I’m blessed to be in fairly close relationship with, what seems to me anyway, a large number of people. In the last few weeks I’ve yet to talk with one of those people who doesn’t feel that the world in general and their own life in particular is somewhere between crazy and insane. So much happening all at once. Nothing working as usual. Disappointments. Losses. Health falling apart. Relationships falling apart. Big scary stuff; little annoying stuff. Nonstop.
I keep hearing myself attempting to reassure folks that, “You’re not alone in this. This is happening for everyone,” but I know that’s not much consolation. When it feels this hard, it’s hard to be philosophical.
This is when we remind our self and one another that, “These are the times we practice for.” Being practitioners of awareness, we know life has undulations. Ups are going to be followed by downs. That’s just how it is. Yet we know how vulnerable we are to getting lulled into forgetting this fact in the easy times. There’s a loss or a setback or a disappointment and the voices of conditioning pile on with their catastrophizing messages of hopelessness and despair. And it all seems so real, so believable once we get identified with a small, separate, suffering “self.”
It would be easy to look at the Farm and fall into that same trap, seeing all that makes farming there difficult. A deadly freeze on the last day of May. Needing to essentially start all over at a time when plants should be heading for full bloom. Getting really clear that “weeds” are not adversely affected by freezes! Easy to say, “What’s the point of working so hard for what feels like so little return?”
However, if we realize that all we have is today—the strawberries we pick and eat right from the vine, the tomatoes ripening in the bright sun, the fresh, clean air, the cooling breezes, the brilliant colors of sky, mountains, and trees, the wholesome working meditation and lives transformed, we can see it really comes down to a point of view. It becomes quickly clear that the quality of our life is determined by the focus of our attention. We can ask ourselves if we are here in Life in all its glory in this very moment or are we wandering around, missing Life as we entertain a struggling, suffering story? All depends on which one we “pick.”
We know that those “strawberries” are available to us in every moment. We just have to look for them. Sometimes they’re really hard to find. Those ego-I voices of negativity are talking us into quitting. It’s too hard. It’s not worth it. But we know it is worth it. “It” is worth everything. It’s the faith, the trust, and the confidence that comes from realizing the searching itself is the source of our joy.
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We know Goodness IS. We know that’s what we are. We know that each challenge is nothing more than another opportunity to transcend something we’ve previously stumbled over. Is it hard? Yes. Is it fun? No. But neither of those is the point. The point is that each triumph, which we will without fail have, is yet another “proof” that what we know in our heart is True. Goodness IS. Life is Goodness. We are that. We are that and all is well. Over and over we will have the opportunity to prove this to our self until no doubt remains in us. This is our gift. This is the “strawberry” always available for us in each moment. |
Some strawberry moments from the Farm:
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 The first tomatoes |
 Lettuce blossoms |
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compost operation. Deb grows a lot of flowers. Enough of the seeds make it past the composting process and out into the fields where they’re creating little oases of beauty.
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We finally have our outdoor garbage disposal setup that’s going to assist us to turn the inputs for the compost pile into a slurry that will be easier to break down. Not a beauty, but we’re hoping for function to outshine form. |
Many of the trees have outgrown their deer-dissuading-dresses and need new ones. With the new outfit comes a coat of white “paint” that is the equivalent of sunscreen for their trunk, a thick layer of nutritious compost, a couple of feet of grass to suppress weeds and protect their immediate environment, and a deep watering.
Weeding |
Mulching  |
Watering  |
Sun-screening |
Showing off her new dress  |
In gasshō,
ch
And P.S.
An old friend is back? Jake or a Jake look-alike.