![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_9131.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This morning first thing, I\u2019m standing at the kitchen sink
\nto brush my teeth,\u00a0 (yes, I am indeed a little strange)
\nI look out the window at the trumpet vine and up into the pine tree
\nand I marvel at the shimmering shiny pine needles
\nthe morning sunlight makes them look like glistening silver
\nfor some reason they make me think of dancers on a stage
\nhow very lovely,
\nas this thought passes through my head, I look out onto the garden
\nand when my gaze returns to the magical pine tree
\nthe light has changed
\nthe glistening has gone
\njust like that,\u00a0 I think to myself, wouldn\u2019t it have been a shame
\nto have missed
\nthis brief bit of
\nshine<\/p>\n
a very real consequence of a grateful heart and mindful living
\nis in noticing
\na pretty powerful side-effect, I believe, and also a pretty
\nwonderful one<\/p>\n
when I go out to feed the birds, I stop for a minute to feel the sun
\nit has been a bit of a cool start to the day
\nand cloudy
\nbut just then I notice,\u00a0 the sun is shining warm and bright
\non me
\nand I stop to let its warmth fill me
\nand here I take a deep cleansing breath, and I feel as if I haven\u2019t exhaled
\nfor a few days
\nan odd sort of feeling, I have been terribly stuffed up off and on for days (weeks really)
\nby rather rotten allergies
\nand breathing has felt a little like a struggle
\nhere in this moment,\u00a0 I cease my struggle and just softly,\u00a0 but fully I
\nexhale<\/p>\n
to noticing\u2026\u00a0 light
\nand
\nbreath<\/p>\n
I have been reading a book about the history of southern cooking and the people
\nto which it belongs, from whence it came,
\nfrom whence they came
\nAfrican American history and genealogy
\nat times fascinating and wonderfully rich, a great deal of time
\nhorrible and unfathomable
\nnever am I quite able to understand how a people, any people
\ncan look upon another human soul and think to themselves
\nOk,\u00a0 now I own you and you shall be treated this way
\nI don\u2019t know how it starts, I don\u2019t how it continues,\u00a0 it\u2019s just not something that sits with me
\nand ever in any way can it feel anything even remotely close
\nto right
\nand yet, so very sadly and even sadder,\u00a0 not so shockingly, it is the history
\nof so very many people
\nand I read, so that I
\nwill know<\/p>\n
will notice\u2026<\/p>\n
where I live we are in the midst of provincial elections
\nand as such we are being constantly bombarded by
\nh*te speech and attack adds
\nin the post, on the tv, radio, social media
\nnewspapers, phone calls
\non frantic repeat as deciding days come closer
\nincreasingly nasty, it is sometimes a struggle to not give in to cynicism
\nit’s tiresome and troublesome
\nand I wonder why we can never
\nfind a better
\nway<\/p>\n
to notice
\nproblems
\nto find
\nsolutions
\nto work for the people
\ninstead of just against
\neach other<\/p>\n
my husband getting ready for work,
\nstruggles to tie his tie neatly
\nor
\nto his liking
\nin my current mindset, I tell him
\nyou need to go gently
\nto not fight against it
\nit will go better<\/p>\n
he seems to ignore my \u2018hippy-dippy-words-of-wisdom\u2019
\nbut before long, the tie is tied
\nand he is looking very sharp<\/p>\n
now this,\u00a0 I always notice\u2026
\nlove<\/p>\n
after her goes,
\nI make myself a cup of tea
\nand go out to sit with the birds
\nin the great balm that is my garden
\nin the
\nsunshine and gentle breeze
\nI watch the clouds
\nI watch the fish,
\nthe cardinals and the blue jays
\nI watch a rather joyous assortment of baby birds
\nas they come and go
\non new found fluffy wings
\nI watch the squirrels, who do seem rather grateful for the offering of nuts
\nin the feeder
\nI watch the light as it shines and the shadows on the snowballs
\nI listen to bird calls, squirrel scolds
\nand airplanes over head
\nI watch a dragonfly, and a bee
\nand tiny bits of fluff as they dance around me<\/p>\n
I think about kindness,\u00a0 and unkindness
\nand just how important it can be
\nto notice
\nwhere it is we find ourselves In this<\/p>\n
I think about knowledge and understanding
\nand the necessity
\nof
\nboth<\/p>\n
and then,
\nI turn my face to the sun
\nI close my eyes
\nsinking into my heart
\nI smile
\nfill myself with light
\nand offer up
\nmy gratitude
\nthen<\/p>\n
deeply, \u00a0I inhale,\u00a0 Love
\nand gently
\nI exhale,<\/p>\n
peace\u00a0 \u2665<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"