Celebrate!
“Be the celebrators, celebrate! Already there is too much—the flowers have bloomed, the birds are singing, the sun is there in the sky—celebrate it! You are breathing and you are alive and you have consciousness, celebrate it!”
~ Osho
My favorite wildflower is blooming, Indian paintbrush.
Good day to you all. My goodness, we’re almost through June and July is right around the corner. It’s been full on here for me and I have enjoyed a break from blogging/ social media posting, which although not intentional felt good and as time went on quite right for me.
We visited a dear friend in Taos this past May and had a wonderful visit with her. We also went camping to South Dakota in May and had a lovely time with my brother, sister in law and niece. The nature there is beautiful and we found many out of the way lakes and trails to explore. The land there is sacred and I felt really touched to be there. Back home things kicked into high gear here for June. I have just finished helping clean out the home of a dear friend who passed earlier this year. We had a huge estate sale earlier this month and it was quite time consuming and intense. The house was quite full and there was a lot to go through. I believe my dear friend saved every letter, photo, card, journal, from her entire life and also her mom and dad’s as well. We found her prom dress, her baby shoes and dolls, her mom’s dishes, her high school yearbooks, etc. and it was truly at times touching and at times exasperating to unpack all of this and try to decide how to move it along. But we did it and this past Thursday our mission was complete and her house is now empty and ready to greet its new owner.
I also had the honor of hosting a wedding reception here last weekend. It was sweet to host this event. I had had one week, after the estate sale, which I devoted to my gardens (the whole time I was working down at my friend’s I was also fretting about sinking my hands into the soil up here - clearing out and planting my beloved gardens and determined to devote the next week to it – which I did). No sooner had I worked on every flower bed and planted my herb garden then I got a call to host my dear friend’s reception – the weather was shifting and the venue they had chosen was too small to be inside if it rained so I was on. Because I had the whole week in the garden I felt very relaxed and rooted in holding the reception – which went off beautifully. I spent one whole day deep cleaning the house (nothing like motivated spring cleaning!) and everything looked beautiful. Friends came whom I hadn’t seen since the pandemic began and it was sweet to be in person.
Today we opened our meditation center, the Osho Leela Center, for the first time since March 2020 for in person guests. Just wow! We continued the Zoom room for our friends from all over the world, and we had our friends in person and that too was a spectacular treat! I again saw many friends I haven’t seen since 16 months and it was such a touching experience - although it also felt very relaxed and natural, almost as if we had just met in person a few days ago. Time is a mysterious phenomenon. I’ve been leading the Wednesday night meditation there via Zoom and it will be super sweet to have live friends there as well this week! Yes.
I also started a women’s group this last April. We meet once a month. It’s a sweet place of sharing and singing, rattling and drumming and it feels good to show up for each other in this way of allowing ourselves to be seen and heard without judgment or advice. So grateful to the women who are showing up in this way, their courage and desire to go in and see what is up for them is so inspiring.
So I am rewriting Integration Alchemy and hope to have it done by the end of August when I go on my annual 2 week meditation retreat. It’s taken me some time as I needed to get clear on a few things with in me before deciding what needed to change. I also will be reshooting the classes referenced in the book and reuploading them to my web site. I’ve had quite a few legal clients even and since my license is current I have enjoyed working in this way too. I’ve created two Go Fund Me Campaigns for friends in need of support, and so it goes. I am committed to just showing up every day and taking care of whatever needs taken care of with awareness.
The rest of my summer will be spent gardening, working on the book, hiking, doing my yoga and working. Life is good.
This spring has been a tremendous gift to me.
I have had time to reflect on the passing of time,
I’ve witnessed and been touched by, learning about myself, and being human:
On death and leaving the body – suddenly
On facing a terminal illness with grace, courage and strength, making every moment count
On health and making changes to support my own health after years of taking it for granted
On love, my own for my Beloved family here (Samir and Ben) and all my friends and how we show up for each other through thick and thin
On my birth family and how love is a thread that will never be extinguished despite our very different lives and values.
On the meaning of possessions and particularly memorabilia and keepsakes and how I can clear out and clean up my own space even more because the memories are with me.
On sisterhood and connecting in circle and song, sharing our hearts and voices.
And so much more. It’s been a rich time, with happiness and grief in equal portions it seems, and I hope you also are enjoying a rich time as things are opening up.
I’ve added some pictures of my gardens here - its so green up on the mountain this year due to all the late snow we had. Its just stunning and it makes my heart sing.
Let me know how it goes. I am sending you all much love and gratitude.
Columbines in bloom and delphiniums on there way!
and our lilacs are in full bloom just now!
At the wedding before the reception at our house (our friends got married on the land of the house they are building together).