mindful practices to nourish you throughout the day and week
Create concentric circles on a piece of paper and then color them in. With each swipe of color, practice releasing disquieting thoughts.
THE BLOG ...exploring the inner/outer landscape through writing & creativity…
Monday, August 8, 2022
Monday Meditations
Friday, August 5, 2022
The Only Possible Way
in the ivory curtain, a fabric-like sky,
hides mauve, lavender, gold
barely perceptible
yet palpable gifts
leaves shelter the foreground
twist, rock, shiver
as the whisper of air
chants in each ear:
breathe.
be.
abide.
love…fearlessly.
the haven is not in figuring it out, pretending there is a schedule-able outcome, tidying up the tasks, parsing out emotions.
the haven is in seeing clearly, however glaringly sharp, the stillness at the center…
(Orig. posted in 2016.)
"© 2022 Jennifer J. Wilhoit/TEALarbor stories. All Rights Reserved."
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Image of the Week
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| "Morning Hunter" |
"© 2022 Jennifer J. Wilhoit/TEALarbor stories. All Rights Reserved."
Monday, August 1, 2022
Monday Meditations
mindful practices to nourish you throughout the day and week
Journal with no intention in mind. Spend three minutes and see what arises.
"© 2022 Jennifer J. Wilhoit/TEALarbor stories. All Rights Reserved."
Friday, July 29, 2022
Perspectives
I’m staring out at the thick-leaved cherry tree. The breeze catches the edge of a leaf, and spins it into an unrecognizable shape.
The Bully makes loud and unreasonable demands of a Stranger in a confined public space. Those who only hear the Bully’s words make an enemy out of the Victim. Those who can hear the entire conversation feel deep empathy, even fear, for the Stranger-Turned-Victim-Turned Friend.
It might be “compensation” but it is not “balance” to face a polarized view by standing on the opposite side, well-entrenched in the duality. It is possible that the arduous climb to the center is where balance lives. This is not mediocrity; it is equanimity.
I am stuck in a sharp edge within myself, crafting justifying stories that only make me feel worse. I decide: what if I didn’t care so much about that? And suddenly I feel the smooth, cool, polished surface of a curve where the prickliness just was.
One person marvels at a thriving hive of life; the others see infestation.
Standing at the bureau donning undergarments, I wish for abiding silence. Suddenly I realize that there is a cacophony of different bird songs entering the room. It is the opposite of quietness but as welcome and healing as the longed-for hush. I walk to the open window, which is enshrouded by the canopy of that same cherry tree from a prior stanza, and I am eye to eye with a chickadee and some other feathered body I cannot identify. The screen is the only thing standing in the several inches between eyelash and feather.
There is such a jagged, skeletal, and fragile line between Not-Knowing and Knowing. Like the thin veil between life and death.
Opening the front door, I bump into an unexpected wall of sea-scent. It turns my attitude one hundred and eighty degrees from anxiety to peace. Though they are not mutually exclusive like that.
(Orig. posted in 2016)
"© 2022 Jennifer J. Wilhoit/TEALarbor stories. All Rights Reserved."
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Image of the Week
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| "Immersion" |
"© 2022 Jennifer J. Wilhoit/TEALarbor stories. All Rights Reserved."
Monday, July 25, 2022
Monday Meditations
mindful practices to nourish you throughout the day and week
Sit as still and calmly as you can, relaxing your body; offer thanks to the parts of you that come into your awareness.
"© 2022 Jennifer J. Wilhoit/TEALarbor stories. All Rights Reserved."
Friday, July 22, 2022
What If Words Were ...
... paint: they'd slide wet and vibrant onto the canvas of meaning
... clay: they'd hold the shape of the potter's hands, a cupped vessel for wounds
... wood: they'd feel the lathe's rotation and swoon in delight at their transformation to new shape
... glass: they’d let in light and glow in brilliant hues
... yarn: they'd weave together into the most beautiful tapestry
... fabric: they'd flow and be stitched - bringing healing to the sick
... paper: they'd layer up into collaged experience, or lie flat and bound and potent
... leaves: they'd rustle and change colors and bud and inspire
... photos: they'd capture truth from time immemorial
(Orig. posted in 2017)
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Image of the Week
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| "Pre-Bloom Beauty" |
Monday, July 18, 2022
Monday Meditations
mindful practices to nourish you throughout the day and week
Recline outside and allow your eyes to gently rest on something pretty; empty your thoughts into that beauty.
"© 2022 Jennifer J. Wilhoit/TEALarbor stories. All Rights Reserved."
Friday, July 15, 2022
Little Story
As I was preparing dinner a few nights ago, my partner stepped outside with the garbage and said - “It feels like a tropical storm and it smells reall-y good.”
I joined him on the porch and inhaled deeply. It was a moment of lovely rejuvenation!
Just as I glanced up in the middle of a tension-shedding stretch, my eyes spotted and followed the resident osprey. During many sunsets, I’ve seen her tearing at her dinner high up on a particular naked limb she loves in the Douglas fir just across the road.
...And as I followed the flight path of the osprey, she flew right through a rainbow!
Gentle awareness is what offered the gift of the rainbow as well as the rain-scent.
I saw her again last evening: Osprey, loosing from her talons bits of her full-fish meal.
She reminds me to pay attention, to be softly open. She whispers the secret: I will lead you to beauty.
(Orig. posted in 2016.)
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Image of the Week
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| "Hooded Merganser Mama" |
"© 2022 Jennifer J. Wilhoit/TEALarbor stories. All Rights Reserved."
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