Everyday Luxuries

Luxury, according to the cosmology of Reya, includes making time whenever possible for long, meandering walks. Taking along the camera, and remembering to wear Really Good Shoes, adds to the feeling of luxuriousness.

Yesterday I made (or better said, I "took") the time to walk to my appointment with the Sufi acupuncturist. It was lovely, luxurious, and just plain fun.

Though not completely clear, the overcast had thinned enough to allow shafts of sunlight to make their way down to ground level from time to time. It was cool, but not too cool. After all the rain of recent days I felt like I'd just been let out of jail. Fabulously luxurious feeling, believe me!

I saw some amazing sights, like



Wow. A sandy colored tank inside a fence with the capitol in the background. Scary.

More interesting was the reflection of the Washington monument in puddles leftover from all the rain and the beautiful facade of the Smithsonian castle. As usual I enjoyed listening to the snips of conversation I could catch while passing other people. The things people decide to say out loud are deeply amusing, especially out of context.

Long walks are luxurious, but they are also therapeutic in so many ways. I feel like my busy mind has a chance to stretch out and relax while I walk. It's good for my body, too. After sitting around for so many days in a row, I needed a big ole constitutional foray into this beautiful city. It was pure luxury, oh yeah!

It's All Grist for the Mill

I've been thinking about karma ever since a fascinating conversation over dinner with friends earlier this week. I "believe" in karma, whatever that means. I believe that on the most simplistic level, what we send out will return to us, whether that's generosity or compassion, or on the other side of the karmic spectrum, ill will towards others or self loathing, you know.

In my heart of hearts I think karma is far more complicated than the Law of Return. I'm not sure it's as mathematical or balanced as we imagine. We humans love to have all our t's crossed and i's dotted, though the multiverse, as I experience it, is not so neat and tidy.

According to the cosmology (or semantics) of Reya, destiny is something that transcends, in a very extensive way, this particular lifetime. Destiny seems to me to be quite ephemeral, etheric. Karma on the other hand, feels visceral, grounded - or maybe focused is a better word - to the circumstances of our individual lifetimes. I think that's why we work through so much karma while alive, why we're so mindful of our actions and have so many rules and ideas about how to behave. Destiny is participatory, but you can't hold it in your hand. But we can - and do - sculpt karma every day, all the time.

I've been thinking about everyday crises in terms of karma, that when we get a cold, or cut a finger while cooking, or have a little argument with someone we love, that in healing each of these everyday crises we are working through some little karmic tangent. I really like this idea, that even by sweeping the floor or tending the garden we are contributing to the evolution of personal karma.

Perhaps I'm desperate to believe that every event, no matter how insignificant, means something because I'm getting older and am more aware every day of the preciousness of this existence. Or maybe I'm on to something. The karma of everyday crises is not glamorous or dramatic, but I think these little scraps and scrapes help us evolve, bit by bit.

It's time now to walk the old dog, clearing a small thread of animal karma, then do laundry, which perhaps helps purge some small karmic stain on my soul. And on and on, through this life of extraordinary, ordinary days. L'chaim!

It Could Be Worse

The gloom persists over Washington DC, but believe it or not, I don't feel like complaining. Sunday and yesterday, the sound of the rain provided the most sublime backdrop for my work. A beautiful sunny couple of days might have brought up in me a sense that I should be outside rather than working, but there was none of that.

This morning, because it's still cool and gloomy out there, I'm going to sit right here on my couch, read blogs and drink coffee. I can't imagine a more relaxing way to spend a couple of hours. Can you?

Pout

My father used to say self pity is the most sincere of human emotions. Wow. That says a lot about him, doesn't it? What I've wondered for many years, but am unable to ask him (since he passed away so long ago) is: what emotion isn't sincere? There are lots of insincere behaviors, but emotion? It is by its very nature always sincere. My poor father - he was so miserable.

Though ordinarily I tilt towards gratitude and cheerfulness, I have my moments when I think "Why me?" or "This is SO unfair." Who doesn't? I am generally snapped out of these moments almost instantaneously. I'll be walking down the street, for instance, bemoaning something or another and then right in front me I'll notice someone walking with crutches or in a wheelchair or in some other way physically compromised. It's as if God or the multiverse or however you look at it is urging me to waste as little time as possible in a Woe-Is-Me frame of reference. Life is short, after all.

