.

This is what those old souls are clacking.
They're reminding me there are reasons 
for the seasons.

Mini-Retreat Suggestion: Take 15 minutes to look outside your favorite window in your house.  Write a short poem about what you see.  What elements of fall call you to "wind down?"  Post your thoughts under Comments.

HIGH-TECH WALK - DAY TWO

                                       

When I set out down the prairie path this chilly morning, with its low-hung, gray sky, I decided to try to look with an artist's eye; to notice the composition of things framed in a view-finder, see the colors and the textures around me.  Though I began this way, with binoculars on and camera in hand, what struck me were all the sounds I heard in the quiet vacuum the songbirds left.  And from that observation, came a new idea for me...to record my thoughts for future writings on my I-Phone while I walked. Since I had it on me, today was my first experiment, so it remains to be seen whether I like the idea.  I felt a bit "on the spot" at first...almost making stuff up if I started down a thought and then ran out of interesting things to say.  But eventually, I settled in...or more appropriately...it settled into my shirt pocket.

 In every season there are dominate flowers in the prairie.  Just a few weeks ago it was the yellow goldenrods, the white bonesets and the purple ironweed complimenting each other.  Today, near the end of September, it is the Asters.  They are the only bright whites and shades of purple popping out against the browning and faded backdrop of grasses and flowers going to seed.  Prairies are dynamic, and even when that last flower family hangs low and brown, it will have a warm beauty all its own (until perhaps the purple stiff gentian blooms...one last colorful hurrah in October!)  

The tall bluestem arches over the path and I must push it aside to move on.  Parachutes of milkweed seeds are leaving their gnarly pods or just about to. The periwinkled mist flower, so abundant and glorious this year, is fading to a dirty blue and makes me a little sad.  Things fade in life.  My lips and hair are proof.  But this is not a dead prairie, though the unknowing eye may see it that way. When I take women for walks here I explain to them that when it turns this color, the land becomes a smorgasbord for all sorts of other creatures.  Not dead at all, just at one of the ever-revolving stages of life...the one where one life must end so another life can begin. 


 

Here are two mini-retreat suggestions for tonight or tomorrow:

1. Find something in nature that looks dead.  Is it really dead or merely dormant?  Is it now completely useless?  What are the chances new life came from it in some way?
2. If your phone has recording capabilities, go off by yourself and answer this question in the microphone:  "[Your Name], what I would like to say to you is..."   Yes, what would you like to say to yourself?  Sounds silly...but I'll bet it will be interesting.

 Don't forget to comment...I would love to know your thoughts

HOW I TAKE A RETREAT - DAY ONE

No one said going on a retreat is easy, even though the point once you get there is to let go and ease your mind from all its stresses and voices. So after getting all the other aspects of my life cleaned and put away, washed and folded, bought and bagged, gathered and dispersed, I turned my attention to the one aspect I want to focus on for the next five days, which is writing. 

Now, one cannot concentrate on any creative endeavor 24/7, so I have a few worthy distractions when I'm not sitting at the computer or walking the Refresher Course for inspiration.  I like to lay it out - literally.  On the entry room table (i.e., dining, art, desk) at Prairie Pond Woods I have set about all the things I desire to engage in, as well as the cameras, field guides and binoculars ready to grab at a moment's notice for the big surprise awaiting outside. 

 

(As I wrote this post...a loud thump came from the patio door...I grabbed the well-placed camera and caught a juvenile titmouse that had crashed into the glass...after an hour or so it must have flown off...happy ending)
 

  There's my morning meditative reading (this month, The Artist's Rule), my 2012 and 2013 calendars for a little business and pleasure planning, a few poetry books and another book I may or may not read this go-around entitled, On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs by James V. Schall.  Also laid out is a 10-year Phenology Journal I keep (woefully neglected this spring and summer) and lastly, a few files of family genealogy, in case I really need a brain change. 

So, all the chores are done, and if there are more, they can wait.  The plan is to take morning and evening walks (with camera and notepad in hand), do some reading and journaling afterward, then write.  The goal is to continue to work on a compilation of nature poems, essays and prose, accompanied by photos, that I hope to turn into a book.

I invite you along on this 5-day journey with me online or in reality, and encourage you to take a mini-retreat of your own this week.  Maybe just a half-hour everyday to do something you love; something BY YOURSELF that feeds your soul. I would love to read your comments, as well as hear about your own experiences with taking a retreat.  It won't be easy, but as the saying goes, not everybody does the hard, but significant, things in life.

OCTOBER RETREAT

A Day of Questioning Yourself

Saturday, October 20
10 am – 5 pm

Now, it's not what you might think! 

 
We won't spend the day second-guessing our lives
or questioning our worth in the world,

but we will ask ourselves some important questions.  

In the gospels, Jesus asked 168 questions.  He was asked 186 questions, only 3 of which he answered directly.  As Jesus showed us, often the answers are discovered through the questions.  You are invited to spend a day asking and answering a few for yourself.  

Nature Walk, Lunch, Handouts, Solitude and Fellowship provided

What are you looking for?
                                                     -Jesus

  ♥

Update: Overnight Option is full!!

There are two options for this Fall Retreat...One-day & Overnight. Friday evening will be a casual time to unwind with fellowship under the stars, maybe a creative activity and simple snacks. We might even venture out for a night hike...

Contact cindy@heartbynature.com for more info
or to register as an individual or group.

One-day - Saturday 10 am - 5 pm
-$45.00 pp (5 max)
Overnight- Friday 7pm - Saturday 4/5pm-
$75.00 pp (5 max)

Registration limited to 10 total
Registration Deadline: Monday, October 8, 2012

A Day of Questioning Yourself

Saturday, October 20
10 am – 5 pm

Now, it's not what you might think! 

 
We won't spend the day second-guessing our lives
or questioning our worth in the world,

but we will ask ourselves some important questions.  

In the gospels, Jesus asked 168 questions.  He was asked 186 questions, only 3 of which he answered directly.  As Jesus showed us, often the answers are discovered through the questions.  You are invited to spend a day asking and answering a few for yourself.  

Nature Walk, Lunch, Handouts, Solitude and Fellowship provided

What are you looking for?
                                                     -Jesus

  ♥

Update: Overnight Option is full!!

There are two options for this Fall Retreat...One-day & Overnight. Friday evening will be a casual time to unwind with fellowship under the stars, maybe a creative activity and simple snacks. We might even venture out for a night hike...

Contact cindy@heartbynature.com for more info
or to register as an individual or group.

One-day - Saturday 10 am - 5 pm
-$45.00 pp (5 max)
Overnight- Friday 7pm - Saturday 4/5pm-
$75.00 pp (5 max)

Registration limited to 10 total
Registration Deadline: Monday, October 8, 2012