Focusing on Gratitude

Tags

attitude, expectation, focus, gratitude, thankfulness, thanksgiving

As I slowly emerged from the unusually deep stillness and peace brought to my heart by the Saturday morning meditation, one of my first thoughts was that of gratefulness for the experience. It isn’t every morning that I have an effortless transition from waking up and walking up to the meditation room, relaxing the body and mind, focusing on the heart, and then going into nothingness. The truth is that, more often than not, the body won’t relax or the mind won’t still the thought parade or the storm will be clattering on the windows or the birds will be chirping or one of the puppies will wake up and start barking or…

You get the idea. One makes time and space, one practices the techniques with the best of intentions, and yet, the outcome isn’t what we expect. The ‘perfect’ meditation experience is often more elusive than one wants it to be, and it has taught me one thing over time — be grateful for them all. I have taught myself that, at the end of the meditation session, no matter the resulting condition of my heart and mind, I am going to smile and say ‘thank you’ for the opportunity to participate. With this focus on gratitude, regardless of the outcome, I have taken the pressure off of myself, my body, mind and heart, and redefined the ‘ideal’ outcome of every meditation session.

What has been the ‘side-effect’ of this redefined focus on ‘gratitude for the opportunity’ to participate? I tend to now approach many tasks, old and new, exciting and mundane – even the ones that I was ‘meh’ about, with a different attitude. Unloading the dishwasher? Mowing the grass? Going to the post-office? Walking the dogs in miserable-looking weather? Sure. More often than not, the tasks take on a new hue of Joy, when I remember to focus on the fact that I have been called upon, and have the ability to do my minuscule part in the moment.

I believe that once we bring gratitude into our everyday actions, give it a home in our daily existence, its energy has the potential to radiate into many, if not all areas of our lives. With a focus on gratitude, we will radiate joy to all who come in our path, because our “heart’s eyes will remember to focus on the goodness, gentleness, kindness, and friendliness” that resides in all.

It’s time to brew another pot of tea, turn on some holiday music, and get ready for the day. I am grateful for hot water and tea leaves and the sunshine on this cold day. What has your experience been with ‘focusing on gratitude’?

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly gathering and twitter chat, Sunday Nov 20 at 9amET / 2pmGMT in #SpiritChat. I look forward to your sharing, and am grateful for our community that radiates light to all. Happy Thanksgiving week to all! Namaste. – @AjmaniK

Flowers teach us to focus on our center… the home of gratitude

Sources of Light

Tags

celebration, inner journey, light, sources

It was one of those mid-October weeks in Northeast Ohio where autumn decided to dip its toes, and then both its feet into winter for four days or so. Cold, overcast, heavy rain mixed with sleet and a bit of snow, and all the heaviness that such weather tends to bring with it. This state lasted from Monday to late Thursday, and but by Friday morning, you would be forgiven if you landed here from a different city and remarked on the beautiful fall we were experiencing!

The advent of light, particularly when it brings warmth with it after an unseasonal cold snap, does wonders for the body and the mind. Even the trees shedding their leaves seem to breathe a sigh of relief, for they get to slow down in the light to process the inner and outer changes that are happening within them.

Light creates opportunities for transition and transformation within us. Perhaps that is the root cause of our heart, mind and body’s attraction to it? The external sources of light like the sun, moon, stars, auroras, comets and their like create a sense of hope and permanence within us, don’t they? Are we not inspired and awed by the light in the images of distant galaxies revealed by the James Webb and Hubble telescopes? In search of light sources near and far, humans have looked upwards and beyond for millennia. That is the beauty and attraction of light, not just for humans, but for every living being, for light is said to be the sustainer of all life.

Those of us who have practices that prompt us to regularly look within ourselves, are also familiar with our visits with the light within us. Direct experiences of the light within us often create as tremendous joy, sense of peace, and awareness of the Source. As our practice of looking within evolves, we may shift focus to the Source — beyond the light itself. It is when we realize that the inner light is actually an invitation to focus on the source, we open up opportunities to arrive at stillness, the bliss beyond joy, and yes, even deeper space than the galaxies that the telescopes have yet to discover.

The beauty of our inner experiences with the source(s) of light is that they are not subject to the weather or external variations of Nature or scientific instruments. With practice, we can create our own inner conditions of experiencing the nature of the light within, and the nature of the infinite that lies beyond it. Every sunrise, every new season can be a reminder that the invitation to explore the light within us is ever-present.

