May all beings be surrounded by love

From Artist Lori Portka

My wish for you today,

May you always know you are loved.

Giving Challenge days 6 & 7

My sweet family

Day 6:  The gift of forgiveness for someone I love, for in forgiving another, you learn that forgiveness for your own mistakes is possible.

Day 7:  I'm doing various chores today for my family - laundry for my dh, cleaning a tub in my girls' bathroom, and planning good things to eat for the week (AND doing the shopping).  Small gifts, but from a place of love.


These were the words on my green tea bag tag this morning, a small blessing I pass to you:

May you have love, 

kindness

and compassion 

for all 

living things.

Why Thay?

Every day we are engaged in a miracle we don't even recognize.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

I often quote Thay, or relate some idea from one of his books, read over and over again, and many times my listener has never heard of him.  Never heard of sunshine & water, I think to myself?

For anyone who doesn't know his teaching, here's a few places to start:  The River, Plum Village, and Thay speaking of the mindfulness.

Why I come back to Thay again and again:  in his presence I feel peace, I feel truly myself, I can breathe, I am reminded of my connection to you, to the world, to every thing, it's easy to smile and I feel refreshed and my compassion cup is refilled.  He has taught me not to run away, but to look inside.

I love how happy he appears in every photo, even if he's not smiling.

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
~Thay

  

Gratitude

On my facebook page a friend commented in a homeschool discussion that homeschool families typically fit a very narrow profile.  We can afford to make the choice to teach our own children because we are socio-economically privileged and that it's not a viable choice for most parents.  True perhaps although my family is hardly what anyone would call privileged.  So in typical monkey mind fashion I began mentally listing all of the "do withouts" in our family.  Everything everyone else has that we don't, etc.  Yuck.  You can guess how I started feeling pretty quickly.

So instead, I changed my mind about what that statement means to me.  Here's my list of all of the amazing wondrous privileges of our lives together, learning together.

I get to see my children grow and learn and participate fully in their lives.  Every day there is some moment of wonder.  Today Katy heard some little sis piano practice and swelled with pride when we shared together about how much her own practice has improved.

We are free.  Really free.  Today we can sit at the table and learn about viruses and make virus models.  Tomorrow we can jump in the car and head to Jellystone to study the crazy Archaebacteria living in the hot pots.  We can sleep in.  We can stay up until 1 am to see the meteors.  We can practice handstands in the yard at 10:30 am on a Thursday.  Few people anywhere in their lives have the kind of openness that we relish.

My children can follow their own interests and have plenty of time to pursue them.  Because we are not bound by curriculum or standarized testing we can devote time to puppy raising and dog agility, to growing our garden, to learning about raising chickens, photography - all rich and valuable topics full of amazing learning for my kids.  We do math and writing and social studies too, but it's fun to be able to do it creatively.

If we want to spend a lot of time on a particular subject, we can!  If we want to race through, we can!

We have so much fun together, not bound by time, desk, curricula, tests, schedules.....

We aren't bound by someone else's idea of what children should learn.  We read Thich Nhat Hanh, Gandhi, stories of the Saints, we talk about ethics and morality, problem solve about conflicts together.  I give my children plenty of room for the nuances and complexities of life, rather than rules in black and white, one size fits all.  We can let go of our judgment of others (at least we try hard) because we are happy doing what's right for our family.  We have the luxury of feeling safe each and every day.

We can use the benefits of the public schools - speech therapy (our teacher is awesome), and leave behind the waiting in line, the bullying, the crappy lunches.

I get to learn everything they are learning!

Are we privileged?  ABSOPOSITUTELY.  I will gladly drive a car as old as my teenager and forgo eating out and live in a teeny tiny house in a not so posh neighborhood........in return for all of the above and then some.  What an amazingly lucky deal.  Privilege?  Yeah, I guess so.

Thursday for Thay

Blessed Earth Day!

Because I believe only compassion can heal our planet and people, in honor of this day: 

Thor is the Norse god of thunder, of lightning, and the origin of our word "Thursday".  Thich Nhat Hanh is little Buddhist monk and spiritual teacher from Viet Nam.  When I read Thay ("teacher", as he is known to his students), I feel the power of a lightning bolt striking and a rumble of thunder within me.  He awakens the compassionate center and calls me to action.

Each Thursday I will share a teaching  from Thay.  

This week:  mantras for your beloved one, your partner.

Mantras for the Beloved One

1. Darling, I'm here for you. 
2. And I'm very happy.
3. Darling, I know you are suffering.  That is why I am here for you.

"To be loved means to be recognized as existing.  You embrace your beloved with mindfulness.  These mantras can bring happiness right away" simply by acknowledging your beloved one with your presence.