"Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million, count half a dozen, and keep accounts on your thumbnail."Henry David Thoreau

Do you find that it is easy to fritter away your days? Your weeks? Your years? I was struck by this quote of Thoreau's while reading through a magazine the other day. It probably just hit me square between the eyes because I was walking about with a 'to-do' list of details clutched firmly in my fist. While I am also sure that the items on my list had a certain importance, after reading this quote I began to wonder.

What might I do to simplify? What might you? What would it take for me to stop frittering away precious time in the pursuit of details that may not really be important. Ahh, importance. There is the real issue, isn't it? What is it I find to be truly important? What do you? This assessment takes longer to produce than a to-do list so it is often easily avoided.

It is probably a fact that none of us will be able to go off into the woods to our own Walden as Thoreau did. So, whatever is truly important must be lived out right here in the midst of daily life, the stuff of work, family, friends, laundry, housework, shopping, cooking, the list goes on and on. Are these the details Thoreau was speaking of?

Somehow, I don't think so.I think he was really encouraging humans to take the time to peel away the layers of what doesn't matter to them and to focus on what does. At least I pray this is so. Each of us would answer the question differently. To spend the minutes of a day engaged in what one loves is to live the simple life. To create something of beauty….art, a meal, a friendship…is to live the simple life. To breathe deeply and savor the expanse of chest and lungs, exhaling into gratitude, is to live the simple life. To choose just enough words to say I love you, or better yet to show that love is our intention without words, is to live the simple life. So many ways to simplify.

What important details of your life would fit on your thumbnail? I'm looking at mine right now. It is a fairly small space to write what it ultimately important to me. But if I could imagine writing on this digit space, with, say, permanent ink, I might write….kindness, peace, hope, love. If I paid attention to those details alone, it would bring a very full life.

Last night was one of those restless nights. For a variety of reasons, I had difficulty falling asleep. Since this rarely happens to me(I am known as a 'good sleeper') I am always surprised by the process of flipping and flopping, tossing and turning, punching the pillow, and repeat. During all that activity my mind went over the things undone the previous day, what needs to be accomplished today, the bill I must remember to pay, the phone calls that are imperative, and on and on. I spent time breathing deeply, noticing my breath, willing this rhythm to take me into the realm of sleep. I prayed, first for the many I know in need of prayer, and then, for myself, that sleep would come.

Finally, of course, when I had given up the fight, I was able to relax into the rest. I slept soundly until about 5:15 a.m. when I realized I was being serenaded by a choir of birds. Outside the windows, the early risers were welcoming and honoring the gift of another new day. I listened intently to the different songs I heard…..one sweet, trill that led into a fluttering sound, three short calls followed by a rest and then one more call for good measure. In my semi-restful state, I felt like Cinderella with the birds twirling about my head, carrying ribbons in their beaks. The birds, however, were unaware of me. They were only doing what it is they must do to greet the day, what the were created to do.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have such a ritual for beginning each day? Instead of the tumble out of bed, hop in the shower, throw on some clothes, swallow the coffee, brace for rush hour, beginning to a day, wouldn't it be wonderful to not be able to stop yourself from singing? This is perhaps a lesson, one of many, we might learn from our fine, feathered friends. Start the day with a song.

Some part of me believes that the ancients once followed this practice as they watched and mimicked the ones-with-wings. Certainly, if these humans could not fly like these creatures, they most certainly might be able to make sounds like them. In my imagination I see these first peoples lifting their faces toward heaven, mouths open, imitating the songs of the birds they lived with daily, those that also serenaded them at dawn. As their human voice was released into the air around them, I imagine their faces breaking into a full fledged smile. A perfect way to begin the day.

As you begin this weekend, it might not be a bad idea to take a few moments to listen to the birds outside your window. They are doing what they must…..they are singing. Not a bad way to begin any day. We all might do well to follow their invitation.

"My life flows on in endless song, above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real yet far off hymn, that hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that rock I'm clinging.
Since Love is lord of heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?"

