Self Care for Trumpsters and Hillary Lovers

It's a new day, have faith my comrades. Everything once shaken up, eventually settles. Can we hold the possibility of perhaps being pleasantly surprised? Populations of American voters are self-professed dissatisfied and cast their vote for a change in status quo. Can our practice of peace see past left and right, democrat and republican, black and white, woman and man to listen with compassion and understanding?

In these days following the election, we have riots, protests, cry-ins, safety pin movements. Me, I sat with my community the morning following the election, had dinner with my dear beloveds and opened books of poetry. In all these acts of nourishment, there is pure wisdom that guides through any "perceived storm":

"I once asked a bird,
how is it that you fly
in this gravity of darkness?
The bird responded, 'Love lifts me?'"

~Hafiz, The Gift

Bowing to Veggie Broth!

Happy November everyone! This month's theme is mindful consumption and in LTMC we're exploring how we consume the four kinds of nutriments: edible foods, sense impressions, volition and consciousness. This first week of November will focus on edible foods, heck with just finishing our Halloween goodies, we're up for this, right?! To water the seeds of mindful consumption, I wished to share a Veggie Broth recipe that's delicious, nutritious and simple. I used to feel bad about carrot peels, tomato tops and other veggie scraps that were thrown away, knowing there MUST be something I could do with these edible offerings (composting is not an option in bear territory :). Then, while interpreting a Broth's Culinary Class an insight was introduced, so simplistically beautiful the recipe is one delicious sentence:

Freeze all veggie scraps (except potato peels and eggplant) in a zip lock bag until full, place in a pot, cover with water and simmer around 45 minutes, then voila! golden, nutritious veggie broth!

"All" veggie scraps, literally means anything: onion skins, broccoli stems, leaves of cauliflower--everything! Actually, one other exception...I did find lettuces not so edible but spinach stems and leftover herbs work great. The other nightshades, tomatoes and peppers, are fine. Peppers add kick, so be forewarned. I use my veggie broth for all my rice dishes which are often Mexi, so the peppers work for me. Spices such as salt are best added after stock has been strained and placed in containers. These can be frozen and removed as needed.Veggie Broth is good for all soups, chilis and in place of water in most instances. One of my favorite ways to consume it is to add salty V8 juice, more whole veggies and eat as a quick, nutritious soup. Now when it comes to preparing veggies, I'm one happy, grateful girl....

Mindfully consuming the scraps of veggie friends,
I smile,
knowing I use everything Mama Earth
so generously offers.

Step Into Nature's Paint Palette

This week in Mindfulness Community (LTMC) we're studying the 5th Mindfulness Training: Nourishment and Healing. Over the last two days I've had a visceral experience of this by way of the rain. After many months of drought it's a blessing to soak in and appreciate the moisture, literally sitting with the sight, sound, smell and touch as well as enjoying walking meditation in nature's paint palette, splashed in the colors of fall and being nourished and healed big time! The 5th Mindfulness Training discusses mindful consumption but not only confined to food. It expands to nourishing our sense impressions, volition (North Stars) and consciousness. In community we discussed media and how its bombardment can be all consuming. What are ways in which the influx of information we absorb can ensure we're sustained and inspired, versus depleted? Please email thoughts or visit LTMC's FB page. We're just beginning our exploration. Take a peek at this week's training and consider joining LTMC as the discussion and practice will be insightful these next few weeks: 

Fifth Mindfulness Training: Nourishment and Healing

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I will practice looking deeply into how I consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments, namely edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. I am determined not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs, or any other products which contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programs, films, magazines, books, and conversations. I will practice coming back to the present moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing and nourishing elements in me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past nor letting anxieties, fear, or craving pull me out of the present moment. I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other suffering by losing myself in consumption. I will contemplate interbeing and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and the Earth.*

*The Five Mindfulness Trainings, Plum Village Mindfulness Practice Centre, Thich Nhat Hanh

Creepy Crawlies, Save Us!

