You just never know.

It's hard to not judge an experience or situation that, on the surface, in the context of our present culture or personal emotional life may seem like a horrible blow or a tragedy or a major pain in the butt. Something "bad". Or, something "good".

These small and large interruptions in THE WAY THINGS ARE have potential to change us within, and the course of our lives. But only if we let them. Only if we do not try to resist the situation, control the outcome, or cling to any solid thing or certain thought about THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING TO BE NOW. I mean, really, nobody knows what's going to happen next.
​
My favorite stories illustrating this, the ones that my mind turns to when I find myself reverberating from an unexpected "bad" or "good" situation is as follows:

Is That So?
(Zen Story about Hakuin)

The Zen Master Hakuin lived in a town in Japan. He was held in high regard and many people came to him for spiritual teaching. Then it happened that the teenage daughter of his next-door neighbor became pregnant. When being questioned by her angry and scolding parents as to the identity of the father, she finally told them that he was Hakuin, the Zen master. In great anger the parents rushed over to Hakuin and told him with much shouting and accusing that their daughter had confessed that he was the father. All he replied was, “Is that so?”
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News of the scandal spread throughout the town and beyond. The Master lost his reputation. This did not trouble him. Nobody came to see him anymore. He remained unmoved. When the child was born, the parents brought the baby to Hakuin, “You are the father, so look after him.” The Master took loving care of the child. A year later, the mother remorsefully confessed to her parents that the real father of the child was the young man who worked at the butcher shop. In great distress they went to see Hakuin to apologize and ask for forgiveness. “We are really sorry. We have come to take the baby back. Our daughter confessed that you are not the father.” “Is that so?” is all he would say as he handed the baby over to them.

The Farmer's Son
(Taoist variation on a theme)​

An old farmer who had worked his crops for many years set his aging horse free to pasture. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors said, "Such bad luck, to lose your only horse." "May be," the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "May be," replied the old man.

The following day, the farmer's son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "May be," answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "May be," said the farmer.

And then, of course, the young village men were killed in the war and the farmer's son, limp and all, was the only able bodied man remaining. The farmer and his son prospered. When his neighbors praised his fortune, well, you know how the farmer replied. "May be".

Here's Eckhart Tolle’s commentary on Hakuin’s Zen story and its Taoist variation:
“The story of the Zen Master whose only response was always “Is that so?” shows the good that comes through inner nonresistance to events, that is to say, being at one with what happens. The story of the man whose comment was invariably a laconic “Maybe” illustrates the wisdom of non-judgment, and to the fact of impermanence which, when recognized, leads to non-attachment. Nonresistance, non-judgement, and non-attachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living.” 
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― Eckhart Tolle (A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose)

​There is no question about it.

​Some changes are predictable, 
Expected. 
Sumer, Fall, Winter, Spring, 
with plenty of time to 
turn, turn, turn.

Lately, though, change arrives in a flash. 
A drop dead, earthquake, bomb of a moment. 
Crash. 
If you're still upright, 
the resonance alone is enough to knock you down.

Time stands 
Still we keep revolving around the sun, 
the moon orbits 
and breezes sweep us up with their 
demanding, obligating pals:

Sleep 
Wake 
Eat 
Wash

While exploding now onto 
new playing fields we did not imagine. 
Why would we?

Just last year, (or was it the year before?) 
There was only fall around the corner 
coming with dry, bright leaves, 
crisp, fireplace air, 
fleecy sleeves and scarves, 
more moisturizer.

​
—Suzanne McDermott
21 September 20017

©2017 Suzanne McDermott/All Rights Reserved

Get your ass under some trees!

Behold the life forms on our planet from whatever vantage point you have...Experience the sky. The birds.  The land. Trees. Squirrels. Water. Fish. So much. Everything.

Experience a Forest Bath. Just go for a walk as close to your residence or work place as you can, to wherever there are trees and other species of animals (mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians). 

Appreciate the interconnectedness. All of the everything you behold gives us the biospheric system that allows us to breathe and exist at all. Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate.

Thank your lucky stars that you were born onto this planet at this particular moment and place in time. All of the craziness and wondrousness, the love and hate and fear and trust and grief and longing— all of this is part of being a spiritual being in a human experience on earth at this particular time. For a limited amount of time. Limited.

Accept that you are living through a magnificent time of change on this planet Make a list of things you have to be grateful for. Keep your Syrian pen pal in mind .

Especially the trees with every living thing that breathes.

​I wish that everyone would shut up already about square footage and the price tag of land.

It might not bother me so much in theory except that every time I turn a corner, another lot of undeveloped property (what a concept), by which I mean untouched plots of trees and and grass and nests and dens and rich root systems and microbiomes and shaded earth, bird song and scampering through leaf sounds, is being clear cut and dug up for real estate profit. Real Estate. Let those two words together sink in.

Witnessing this destruction of the earth makes me physically sick. It's difficult to keep my blinders on. 

And yet, if I bring myself back to the present moment, to my immediate vicinity, almost all I see are trees. Trees and my garden. I have the great and time-limited fortune of living beneath a canopy of willow oaks with the mother tree immediately outside my front door. I desperately appreciate my situation.

This is a great trick, by the way, especially if you suffer from the same malady as I do, or if you regularly read the news. When the world is too, too much (when I click through to news or social media or whatever entity is selling soap or cars or drugs on the back of human and biological tragedy), I bring myself back to the present moment, to my immediate vicinity, which I intentionally fill with beauty and nature, my freakout subsides. I allow my eyes to rest on the trees, my darling, magnificent plants, well-made pretty fabric, phenomenal books, Miss Tallulah, or the way the light bounces off any surface, more... I allow my hand to feel something tangible, within reach and notice why I brought it into my world to begin with. The color, the form, the texture, the pleasure the life form or object brings me.

Then I take a deep breath and all's right with the world again. It's a form of meditation.

This is actually why I teach drawing. To help people connect to what is right in front of them. It's mindfulness on steroids. 

I love living on Earth. I love this planet. With every passing day, my appointment with death is a gamble. It's kind of nice to know for sure that one thing (death) is absolutely out of my control because, if I accept that, my experience of life is amplified to the max. I just have to keep remembering...

Life is a process. Healing is a process. It truly amazes me how far away from a wound we can get to engage in an actual healing process of that wound. Especially if it's emotional. All of that is a subject for another lengthy post. But... when you are feeling hurt or sad or low, my suggestion is to...

Turn to Earth. Turn to the manifest forms of energy designed specifically to work with us to help and heal us through our lifetimes. 

By Earth or Nature, I mean the energetic forms that spring from the systems born of and engaged with our planet. Including you, as a person or earthling, and me. With that defined in approximately 25 words, I'll move into the meat of this post.

How do you allow nature to nurture you? 

​Let me know in the comments below.