This might be one where you get a cuppa and put up your feet—there’s a lot going on around here. I heard many voices responding with, “Yes, indeed, around here too.” I know it’s a fast and often fraught time in lots of places, lots of the time. Fortunately, Practice assists us to remember that “fast and fraught” are in the mind (and nervous system) of the beholder, that such has ever been the case, and if it weren’t “this” “now” it would be some other “this” “now.” Did someone just moan, “But this is worse!”? Probably not. Whatever is deemed bad currently is usually seen as “worse than before.” All good stuff to pay attention to.
A couple of weeks ago in a freak accident on the Farm, my leg got caught between the downed tailgate of a truck and the hood of a car. I do not recommend it. The result is a squashed leg and two fractures, one at the ankle and one just above, and even less fun, a good-sized blood clot. The first x-ray wasn’t read correctly, and so for the first week I didn’t know it was broken. There I went, walking happily, and gingerly, around on what I thought was a sprained ankle. Then, with another x-ray, they found the two breaks. Finally, the doctor who found the breaks became concerned about a clot, sent me to get an ultrasound, arranged for me to see a specialist (all in about three hours), and they started rounding up the medications. Wonderfully kind and marvelously informed folk.
Now, I’m in hobble mode full-time. The thing they’re concerned about as they turn this around is another injury. On the one hand they assure a person that about half of the population of the U.S. is on blood thinners with no problems, and on the other hand, describe the necessity to get to the emergency room immediately should I get a nosebleed. (I get a lot of nose bleeds!)
I’m a very good patient. Everything they’re suggesting seems reasonable and manageable. It has occurred to me that this could be the slower pace, more time to meditate, more time to work on practice supports—workshops and retreats as well as the kinds of things I’ll be mentioning in this very communication. Fortunately, the Farm is in good shape and there are some very well-trained support staff folks to assist the Farmer with compost and weeding. I will miss being there as often as I’ve been and I’m supremely grateful that I got to have all the glorious Farm Days I’ve had. In the “Supremely Grateful” column we can also find, “that the injury wasn’t worse.”
A while back I got inspired by the courageous way our Sangha approaches some of life’s great challenges. I decided I wanted to interview some of them to learn how they do it. What sustains a person through some of the kinds of circumstances most people would hope never to encounter? Yes, I was pretty sure Awareness Practice is a big part of it, but how? How does it help?
I asked Laura if she would be willing to be our first interview and she agreed. I’ve always been in the role of the interviewed not the interviewer. There’s a lot to that job! So, in the recording I talk with Laura a bit about her life, and then about halfway through Ashwini and Laura have a conversation about the how. This is clearly not a professional endeavor and I don’t have any ambitions in that direction. I simply want to make available to others some of what I find so inspiring in people’s practice. If you would like to give it a listen, find it here. If you find it beneficial in any way, please let us know. If there are questions we didn’t ask that would make such a conversation more meaningful to you, again, let us know. We plan on releasing a series of such interviews with Sangha.
We had a suggestion a few days ago from a Sangha Steward for something she was calling, “Zen at Home: a Guide to Compassionate Living.” Her vision is to have, at first digitally and then possibly as an ebook, a reference guide for the many ways our practice approaches living in conscious awareness with the environment. There would be a write-up for a particular product we’ve vetted or a way of doing something that is kind to the planet, and we would do our best to make it simple and easy to acquire/master that. Here’s a link to the write-up from the Steward. Please let us know if you would like to be one of the three to five people who would be assisting with this project.
The Farmer is busy from early to late with Farm chores and has not had the time he’d like to get videos of our progress up on the YouTube channel. However, there is a new one introducing Jake the Snake. Here’s a link if you’d like to meet him.
The new “market garden” space is now deer-proofed. The fence will be planted with berries. More raised beds, like the ones in which the tomatoes are thriving, will be added from the clods of soil “harvested” from the drainage ditches that will be dug this winter.
Last year, one of our local Sangha discovered a very old, very neglected rose bush in a median strip near a shopping mall. She clipped some cuttings and a few of them “took.” She brought two to the Farm; one we placed up at the top of the nursery and the other down by the Buddha. They are some happy, happy roses! Here’s one of the first blooms.
And the Farm continues to bloom as well. Better said in photos than words!
In gasshō,
ch