Moments of Mindfulness

Today I went to Spiritual Journeying's 'Moments of Mindfulness' awayday at St John's Parish Centre in Windlesham.  One of the exercises was to choose one or two items from the large eclectic collection and to spend half an hour paying attention to the item you had chosen.  I chose two items - one, this poem by Rumi:

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness - 

some momentary awareness comes 

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all.

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house 

empty of its furniture,

still treat each guest honourably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight ...

My other chosen item was a card, this beautiful image of a lion dozing. (Follow the link if you want to see the image)  Having just read the poem, I turned to the card and, studying the photo, felt inspired to write:

The Lion 

probably not thinking 

about how he looks

with his eyes closed

and his mouth open - 

nor about how his hair is doing its own thing today.

Probably not still brooding 

over something someone said 

some time ago.

Probably not even

concerned

about his next meal.

For the moment it's enough

to doze in the sun

enjoying the sensation

of a full belly.

Enough just to be

a lion king.

I thought some more on Rumi's poem, The Guest House - about the idea
'He may be clearing you out for some new delight'.  I know the joy of clearing out the clutter - of making a worktop empty and clean again - a simple, daily joy.  I know the joy of clearing out a misconception, a wrong belief, from my mind, my heart, my world - of becoming open to a new thought, a new belief.
I know the freedom of a door closing on the past, of handing in the keys - setting me free from a responsibility that would have been an intrusion in the present - I wrote in this blog back in December 2009 of the shed on my allotment having been burned down.  That act of vandalism, unwelcome though it was at the time, made it so much easier to walk away from the allotment - it set me free to move on to full-time work, stable mental health and the delights of my new life.
Proverbs 24:3-4
By wisdom a house is built,
    and through understanding it is established;
⁴ through knowledge its rooms are filled
    with rare and beautiful treasures.
So how's your home today - what new treasures have you encountered in that private inner world?

New Look - Low Maintenance

For the past three years that I've lived here I've had to carry the lawnmower through the house to keep the grass in the front garden tidy, and set up a step ladder each time I've needed to trim the high hedges.  The cracked concrete path was a trip hazard and I was fed up with the neighbourhood cats using the area as a public latrine.  Finally I decided enough was enough and got some quotes for transforming it into a low-maintenance garden.  David Crowder Landscapes took on the task and the work was completed in two days.  Here are the before and after photos.  I'm very pleased with how much difference it's made to the light   coming into the lounge.

Indian Summer - Bracclesham Bay

What better way to enjoy this amazing Indian Summer than to head down to the coast!  Unfortunately I wasn't the only one who had that idea, and the journey took rather longer than anticipated.  At times it was tempting to turn aside and head back closer to home, but oh boy! was I glad I kept going.

When I arrived at my destination, the tiny car park at Bracclesham Bay was full.  I took my place in the queue and the car park attendant came over and assured me there were families about to leave.  Then when a car left and I was about to go and park, she came and asked me if I would mind the car behind having the space as the man was due to go out on a boat for a dive and was afraid he would miss his boat.  Now of course, if I had had my wits about me and thought quickly, I could have bargained for some advantage ... he could have my space if he would pay my car park fee!  Regrettably I didn't think of that until after I'd politely pulled aside and let him through.  Oh well.

At last I was able to park up and take my place on the beach.  I call it a beach - when the tide is in (as it was by the time I got there), it's more of a shingle bank.  I've been to Bracclesham Bay many, many times, and never seen it as busy as it was today, in October!  So strange, having such a hot, sunny day so late in the year - but I'm not complaining, you understand.  Back in May I was out in Lanzarote and went swimming there - never expected the sea off our south coast to be warmer than the waters lapping the shores of the Canaries. I floated and swam to my heart's content, until my fingers went crinkly, then sat and enjoyed the sunshine and the delight of people all around me making the most of this bounty.  Gorgeous!

October!

What amazing weather for October!

My drive to work takes me along one of those roads that has a canopy of trees overhanging it, and when the golden autumn sunshine slants through, it looks beautiful.  This week there has been the added beauty of early-morning mist, and I particularly noticed a large and intricate cobweb adding artistry to the scene.  Each day I've passed it, I thought how lovely it would be to stop and take a photo ... but it's a busy road and work was waiting.  Not today, however!  Today the dawn was too exquisite to resist.  I pulled on my walking boots, picked up the camera and headed out into the misty sunrise.

I liked the pattern of these palm fronds against the pale morning sky

This pampas grass seemed to glisten 

Over Barossa Common I found plenty of cobwebs festooning the heathland, and the mist shrouding the hills somehow brought a sense of tranquility.

cobweb tree

Old Dean Community Fun Day

By the time I'd turned it upside down and trowelled on the icing, I convinced myself the coffee & walnut cake looked acceptable enough to donate to St Martin's refreshments stall at the Old Dean Community Fun Day today, along with the gluten-free/dairy-free fruit cake.  The chocolate sponge cake is for Vicky's birthday.

Cake-wreck

I do a fair bit of gluten-free baking, successfully adapting recipes, but this time I followed the recipe faithfully as I hadn't tried making  a coffe & walnut cake before.  Here's the very sad result!  It was supposed to be for the Community Fun Day tomorrow (I've volunteered to help with the refreshments).  Do you think anyone will notice if I just fill up the well with coffee icing?

Arundel Arts Festival

On occasions when we've driven past Arundel and seen the castle on the skyline, a friend and I have commented it would be nice to visit one day.  A few weeks ago I googled and noticed there is an Arts Festival in the town in August, where the whole town becomes an Art Gallery.  An opportunity too good to miss!

I drove us down on Saturday.  We arrived about 10 am and left the car in the Norfolk Arms car park (where we'd booked overnight accommodation), had a coffee in a coffee shop and then strolled up the hill to the castle. I took lots of photos but I think these two are probably my favourites.

In the afternoon we went from house to house on the Art Gallery trail - people in the town open their homes to visitors and display the entries in the various competition categories: photography, sculpture, prints, jewellery, ceramics ... a very enjoyable experience altogether.

Besides the artwork, there are plenty of other festival happenings over the course of the 10 days, including free music concerts in the town square and elsewhere.  So much to do and to see, I think we may well go back next year.