Sacred Life Sunday: Light Keeping
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| Polyphonic Spree, Light and Day |
I struggle to live in the moment. So often I am casting my gaze back in regret and longing, or throwing myself forward in to future worries. I know it’s healthiest for me to live mostly in the Now. But to the Now I feel foreign born, and like an adopted child returning to the place of her birth, I must work a little harder to feel at home on what is truly my native land.
I notice this most when Summer fades to Fall, and the days begin to shorten. I start missing the Light even before she is gone. Start longing for her while she is yet by my side. And in doing so I waste the last long rays of her presence.
This then is my attempt to stay with her, to stay present as long as she is still here. To remain alert to her companionship. To “…follow the day and reach for the sun.”Later when she is gone, these images may hold her near to me a little longer yet, until she gently moves my hand from her hers, pats my shoulder, and tells me to lean into the next season until she returns.
How do you stay present to the edge of this season? What will you need to transition into the next?
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August 16th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Does noticing help? Just noticing the weather today, the light, the trees. The veggies you can buy today – is it pumpkin weather yet?
I am on the other end of the pendulum.
There are wattle flowers and plum blossoms in the front yard. Soon it will be scorching, but today there is healing rain and streaks of sunlight.
I guess this growing belly of mine keeps me in the present. I don’t know how I’m going to feel from one day to the next. The future is a big bucket of not-knowing. But I am enjoying the kicks that no-one else can feel yet. And enjoying every morsel that I feed us.
August 16th, 2009 at 11:57 am
I’m with Kazari here in the land downunder, where winter is is in it’s last couple of weeks. And yes, noticing, or mindfulness is what helps me stay present too. We just built an astronomical calendar [we called it LogHenge] to keep us mindful of the seasonal transition points. With a bonfire in the middle, it will offer a great space to acknowledge/farewell/welcome, and celebrate the cycle with others.
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:48 am
I agree, noticing the weather helps with transitions, a favorite mantra of mine is Blue sky, Green tree, bubbled out of a trip to Finland in July´s endless daytime. I find water helps me with transitions, swimming in it, bathing in it, drinking it, just reminders to stay fluid. I am fortunate to live in Valencia, Spain, and light keeping is easier here than in Scandinavia… but one feels the restless energy of transition in the air. The squash and pumpkin have already re entered the local markets in a grand way, grapes are weighing down the vines, fig trees are full and almonds everywhere in the countryside. the jellyfish are washing up onto shore at El Saler beach, and the outdoor swimming pool community is dwindling.
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:55 am
What a beautiful descripton Jenny. Thank you!