A mindfulness practice in looking deeply into the experience of another...what great fun! Enjoy below or watch poetry read on YouTube. 

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
©October 24, 2016 Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

Late 1600’s, 

a Dutchman sewing drapes
on a quest to see and understand the quality of thread,
held glass to flame, pulled apart whiskers of filament
and fashioned a sphere of magnificence
far surpassing any enlargement known to man.

You, most Curious One, then positioned magnifying orb
to capture a drop of rain,
slid it within an elegant copper frame,
and held it toward the sun…
In that moment, instant epiphany—‘Animalcules!’—
“Tiny Animals,” wriggled beneath said looking glass:
diminutive muscle fibers, blood pulsing capillaries,
vibration of smallest life, as of yet unseen.

Brilliant Antoni,
artist and businessman,
in an instant turned charlatan,
became a self-proclaimed scientist.
Your professed “wonders of God’s creation,” were openly ridiculed,
mold, lice and bees scoffed as insignificant,
varmints to exterminate rather than understand. 

After many years fraught with scientific struggle 

Royal Society vindicated and affirmed your name.
Antoni,
“Father of Microbiology,”
please help us see
clearly and deeply
the enchanting,
arresting,
miraculous
quality of all life—
Eyes-the-looking-glass,
capture the merit
and illuminate its worth. 

Spilling Over Gratitude....

A Snapshot of FR Short Property
LTMC Fall Retreat 2016
©Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

Practicing with the theme of, “Vibration,”
we are blessed with the fourth day of a major storm.
Thirsty Momma Earth models the way—
yield all hardness to steady rain
as LTMC drives onto Glenbrook lane.
Stuffed to the gills in three cars,
oooos and aaahhhhs abound:
crimson maples, flaming aspens,
rain-slicked black asphalt, backdrop to color.

A parked Model T Wagon reminds,

we’ve entered a portal of time….

Turn right onto the drive,
all eyes on Ancient Cottonwoods,
glistening limbs spread up and out,
welcoming canopy,
having deposited golden gifts upon the lawn—
miniature treasure piles
for our discovery.

Walk up porch steps,
shed our many layers
as flow like a river
we arrive inside
glass-room sanctuary.

Heart-to-heart hugs, smiles, profusion begins.
Sound of the bell,
settling in.
One-eyed leather turtle
an endearing ottoman for damp feet.
Turn him toward center, so he too can see.

Pitter, patter gentle penetration
builds to gale force winds,
but at FR Short—we become the eye of the storm….

Walking meditation, inside? Heck no!

We are Tahoe born, bundle up and out we go,
step into nature’s palette:
splashed with scarlet, gold, russet,
Lake gray, pier brown, wet sand,
hold hands, stay warm.
Back inside we go,
aglow.

Sound the bell,
tea in hand,
back to sanctuary.
Pitter patter flows into lunch:
5 Contemplations with a vegan spread—
out of this world lip smacking!

Our compassion nourished, it’s time for a nap,
total relaxation with the Discourse on Love:
“senses calm, we dwell in tranquility…
safe, protected from inner and outer harm…
cultivating love without obstacles,
hearts free…
living with ease and grace….”

Native drum comes out in force,
to en-force
Momma’s one drumbeat beneath our feet,
synchronized mallets and voice push prayers out:
health, well-being, these people want to live.
Sing ourselves into submission—Inter-beauty—
from the tops of heads to the soles of feet.
We acknowledge our teachers, ancestors
those who fanned our sparks so we may shine.

Vibrating hearts in unison:
October 16—FR Short property,
everything here gentles, “wake up!”
Gratitude in our marrows
as we generate peace, compassion, understanding,
so we may maintain peace, compassion, understanding.

How?
One simple, adoring word—Community.

"It's such a good vibration...It's such a sweeeeeet sensation!"

"Can you feel it baby...I can too! Come on, come on, swing it, swing it! Bringin' this to the entire nation: black, white, red, brown, feel the vibration!" Then, Loleatta Holloway's powerful voice penetrates the air, "It's such a good vibration...it's such a sweeeeet sensation..." Ooooooo, yes it is!