What will it take for us to accept the invitation? What are some sources of light, external and internal, for you? What is created within you, by you, in the presence of light? ? The answers for each of us are different. May the source be our guide, and may we be explorers of light.

Kumud

P.S. Join us in our weekly twitter gathering and conversation in #SpiritChat, Sunday Oct 23 at 9amET / 1pmGMT / 630pm India. We will talk about light, its sources, its effects on us, and maybe even light a candle to start the ‘Diwali Festival of Lights’ 🪔 ~ AjmaniK

The Festival of Lights (Diwali) returns this week…

On Paths of Union

Tags

awareness, spiritual practice, union, walking

There is an instant affinity and connection when stepping into the trail. A distinct sense of being welcomed with joy, even by the mosquitoes! A sense of delight in the meeting, in the coolness of the slate-lined river bank and the breeze and the ocean of green come ashore. A sense of peace in the silent flow of the river whose bottom can be clearly seen in this late afternoon in the light of the filtered sun that remove all your troubles so that you can focus on the expanse of the invitation that lies in front of you…

And then, after you have spent at least a half hour playing among the stones of the river bed, weaving in the trails and bathing in the foliage of the forest, the river-side offers you a place to pause and rest. You gratefully accept. As you sit on the trail bench, there is something about the slant of sunlight on the trees, and the river’s peace, that prompts you to do a first-time-ever evening meditation in that space. The path has unfolded before you.

You are sitting amid the noise of the traffic and people walking on the trail behind you… and yet, after a while, all you hear primarily is the river rustling by and the wind whispering among the trees. The sun filters through the trees behind you and sends warm currents up and down your spine. And then, after what seems like an eternity, and yet is actually less than a dozen minutes, it happens.

You remember Dad and his ability to submerge into stillness and silence in the midst of it all. You realize that That is what he was communicating to you all that time, on all those days-long train trips across India, the road trips in the far reaches of the Himalayas, when as a child you wished that he would speak more words of wisdom into you. He was showing you that the path to a higher Union, the path to awareness, truth and bliss, goes through the deep silence and stillness that quietens the waves created by the “mind stuff” — the path that Patanjali defines as the practice of Yoga.

Pay attention. Do your workings in and for the world, but also do the work needed to walk your path towards higher Union. That has been the message filtering into my heart over the past week or so, and re-iterated in Friday evening’s walk. I am grateful to be sharing the loving message with you. Namaste.

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly gathering and twitter chat, Sunday June 19 at 9amET / 1pmGMT / 630pm India. I will bring some tea, fruit and questions – you bring your favorite walking shoes 🙂 – AjmaniK

P.P.S To all who are celebrating, Happy Father’s Day and Happy Juneteenth on June 19. International Yoga Day and Summer Solstice is June 21. Get ready 🙂

The walk is rarely easy… and yet, always worth it! (Rocky River Reservation, Ohio)

On Spiritual Stress Tests

Tags

challenges, mental health, resilience, spirituality, stress

What a difference a week makes. As we take steps out of the shadow of the pandemic, we find ourselves in an equally long, if not longer shadow — the shadow of another Cold War. The stress levels for millions of people went up so rapidly that one could feel the energy shift palpably towards fear, angst, anxiety, grief and disorientation. By Thursday evening, my mind was perturbed enough that I decided to shut off the faucet for a day or so. It was time to take a ‘mental health’ day and try and restore a bit of inner peace. 

I didn’t really imagine that this unraveling would be happening in our world, and happening so quickly. We live in a hyper-connected world of supply chains, social media, travel, food and energy dependencies, global partnerships and more. I have been asking some questions. How did we get here? How prepared are we to cope with these unprecedented stresses? How can we support each other better in these times?

It seems like we are all being given a stress test of the mind, the heart and our spirit. It reminds me of engineering school, where we used to perform stress tests on materials to determine their ‘breaking point’. There were tensile tests to measure stretchability, compression tests for crushability, torsion tests for bendability, and more. In medical science, we have stress tests to assess the heart’s health and functionality. What serves as a good stress test for our spirituality? 