~Robert Lowry(1826-1899)

Have a blessed weekend……………………

"The miracle is not to walk on water but to walk on the earth." Thich Nhat Hahn

Our oldest son has been home from college for a few weeks this summer. This is always a delight to have him with us in his ever-emerging adult self and to reconnect as a family. This summer he brought with him his newest friend, Boone, a black lab-Great Dane mix. To say that this has introduced new energy to our household would be an understatement. This sweet, still-puppy personality, wakes up ready to embrace the day, running through the house, chasing our cat, leaving everything in his path a little askew. His presence has provided great lessons for me in patience, letting-go, and the gift of unconditional love, of which he seems to be filled to overflowing.

But possibly one of the greatest gifts Boone has brought to our house is the fact that he needs to go for walks. Several walks a day. He needs to stop what he is doing…sleeping, eating, playing, harassing the cat, and go for a walk. And since he cannot do this on his own, we humans must tag along.

On these walks we are treated to lessons in living in the present moment. What is that smell? Was that a squirrel? Shouldn't I chase it? What is that thing sticking up out of the grass? What was that singing noise coming from the tree? Who threw that nut at me? There's a ball, shouldn't we play? You get the picture. And because one of the humans has the lease on which he is tethered, we have the opportunity to be present to all these questions, these experiences as well. Our outings become a wake up call to the gift of walking on the earth.

There is a practice of walking meditation that many people find very helpful. This way of walking is done slowly, noticing how our foot flexes, rolls, and moves with each placement on the ground. With the noticing of the foot's movement, you can become aware of how each body part moves in connection to the others, how our breath supports the walking, the balance it takes to actually do this very normal, necessary, function. Walking meditation opens us to not only the way the body moves, breathes and has motion, but also all the sounds that we hear, the smells that waft up from the path on which we travel. In these summer days, I offer this description to you as something you might try to further savor the joy of walking.

Walking with Boone is not the slow pace of walking meditation. But it does bring with it the sheer joy of being present in a world so full of simple pleasures…..the sweet scent of dirt, the quick, courageous movement of squirrels, the giddiness of rolling around in  soft, green grass. All in all I am thankful for all he has taught me during his month of summer camp at our house.

The next time you take yourself out for a walk, I invite you to notice the dogs that may be on your path. Check in with yourself. Are they having more fun that you are? If it seems so, I invite you to follow their lead and open yourself to the present moment. Who knows what  might be encountered when we walk through the world, at least for a few moments, with the eyes and the heart of a dog?

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"Listen! they said….
Listen! the earth will tell you
in the middle of the night
what your heart needs to know."
~Martha O. Adams

I feel especially blessed these days to be surrounded by young adults who are in transition. Some are moving from high school to college, others are nearing college graduation. All are looking forward to the 'what next' of their lives. All are asking deep questions about what they value, what motivates them,how their dreams might be realized. It is a privilege to share in these conversations knowing that I have no real answers for them, only the gift of a listening ear and usually a series of additional questions, hopefully helpful ones. To be present to the unfolding of these young lives is true blessing.

A part of that blessing comes from being confronted with those questions once again for myself. Knowing that my life experience was so different at their age, I search my memory for how I made decisions, what drove me, what excited me, what I knew I couldn't 'live' without doing. As I reflect upon how things have emerged, I see there was only a very small influence of what might be described as rational thought, a detailed action plan. What really has caused me to arrive where I am, doing what I do, was truly driven by heart. What I love, where my passions took me, how my eyes saw what was beautiful, the faith that evolved along the way, the companions I happened upon.

in his book Let Your Life Speak:Listening for the Voice of Vocation, Parker Palmer writes:"Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be." Wise words at all ages, I believe, for no matter where we are on life's path, we can convince ourselves of many 'oughts' that take us down paths that do not help us live our life's calling. The distractions of daily living really provide enough detours without our help, so what good is it to follow what we think, or believe others think, we ought to be doing?

It is Monday, the beginning of a new work week for most. What does your heart need to know about the deep yearnings within you? How are you taking time to listen to that voice that calls to you in the night urging you to 'what next'? Regardless of our chronological age, our authentic self calls to us, asking to be born again and again over all the years are privileged to walk this amazing planet. It is a deep prayer that rests within each of us.

Our true work is to listen, deeply listen.