Into The Heart of Wonder

Last evening as I sat in my rocking chair near the window to the river, I opened myself to a review of the week. What had I done? What had I seen? What had I felt? Images of joy in young faces, scents of life opening, sounds of water, the taste of sweetness on the tongue, the inner knowing that I have witnessed beauty in each day moved through me. As I paused in my reflection and gazed out the window, there before me was a mamma deer suckling her fawn. In that poetic moment, I realized that all the feelings, images, scents and sounds and tastes were reflected here.

I don’t know what the moment was when we felt that we became a deer preserve and maybe it is just for this summer. For the 25 years we have lived here we have seen deer, but I have also felt frustration and adversarial feelings toward them as they have treated my yard and gardens as their daily salad bar with ever increasing bravery and audacity like eating my coleus at the front door when we were away for a week.

This year we are traveling more frequently, and I made the decision to not plant any annuals, no hanging baskets, no potted plants. I would rely only on the perennials and natures green. Not protecting has been a joy. Allowing grazing has been a gift of wonder. To see the once spotted fawn now a mother of twins. To welcome the stranger rather than worry about what they are taking. To rejoice in what they bring and ponder their needs.

For while this home has been on this land for close to 35 years, the paths created along the river, from the protected ravine to our house and the river, from the river up the hill to our land, have been traveled for generations allowing the bear, the woodchuck, racoon, fox, and deer a road to trek. There is a sense of freedom I feel in allowing and not claiming. To sit in silence and watch, witness, observe life’s poetry before me. To welcome its teachings. To dig deep into the heart of wonder.

You are joy and peace
all wonder is found in you
Eat now from life's feasts!

“The object of the artist and spiritual life is to dig for the submerged sunrise of wonder.”

G. K. Chesterton

“Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry move through and be silent.”

Rumi

Ongoing Resource List: Reading the the Mind and the Heart

• The Gene Keys: Emracing Your Higher Purpose by Riuchard Rudd
• Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Inform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
• A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
• Energy Speaks: Messages from Spirit on Living, Loving, and Awakening by Lee Harris
• Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create an New One by Dr. Joe Dispenza
• The Women by Kristin Hannah
• Cosmogenesis: An Unveiling of the Expanding Universe by Brian Thomas Swimme
• The Mastery of Love, Don Miguel Ruiz
• Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao, by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
• God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, by Mirabai Starr
• The Four Agreements: A Toltec Book of Wisdom by Don Miguel Ruiz
• Mindfulness and Grief by Heather Stang
• How We Live Is How We Die by Pema Chödron
• The Bhagavad Gita, Translated by Eknath Easwaran
• St Francis of Assisi: Brother of Creation by Mirabai Starr
• Wild Wisdom Edited by Neil Douglas-Klotz
• Earth Prayers From Around The World, Ed by Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon
• The Tao of Relationships by Ray Grigg
• Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue
• Unconditional Love and Forgiveness by Edith R. Stauffer, Ph.D.
• Keep Going: The Art of Perseverance by Joseph M. Marshall III
• Art & Fear by David Bayless & Ted Orland
• Quantum-Touch by Richard Gordon
• The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Persons Path Through Depression by Eric Maisel, PhD
• The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
• Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris
• Forever Ours: Real Stories of Immortality and Living by Janis Amatuzio
• Personal Power Through Awareness by Sanaya Roman
• Violence & Compassion by His Holiness the Dahlai Lama
• Teachings on Love by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Devotions by Mary Oliver
• To Bless the Space Between Us by John O’Donohue
• Meditations From the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison
• The House of Belonging: poems by David Whyte
• Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness, by Jon Kabat-Zinn
• The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
• Soul an Archaeology Edited by Phil Cousineau
• A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield
• Listening Point by Sigurd Olson
• I Sit Listening to the Wind by Judith Duerk
• Dancing Moons by Nancy Wood
• The Soul of Rumi, Translations by Coleman Barks
• Keep Going by Joseph M. Marshall III
• Arriving at your own Door by Jon Kabat-Zinn
• The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
• The Hidden Secrets of Water by Paolo Consigli
• Conquest of Mind by Eknath Easwaran
• Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay
• Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
• I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) by Brene Brown
• Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chodron
• When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron
• On Death and Dying by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
• Unattended Sorrow by Stephen Levine
• Joy in Loving, Mother Theresa
• The Joy of Living by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
• Let Your LIfe Speak by Parker Palmer
• Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh
• The Essence of the Upanishads by Eknath Easwaran
• Welcoming the Unwelcome by Pema Chodron
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through The Ways Of Animals by Jamie Sams and David Carson