My practice at these moments is to turn on a dime, to stop right then and give thanks for my excellent health and for the fact that physically I am in fine shape for a woman of my age. I could be in better shape (who couldn't?) but boy could I be in worse shape. Wow.

All that said, I'm sporting a pout today since I was supposed to be traveling to Florida tomorrow to hang out with one dear old friend and one brand new friend. The original plan had to be scrapped. Now it seems I will have to wait until October. Hence the pouting.

Isn't emotional intelligence about the capacity to deal gracefully with situations in which instant gratification isn't possible? Oops. Not exhibiting emotional intelligence today. Oh well.

I'll live. The days and weeks will pass quickly. October will come and I'll head down to hang out with these dear ones. And all will be well. Life is good and I am grateful, oh yeah!


Cool old drawing of the Capitol, framed and hanging in the bathroom at Teaism by the White House. I love the half-finished Washington Monument.

This math is beyond me.

If Gloom (G) = dark overcast, and Doom (D) = the bitter cold of a wet day in the winter, and Precipitation (P) includes every kind of cloud-borne water, then

G x (azaleas + iris + plush spring green) + P - D = What??

I can't describe today as a day of Gloom and Doom, though it's tempting to try to make those words fit. It's not a non-day because there are too many things blooming out there (non-days are, by their very nature, colorless). It's not a rainy day even though some water is falling from the sky. It's not exactly spitting rain, it's not exactly drizzling, it definitely isn't raining.

It's neither hot nor cold, neither dryish nor muggy, but colorful - wildly so. So. What is it? Don't ask me!

How Reya Got Her Groove Back

Life is full of surprises. And though I believe that in some metaphorical way all the "dots" are connected in a big complex pattern, in practice I think that no one, not even Garrett Lisi can knit life's unexpected junctures (and disjunctures) into a unified, explainable theory of everything.

Though some surprises are not as fun as others, I prefer a world that's mostly mysterious, I prefer a life in which every time I turn a corner I'm greeted by something I didn't expect. I love learning things I don't already know. I like the internal seismic vibration of HUH? that accompanies new revelations. You know that A-Ha! feeling? It's invigorating - well, at least for me.

Included in this past week's surprise gifts are a whole bunch of small - but significant - soul retrievals. I'm regaining my narrative of trust in other people, something I haven't felt in a number of years. It's no surprise that the personal betrayal I experienced at the end of my last romance took it's toll. It was a love triangle in which I lost my partner, one of my best friends, my house and the life I'd lived for years. The emotional damage was extensive, whew! What a great surprise to understand that I can heal even from something as awful as that! Took awhile and a whole lot of work, but I'm almost there. With the help of very old friends, I'm about to get over the last of it. Oh yeah!

Cheers to the human heart! Bravo to old friends whom I trust, with whom I feel "safe" enough to be as uncool I really am. Bravo!! And thanks.

Before and After the First 100 Days

The White House, yesterday.

Part of typical Homo sapiens behavior, (because we are social predators), is to follow our Alpha pack leader. And so we do - most of us anyway. We follow or we challenge, just like all social predator species. By following, in this culture at least, what I mean is we dance in shamanic alignment with the way our Alpha thinks. It's so interesting to observe.

That's why I'm glad - and relieved - that Barack Obama is our president. Except for those who challenge him (and challenging is an important part of our pack behavior, so I'm not knocking it!) it seems that as a nation, we have become a lot more analytical since January 20th. We are looking carefully at things like financial institutions, we are beginning to "get" all the reasons why diplomacy is better than military might, we are opening our eyes to very difficult issues such as our recent history of torture. We are turning around on various topics like gay marriage.

Well done, America!

Under Bush, it seemed like we were zoned out, disconnected, oblivious, as if we had collectively choked on a pretzel and passed out on the floor of the Oval Office. Of course there's still plenty of that, of course. But, I overhear so much more thoughtful discourse in restaurants, for instance. I hear reporters asking smarter questions at news conferences, people seem (to my eye at least) more awake.

President Obama is not perfect. I have a few minor quarrels with his policies, but - whoa! - I am so happy to have him as my Alpha. God bless America!


Remember the gnarly tree in Lafayette Square that I photographed in March? This is what it looked like yesterday! Life springs eternal, even from the gnarliest trunk. Yeah!