A good stress test will stretch us, bend us, squeeze us, and maybe even break us in some ways.  It will make us question the efficacy of our practices, our ability to maintain inner peace.  On my ‘mental health day’, I shut down social media, the news stayed off, and I stayed off the internet at large. These steps helped stanch the inflow of stress-producing inputs, and yet, it wasn’t enough to reduce the effect of the accumulated peace-disrupting thoughts from the week gone by. I realized that I had to do some additional work to start restoring my equanimity. 

The work began by adopting a contemplative attitude, by asking questions. How could I, as an individual, influence the outcomes of the events that were stress-testing my mind? This contemplation led me to regain some focus of those things that I could indeed influence through my actions. Regaining focus led me to ask — what are my core, go-to practices, that best help to calm my mind? The four-fold answer was relaxation, meditation, inner cleaning, and prayer. Any and all of these practices work well to help me de-escalate stress when my mind is under attack. 

In the past twenty four hours, every time my mind has tended to wander off into the field of stress-inducing thoughts, I have used my awareness to pause and contemplate. What can I control? How many details do I need to know? Is this bit of information a consumer or a contributor to my vital life-force? With every contemplation, I develop a higher sensitivity to what is happening outside and within me. With greater sensitivity, I feel that I have better answers to respond to life’s stress tests. With better answers, I can create better outcomes, trust myself more, and orient my awareness towards peace, which creates happiness. 

Maybe the occasional stress-test is a good thing. Maybe I need to be grateful for the gifts of courage and resilience that stress tests bring with them? They can help me give me a reality check on how much spiritual progress I am really making! I don’t know of any curriculum that will prepare me for all of life’s stress tests. Awareness that love, truth and inner peace are all worth fighting for — perhaps remembering that is preparation enough?

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly twitter chat with the #SpiritChat community, Sunday, March 6 at 9am ET / 2pm GMT. We hope to gather and share techniques to pass our stress-tests with flying colors. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Nature often uses symmetry to cope with her stresses… or so it appears…

On Spiritual Grounding

Tags

centering, equilibrium, grounding, healing, spirituality

This post was written on the day after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Like many of you, my heart and mind is having difficulty processing the events as they unfold. Reviewing my daily ‘grounding practices’, which are part of my broader meditation practice, is helping me return to some sense of equilibrium. Writing heals me, so I share these thoughts with you in the hope that they are somewhat healing for you too. Namaste.

The Friday morning walk around the lake went quicker than I had anticipated. On a fresh sheets of ice that fell overnight after all the snow had melted over the past few days, I walked with slow measured steps. Even though the path is familiar to me, and my muscle memory stands me in good stead, I learnt quickly not to step into the gray, for those are the thin ice areas with water underneath them.

As I walked the lake’s periphery, I wondered how I would cross the small valley that separates the East-facing section of the path from the west-facing one. The answer came as I was pleasantly surprised by the sight of the small, familiar, slightly broken, but still crossable bridge over the vale. As I started to cross over, the bottoms of the tall bushes entwined my feet, and the tops wrapped their arms around my chest through the heavy coat. I could not see much, what with the snowflakes whirling around in the breeze that carved icicles on my cheeks. I cannot explain it, but I did wonder – was this similar to the cold that those escaping the war half a world away were feeling? Who was giving them warmth and safety?

And yet, standing on the bridge lightly, holding my breath for a bit to absorb it all, shifting my attention to the earth as it began to flow all its love upwards through my feet, I felt a deep sense of grounding. All the cold and the gray and the starkness of the sunless winter morning dissolved around me. I even felt a momentary sense of warmth in connection with my core. The earth has a way of doing that to you – literally and emotionally and spiritually grounding you when you return to it. Have you felt such a grounding lately?

Yes, in the midst of our harsh winter days, it is hard to imagine that the sunflowers of spring will be here soon enough. And yet, from past experience, we know that they will. In the midst of the callous cowardice of those drunk on the desire for conquest, it is hard to imagine that courage and goodness still exist. And yet, from experience, we know that they do. In the midst of life pulling the rug from underneath our feet, it is hard to comprehend that the earth, the ground still exists. And yet, we know that it does, for we sit and stand and walk on it every single day, drawing energy and sustenance from it.

Let the sunflowers bloom within us. Let us plant their seeds of peace in the fertile soil of love. Let them be nourished by the waters of hope-driven action and the light of the rising sun. As the flowers bloom within, let us re-connect with the ground of truth, joy and awareness within us, as we recommit to kindness, empathy, and greater connection to all that which feeds our heart, mind and spirit.

