Creating Winter Mandalas This moment and this moment and this next moment….that’s what we have. These moments make up our lives. And yet we seem to be wired to be anywhere but in this present moment. Certainly more than at any time in our history, the information on meditation and mindfulness is readily available. But … Read more
Listening & Hearing are Not the Same Thing Hearing is a sensory experience – waves of energy flowing over our eardrums and lighting up our brains. Listening involves some action on our part as we try to decode the incoming message. Mindful listening is deep attentiveness to the moment by moment unfolding of energy and … Read more
. Pattern Language Expands Possibilities What do forest gardens and peer run recovery centers have in common? • Both are innovative ideas • Both are phrases that help us envision new patterns and possibilities As I expand on each one and you’ll see the connections. On forest gardens Forest gardens are also known as food … Read more
The celestial tipping point that is winter solstice happens on Saturday, December 21st (2013) at exactly 10:11 AM Mountain Time. (See other time zones below.) As our home planet journeys around the sun, it tilts on its axis so that those of us living north of the equator are leaning away from the sun. It … Read more
The Magic of NANOWRIMO Nestled neatly between the end of gardening season and the beginning of the holidays is NANOWRIMO, National Novel Writing Month. It is a marathon in which writers challenge themselves to complete 50,000 words in thirty days. This is my second year of writing for NANOWRIMO, and although it makes the month … Read more
The Power of Language Language shapes our perception of the world. Label a plant a medicinal herb or label it a weed and very different images appear in our minds. Label a person as someone in recovery or a person who is mentally ill and again, different images appear that open or shut doors to … Read more
A Season of Harvest As I write this post I am watching the chickadees hanging upside down on sunflower heads picking out the last seeds. The pumpkin vines and most of the rest of the garden plants are dying back. Although the sunchokes, zinnias and cosmos are putting on a last enthusiastic show. The angle … Read more
Recovery is the practice of finding and claiming the lost pieces of ourselves.[1] I love this definition because, even though recovery is often seen as belonging to mental health or addiction issues, this statement applies to everyone. Seriously, do you know anyone who hasn’t lost parts of themselves as they have moved through life? … Read more
Garden Mandala Creation The plant designs in the photos were created as part of a mindfulness garden games workshop I led on July 12th at the National Children and Youth Garden Symposium here in Denver (It was sponsored by the American Horticultural Society.) The designs are a type of mandala, a centering device used in traditional … Read more
My favorite Chinese herb is called huang hua ti ting. In the garden, huang hua ti ting flowers attract bees and other pollinators. It is also a dynamic accumulator, a plant whose long tap root digs deep and breaks up compacted soil, pulling minerals up to its leaves. The plant can then be added to compost piles to release these minerals into the soil.
