Calm after a storm.
A lull in the whipping winds and seas.
A moment to catch your breath.
To take stock of the changes wrought.

Transient atmospheric acrobats.
Their power magnificent and terrible.
Creation and destruction entwines in
Massive citadels of cloud.

After such frenzy, the quiet is eerie.
A stark contrast.
As if the storm had never raged.
And yet it left its mark on us.

Photo by Matt Hardy on Unsplash

Reassurance is futile. No one can guarantee an outcome.

And yet, hearing that we are onto something helps us keep going.

The positive feedback fuels further growth.

Even negative feedback, if it's from someone we aimed our work at, fuels further growth, as it gives insight into what we didn't see.

After all, we are in this together. Changing the culture requires more than one to see the need.

"I see you" is reassurance enough.

Photo by Nathaniel Tetteh on Unsplash

Some layers are easier to see than others.
Clear lines in the sand.
Striations

Impediments to the free flow of energy or to freely moving are often layered one upon the other.
A body worker must start with the top layer before she can get to the real issue underneath.

Similarly, emotional restrictions, or things that keep us stuck, have layers.
Starting with what is on the surface and persisting to the depths, we can free ourselves a layer at a time.

Noticing you are working a layer of a different color helps you keep going.
Progress can be slow.  Freeing our body, mind, and spirit is the work of a lifetime.

Photo by Melissa Bowersock at newmoonrising.net

The pandemic has changed us. Admit it.
We will never look at each other the same way.
We were sent to a time out and from there we could actually see the game.
We could question its assumptions.

Forced to connect in new ways, our creativity has exploded.
Every obstacle holds a gift within.... if you can be open to seeing it.
Introspection. Know thyself. See your surroundings truly.

What did you learn about yourself during the pandemic?
What did you learn about our society? our social group?

Photo by Christopher Padilla on Unsplash

Following your gut. To see where it leads. You find a new friend. Someone who shares your concerns about things that matter to you. A friendly face in the desert. Another voice for the desert. An active voice for critical thinking in our governing. For justice and fairness. A kind face who also heals others.

What made me turn aside from my normal route home and strike out into the desert? 
Curiosity about the desert destruction behind my home.
Then curiosity about where they will get their water led my feet to investigate existing homes.
And find a woman working in yard.
A new friend.

Photo by James Lee on Unsplash

wheels spinning
see the line in the dirt you will aim for.
down the rollercoaster hill and back up
don't look at the big water pipe at the bottom
you steer where you look
take a big breath
you've done this many times before
your body knows how to do this
just trust it and don't forget to breathe
ready, set, go

i take off at top speed down the hill.
heart racing
remember, use only small changes in steering
large ones will send us flying
and don't touch the brakes
or you will never make it up the other equally steep side

i streak down the hill with the line i chose as the only thing i see
make it to the bottom without crashing or braking and head up the other side
there is bean waiting for me
a huge grin on his face

Photo by Pavel Anoshin on Unsplash

I'm living out of a single room again. Nearly everything happens in the living room.  I eat, sleep, write, watch TV, read, talk on the phone, and chant here. I have gone back to the roots that I always dreamed of as a child. That of a simple life on the prairie. As a girl, I imagined I was Laura Ingalls Wilder or Caddie Woodlawn living a frontier life.

I'm a minimalist. I'm more comfortable in small spaces.  Having everything in one place for someone living alone seems right. No one needs to go to their room to get some space. It's just me. I'm like Thoreau on Walden. He built a simple one room house. It's enough. He was curious about what would happen if he lived simply and minimally.  Our culture, built on consumerism and expansion, believes that bigger is better. Keeping up with the Jones' seems more important than the peacefulness of simply having enough. If I can be happy with little, I am rich indeed.

Look to the Shakers. They also built simple lives. 'Tis a gift to be simple. 'Tis a gift to be free.

Dawn erupts with brilliant colors.
Tearing cracks in blackened skies
Ruptures to let in the light.

Starting small, it builds into a mighty crescendo.
A riot of color
Mirrored in the sea.

With such a fanfare welcoming this day,
I rise to meet its optimism.
I honor its brilliance with my own.

Let me radiate such profound joy in the new day
That it shines on my fellows
And marks a new departure for us all.

Photo by Samantha M. Pacheco

shapes emerge through shifting light
viewed as if through stained glass
fuzzy, indistinct forms

i crane my neck and squint
trying to see them better

the outlines of my possibilities
coalescing in the depths

Photo by Sasha Pleshco on Unsplash

Being fluent in speech helps one be understood. Our ideas expressed in language easily grasped by another. From here learning begins and we can refine our ideas based on what they bounce against. Our fluent interactions permute our ideas and eventually could transmute them into a breakthrough.  A truly revolutionary idea.

A fluent dancer makes the dance look effortless, as if it just emerged from her body as naturally as breathing. Just as water in a stream flows around rocks, her performance glides and leaps around the other dancers and props. We viewers are transported to a higher place: one of witnessing the extraordinary. Heaven on earth if you will.  Entranced by the dance.

Such is the nature of water. To flow. To yield. To gently insist.

Photo by Lachlan on Unsplash