What kind of world do we want to create within and without, for ourselves, our planet, and for future generations? Our choices about who we stand with, what we stand for, what ground we stand on, and what grounds us, will define us. The health of our faith, friends, families and futures depend on our attention to the ground we choose to walk. May we walk it with care, concern and courage.

Join me as I take one small step to ground myself in love, peace, light, lightness and the power of the energy flowing from the earth, again. We can create a better world with a single step. So, what’s stopping us?

Kumud

P.S. Join us in our weekly twitter gathering with the #spiritchat community, Sunday Feb 27 at 9amET / 730pm India. We will check in on each other over tea, cookies, and yes, some questions. Namaste – AjmaniK

Flowers remind me of the importance of staying grounded

Towards Detachment

Tags

action, attachment, desires, detachment, freedom, goals, inaction, letting go

I emerge from the morning meditation with the sense that I am sitting in a field of brilliant white light, on a mound of white flow snow, warm as I can be… in reality, I am sitting on the floor, wrapped in my favorite comforter, with my eyes still closed as I can feel the brilliance of the morning outside. The hour has detached me from the external and transported me to a world within where I can experience deep stillness and silence, and even nothingness.

You may be familiar with the story of the catching of the spider monkeys in the tropics rainforests. The monkey’s favorite fruit is put in a bottle, whose mouth is just wide enough to fit the monkey’s open hand. The monkey grasps the fruit, but now his fist is too wide to retract through the neck of the bottle. All the monkey has to do to regain his freedom is to open his fist and let go of the fruit. And yet, his desire for the fruit is overwhelming, that he won’t let go — and the trappers have their catch.

In some ways, we live our lives like spider monkeys, driven by our dominant desires in the current stage of our life. We set goals, make plans and take action — driven by our attachment to the ‘fruit in the bottle’. We think that we are different than the spider monkey because we are smart enough not to be trapped by our attachments. And yet, the degree and frequency of fear, anger, anxiety, expectations and such that we experience speaks to our lack of detachment, doesn’t it?

So what is one to do to ‘break the glass’ and regain one’s freedom from the trap of our ever-multiplying desires? The Bhagavad Gita advises – “Do the work to the best of your ability, and let go of the desire to control the results.” This is the classic “letting go” approach to life, which is more often than not, much easier said than done, isn’t it?

In addition, some often (mis)interpret the “let go of the results” advice as an excuse for inaction! If I am to let go of my goals and results, why would I bother to perform any action anyway? The Bhagavad Gita clarifies – “Let not your giving up of the fruit of action, make you attached to inaction!”

As Swami Vivekananda summarizes – “Let your ideal be – work for work’s sake, love for love’s sake, duty for duty’s sake.” Let go of the fruit, do your best work, and be not attached to inaction. If we can imprint the ideal of ‘love for love’s sake’ in our heart, we can walk lightly the path of detachment that leads to true freedom — the sweetest fruit of all.

Kumud

P. S. Join us for our weekly gathering and chat in #Spiritchat twitter, Sunday Jan 30 at 9amET / 2pm GMT / 730pm India. Namaste ~ AjmaniK

The rose blooms… for love’s sake…

On Spiritual Shifts

Tags

change, habits, heart, shift, transition

Brilliant sunshine. It is a welcome and wonderful start to the day, after days of waking up to overcast skies. I have slept in a bit, and the slight shift on this Saturday means that the sun is already streaming its golden rays on the light dusting of snow on the roofs in the distance, as I finish my morning meditation. I crack open the window a bit and the morning song of the birds comes flooding in with the rush of really cold air and the light of the moon that hasn’t set yet.

On the surface, it doesn’t seem like much, and yet, the combination of small shifts in external light and sounds from a mere twenty four hours ago, seems to have a significant effect on me in this waking hour. As I absorb it all, I ask if the small shift in one single aspect of my daily evening practices is having an outsized impact on my inner state the following morning?

From experimentation and observation, the answer seems to be an unqualified yes. My meditation journal tells me that I am currently on an ‘eight day streak’ of ‘evening cleaning’. It is a simple, fifteen minute practice of a ‘wholesale cleaning’ of the accumulated inner detritus of the day, every day. It is akin to brushing your teeth before going to bed at night, so the bacteria doesn’t grow in the warm petri-dish of your mouth while you sleep.

