Point Arena, 2019

 

"Mindfulness Cards: Simple Practices for Everyday Life"

There is so much beauty in the delicate. Butterflies, snowflakes, the little dandelion seeds that float along in the summer breeze. Spend a few hours intentionally moving through the day with that same delicacy, engaging fully with the reality of the world around you, with an attitude that is more like a feather than a brick. Notice how it feels to approach the world with such lightness.

In the batting cage

 

Bob Marley, "Redemption Song"

 Old pirates, yes, they rob I

Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the Almighty
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
'Cause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs
Redemption songs

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Whoa! Have no fear for atomic energy
'Cause none of them-ah can-ah stop-ah the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
All I ever have
Redemption songs
These songs of freedom
Songs of freedom

Delta King, Sacramento

 

Mindfulness Cards

When we're watching TV, at a movie, or using our devices, we tend to focus on what it is on the screen rather than the screen itself. Next time you're watching something on a screen, try including the screen itself as part of what you see. Notice what it feels like to include the screen in your viewing experience. This simple practice is a powerful metaphor for how our minds can get sucked into the content of our thoughts rather than taking a bigger view and looking at the nature of our awareness itself. 

Toad the Wet Sprocket, "Nightingale Song"

We sing the nightingale song alive
Streets never border further than my eyes
We sing the nightingale song alive
We might be different but our hearts won't lie
And little ever changes if anything at all
But the song rings loudly through these halls