12:02 AM
Saturday
… downstairs at
midnight, my unaided nearsightedness spots a glow in the impossibly close
foreground outside the window; the bay is illuminated – a glistening amoeba of quicksilver
among the pitch-black void …
6:40 AM the
following Wednesday
… three, then five,
finally six river otters swim toward us at dawn as we stand on the pier meditating
on the rich blessing of another day of life: rolling, burnished-ebony saltwater;
eleven crows lined up wing to wing on the railing; a faint-pink tinge to the
ghost of our volcano; salmon threads scattered across the sky; east and west
mountain ranges ensconce us, or offer something to aspire to; the cool air reminding
of an approaching equinox; then one, fat, beige-chinned, dripping wet, grunt-squeaking otter climbs
onto the dock below to scratch, primp,
wiggle before slipping back down into his
wet world …
7:53 AM the same
Wednesday
… the saltwater
tears during a client session leave saline imprints of memory and meaning,
tracks leading back to the core of eternity …
9:10 AM the same
Wednesday
… the new,
soft-spoken yoga teacher sweetly coos the poses, encouraging us always to move into
an awareness of the ecotone of breath-embodied; she whispers, “the wave of your
breath” and suddenly! i carry an
ocean in my belly and hear the rushing roar of the other yogis’ inner oceans; and
all that exists is wavebreath/breathwave in huge roiling floods of connection with
Pacific.Atlantic.Indian.Southern.Arctic …
And i notice this:
i only paid thin attention to the midnight waterglow. But when three more oceanic
reminders came in quick succession midweek, i had to refocus, to reclaim deep,
abiding attention. i innately felt that connection of my own body, others’
human bodies, and swimming bodies with the bodies of all the saltwater on
Earth. The insight for me is: expansion, continually journeying wider, a courageous
stepping out to the edge. Only a planet of oceans can deliver a message like
that. But it does so in tiny packages. We cannot hold the entire thing all at once,
so we are given smaller moments.
i wonder, what in nature is offering you
the opportunity to expand again into your rightful, interconnected place on the
planet? The earth in its myriad, powerful,
extravagant beauty is presenting itself to you over and over; it’s trying to
get your attention. And it is a gift for the claiming if only you thread the
small moments together, weave the repeated message of images into the insight
that will guide you, or the balm that will soothe your weary body.
All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2016 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."