A small shift. Imagine ‘brushing out’ all the thoughts, words and actions that leave ‘crud’ within your heart, during the daily flow of normal life. Imagine doing this every single night, before you got to bed. What would the state of your heart be, when you wake up the next day? A bit cleaner, just like your cleaner teeth, I imagine?

It has taken be the better part of five years, to make this small shift. I have read and heard about the benefits of ‘cleaning’, over and over again, for five long years — and I am finally putting it into some kind of regular practice. And the shift within is noticeable!

Is there some small shift that you have been meaning or planning to make in your life, but for whatever reason, haven’t made yet? What is it that will inspire you to take action, make that change? For me, it was the realization that I had perhaps ‘plateaued’ in my inner growth, that made me ask – what is missing in my practice? It was sitting there, staring at me, right in front of my face. Evening cleaning – yes, of the teeth and if the heart.

I invite you to find your small shift within, whatever it may be, and then take action. Know that there is no such thing as a ‘small action’. Let not another evening (or year) go by, without making the shift that whispers to you. Start today, build up a streak, keep track of the effects, and observe how the small shift is creating big course corrections for you.

Who knows. You may discover that it doesn’t take much of a shift for the heart to open just a bit wider and the light to flow brighter.

Kumud

P. S. Join us for our weekly twitter chat, Sunday Jan 23 at 9amET / 730pm India with the #SpiritChat community. We will share about our inner and outer shifts. Namaste ~ @AjmaniK

A small shift in light helps bloom this flower (Brazil)

On Inner Conditions

Tags

awareness, heart, spiritual practice, spirituality

Snowflakes! I am waking up to snowflakes! This was my first thought as I emerged from the stillness and peace that has enveloped me in today’s hour of meditation — a habit that has sustained me well for the past few years, and greatly helped improve my overall inner condition.

Meditation has inspired an attitude that distracts me from pessimism and orients me towards the unfettered beauty of the inner and outer world that I live in. It inspires me to be mindful of, and mind my ‘inner condition’, as reflected by the state of my heart. Meditation has guided me to love those who are easy to love, and be patient with those who aren’t so easy to love.

With sustained practice, it’s easy to be in a condition of equanimity when we are by ourselves. And yet, we live and engage with a world of people with hugely varying states of ‘inner conditions’. My inner condition can thus change quickly, with worldly ‘triggers’. Sometimes , this happens as soon as I step out of my meditative state. So why even meditate, I used to ask? This, in turn, led me to ask more questions.

What are the sources of these triggers that disrupt my peaceful inner condition attained during meditation? Do these triggers repeat themselves? What additional work can I do, to preserve my meditative condition of lightness, as I traverse my daily worldly life?

As is often the case, the answers come from the heart’s being in a receptive, loving, observing condition. Be easy to love, and love with a light touch. Bring joy from a distance, and embrace lightly in connection. Celebrate your uniqueness as you delight in your travels. Dance in the wind, let it twist and twirl you along the way.

Ah. The lessons in observing the life and conditions of a snowflake!

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly twitter chat with the #SpiritChat community, Sunday January 16 at 9amET / 730pm India. There will be questions, tea and coffee, and yes, even some cake! – @AjmaniK

Snowflakes… teachers about our inner condition…

On Life and Simplicity

Tags

acceptance, friendliness, joy, kindness, simplicity

As I sit here on the first morning of the New Year, watching and hearing a new flock of geese landing in the lake to rest for the day, I cannot help but marvel at the simplicity of it all. My awareness of the simple things has been heightened over the final two weeks of December in various ways.

The first of the two weeks led me to vacation with the family in the Caribbean among sunrises, ocean tides, sandcastles, the full moon and much more. There were many hours of one on one time with family members, family conversations over dinner, and simply sitting around in each others energies while doing nothing.

I had the opportunity to experience some deeper-than-usual meditations, read some books, learn bits of Spanish, and immerse in the peace of the locals. And yes, there were the extraordinary long walks on the beach, some moments of which I shared through photos with all of you.

I did not bring back a single souvenir other than the sense of how deeply we are connected to the elements — a connection that often tends to gets lost in rush and noise of our daily lives. It is difficult to describe what happens within you when you watch the sunrises over the sea for seven straight mornings while the ocean roars at your feet, as you walk the beach watching the seagulls and pelicans gliding over the water, and the glistening of the reflections cast by the sun and the full moon.

