I have walked these hills in the dark. When there is just enough light to see where you are putting your feet. When the tree canopy opens up to the sky and the light of a full moon shows the whole world in shades of grey. When the orange sulphur street lights glow through the branches as you approach the built up world again.
I have walked these hills in the dark in winter time.
Very early this morning, while it was still dark, the hills were full of people walking up to watch the solstice sun rise. I cannot imagine being up that early.
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This time last year I wrote about the urge to be that sort of person, and about the reality that I am not.
I will not walk in the dark in the summer.
This morning I woke up late. Satya and I have been looking at houses, and the night before a viewing I do not sleep well. Will this be the one? I wonder. I imagine myself living in the space, instead of sleeping.
This morning I woke up early. The mid-summer sun crept around the edges of my very thick eye mask. I rolled over and went back to sleep. And woke up again. And went to sleep again.
I think it is important to mark the seasons changing. We are so dependent on the natural world for our existence. More than that, we are not separate from the natural world. And here in this place the longest and the shortest day feel very different to one another. (At the equator, near to where humans first appeared in the world, there is no difference between the longest and shortest day, of course.)
I think it is important to mark time passing. It has been a year since I last reflected on the solstice. So much has changed in my own life in that time. So much has changed in the world. We can reflect on these very specific changes and on the nature of change itself.
I ache more than I ached last year.
This morning, I finished my yoga practice in happy baby. I used to wonder what the point of that pose was, and now I feel tightness in my groin and hips all the time and I know what the point is. My calves tighten up so easily and my feet hurt (these two things are connected).
Some of these things will get better again, and then they will get worse.
For the past couple of weeks I have been wondering how I would mark the solstice this year. I thought that I might read a poem in the garden.
All through June Satya has been sharing a poem a day as she invites people to connect more deeply with the Earth. This week she shared Camille T. Dungy’s Characteristics of Life.
Ah. This is the poem I will read in the garden.
Ask me if I speak for the moon jelly. I will tell you
one thing today and another tomorrow
and I will be as consistent as anything alive
on this earth
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Other Important Things
DharmaStack was launched a week ago! Maia Duerr’s list of Buddhist or Buddhist inspired newsletters hosted on Substack. There are loads of good ones on there! Go have a look.
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It was lovely being read to today, your voice is very calming, thank you. Good luck with the house hunting - a stressful business!
Thanks so much for sharing about the survey in this great post, Kaspa. ☀️