When I think of October's theme of "Vibration," Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch slips in with their song Good Vibrations. Theme song for our October Retreat  perhaps???!!!??? Bet you can't listen without tapping your feet....

Oct. 2 Tahoe's first snowfall! Happy Bunnies!

Vibration also has me thinking of the incredible scientifically proven ability of our hearts to pump out positive vibes. Heartmath Institute has shown that our hearts radiate an electrical current 5-8 feet from our marvelous centers, influencing all other beating hearts around us. When we generate non-violence, peace and compassion within ourselves (and FOR ourselves) this current literally permeates out and creates many happy hearts. The same is true of emotions like grief, sadness, anger, or despair. These too influence the physical electrical currants of those in our vicinity. Sing it, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch: "Rhymes will groove you and I'm here to prove to you...pump positive vibes!" If the power of the heart intrigues you, please read these related IC Blog articles.

What are you taking in and putting out? This is a mighty question for the month of October and the season of Fall when we're called to release what is no longer bearing fruit and go within for transformation. What's your vibration, ya'all? Hit it..."So come along for the ride...making you feel the rhythm is my occupation!"

I look most forward to the theme of "Vibration," this month and all the insights it will bring. LTMC hopes to see you at October's Fall Retreat where we'll be pumping out all things beautiful..."Come on, come on, feel it, feel it! Feel the vibration!"

Ordinary Magic

Magical September days are unfolding. I've been home from Deer Park Retreat a week now and was corresponding with a dear friend who was a travel companion about our transition back. We both agreed that we continue to feel nurtured and held by community.

Thich Nhat Hanh, alongside Martin Luther King Jr., have made establishing beloved community their life's work. Both men have been instrumental in my practice of peace and the idea that every moment provides a practice opportunity. It doesn't matter if we're in retreat, at work, knee deep in the mundane or  steeped in the holy; in fact, there's no differentiation. This brings me to dish washing, yes, dish washing! It's something I do every day, but I notice myself sometimes rushing through it so I can move onto the next something.

Guess what work group I was placed in during the Deer Park retreat? Yep, dish washing. Everyday I worked within the collective mindfulness of my team and we assisted with washing dishes for over 200 people. Such occurrence, the opportunity to be so perfectly held in community, is what I now refer to as--The Miracle of Mindfulness.

Here's another example of the Miracle of Mindfulness and beloved community--as you may know, the September Inner Constellation monthly theme is "Magic." This morning, I reached for a book on my shelf that I had purchased after moving from my childhood home in PA. Back then, I was wet behind the ears, having arrived in Florida to begin college. I had stumbled into a tiny bookstore crammed with all variety of, well...variety. A book title jumped out--Ordinary Magic: Everyday Life as Spiritual Path. So I purchased it, and then it sat on my book shelf over the years, somehow avoiding my regular weeding out routine. I just kind of held onto it, never having read it until this month when I needed inspiration for our theme of "Magic." I turned to the first author in this anthology and I find Thich Nhat Hanh! His contribution is entitled, "Sunshine and Green Leaves," and do you know what he wrote about? Yep, dish washing! Another Miracle of Mindfulness wherein I am gently guided by community. So with gratitude, in this same spirit of community, I offer the following gatha (practice poem), inspired by dear Thich Nhat Hanh, Deer Park, my dish washing team, the Lotus Root :), and the aspiration of practicing peace in every moment:


9/26 InnerConstellation.com Blessing*: Washing Dishes

Hot water, fragrant soap, sponge,
movement of my hands
and strong legs to stand--
each are precious miracles.

©Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

May each dish you wash today, nourish you completely as you love and care for yourself, your loved ones and your community.


*Inner Constellation Blessings are short, sweet little ditty's to inspire your practice. They are my gift to you, sent via email Mon-Fri. If you would like to receive, please contact me.