Words cannot do simplicity justice for they can only attempt to describe the mind’s construct of thoughts and rarely capture the imprints on the heart. Perhaps there is a better way to preserve and grow such beautiful and rare moments of connection with nature, even when we are not in its presence on the beaches of the world?

This was the question that I asked myself in the final week of the year when time seemed to be passing in ultra-slow-motion. One answer that emerged was from the Yoga Sutras of  Patanjali, which describes four practices that can help to simplify our life by purifying our mind and heart.

Be kind to those suffering – practice Karuna or kindness.

Be joyful in the joy of others – practice Mudita  or joyfulness.

Be friendly to those who are friendly towards you – practice Maitri  or friendliness.

Be accepting towards those with malicious intent – practice Upeksha or acceptance.

These four simple practices can become the guideposts for our life’s journey. And yet, so often, we run into challenges with one or more of them on a daily basis, don’t we? Can you relate to any of these practices that are a challenge for you?

The invitation of simplicity is simple, but the acceptance and practice of it is often made complex by our mind-thought-word-action system of living. We know that simplicity can be as simple as giving free reign to the heart, and yet we often walk away from it as we stay entangled with the mind and its complexities.

Perhaps the advent of the New Year can help bring us closer to simplicity, as we accept its invitation, one day at a time. Maybe we can say yes to four simple practices – to kindness, to joyfulness, to friendliness, and to acceptance.

Kumud

P.S. Join us in our weekly gathering with the #SpiritChat community on twitter, Sunday January 2 2022 at 9amET / 730pm India. We will consider the invitation of simplicity as we step into the New Year. Namaste – @AjmaniK

A flower’s simplicity… in December

Heart Paths and Practices

Tags

awareness, distractions, heart matters, mind, practices, spirituality

Some autumn mornings start off cold, dark, gray and wet, and mostly stay that way. The state of the outdoors really ought not to matter much to our indoor practices; and yet, our mind is adept at sending us all the old messages to distract us from our path. “Hit the snooze again.” “It’s cold outside the blankets.” “Just foe today, sleep through the hour of meditation.”

I let the mind run through its games and then smiled at it. “Not today. I’m having none of your wiliness,” I said. “You will move on to other things in a flash, but if I listen to you, I will miss out on the best part of my day!” For the practitioner who has experienced even one of them, the morning-hour is rife with possibilities of peace, joy, light, lightness, relaxation, silence, stillness and more. What would the irascible an unruly mind know about any of those rewards?

Forty five minutes after stepping out of the warm cocoon of sleep to sit in the warmth of daily practice, I feel the familiar glow within. As often happens, the heart is lighter, and the still dark morning feels a little brighter. The small decision to ignore the entreaties of the mind often results in rewards that cannot be described in words. I sometimes wonder why the mind keeps doing this same song and dance every so often, despite the fact that I can’t remember the last time it was actually able to convince me to ‘sleep in’ on my morning practice.

When we succeed in creating a new habit or practice which adds a sense of permanence, stability and value to our life, the mind isn’t going to be able to break us away from it. The practice can take any form. The form of the practice May not matter, as long as we remember to practice it. Our daily practices help us remember who we are, where we are and where we are going. The duration of the practice may not matter, as long as the practice creates a measurable, qualitative difference in our life’s path over time.

A mentor once told me that “ten years of your life will go by, just like that, whether or not you are paying attention – so wouldn’t it be better to pay attention?” Yes. The question becomes: what are we going to pay attention to? How are we to take back our attention from our mind, which is always driving awareness outwards, and re-direct it inwards, towards the heart?

I have to admit that I don’t think much about the next ten years, the next year, the next month, and so on. Why? Too-much forecasting can empower the mind and its games, and make us forget that it is our daily practices that build the heart‘s resilience for the paths ahead.

I’ve been up for two hours, and yes, it’s still cold, gray and damp outside. But so what? Time to put on some layers, walking boots, a warm hat, and go visit with the trees, the waters, and the birds. No matter the weather, it’s a practice that has yet to do anything but lighten my heart. Even the mind now knows not to try and sway me from the trail. What else is it to do after watching me walk the heart path for all these years?

Kumud

P. S. Join us for our weekly gathering with the #SpiritChat community on Twitter on Sunday, October 24 at 9amET / 630pm India. We will talk about the heart, the mind and the path. Namaste ~ @AjmaniK

Treasures found on the path… keep inviting my heart back to the trail