souvenirs from deer park

love and love and love

My dear friend. I’m so grateful for your presence in my life and I want to share a few mementos of my time away with you.

Recently, I enjoyed a bit of refuge among all that lives at Deer Park Monastery. This loving, fertile spot is cradled among the Escondido boulders, an extensive family of rocks who, in my imagination, celebrated my arrival home from San Bernardino after visits to my grandparents when I was little. Later in life, I would find a similar landscape in Hampi, India and feel quite at home.

We’re always welcome among the rocks.

No phone at Deer Park so here’s boulders from elsewhere. All rocks related.

Back to the monastery.

I took myself on retreat for a few reasons that I’ll share over the next few weeks. In short, I wanted to give myself some intentional quiet. More on that (and its integral importance to our wellbeing) later.

For now, I offer a few little gifts. Each of these little keepsakes, used regularly, will bring you great joy, I’m sure.

Keepsake one: We are blessed to be eating.

When I was young, my mom would have us hold hands to say grace. My brother left for college when I was 5 so we always left the circle open. Or maybe we did that before too. My sister went off to school a few years later. After that, my mom and I sometimes held hands and mumbled together, ‘Bless us, oh lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ, our lord. Amen.’ (We mumbled so well that I had to look up the prayer just now to learn that it does not actually say, ‘bless us oh lord and thee, the gift which we receive, and bounties of Christ, oh lord, amen.’)

I love that we shared grace, even if we were lonely, even if I was the only one eating. Over the years, I’ve brought it back for myself without the structured prayer, with or without hands to hold. I simply say thank you over my food, usually silently, and I realize the blessing of abundance. I’m fortunate.

What I bring home to share with you, if you like, is something more forthright and earnest. The food is a gift, yes. The way we honor our food becomes the way we honor our bodies, our lives, and all the lives we are blessed to touch. In receiving the gift, we become a gift.

Maybe you try one or two of the following at one of your mealtimes?

• Give appreciation to your empty bowls, which will soon be filled.

• Offer gratitude for the food and all those forces who conspire to bring it to you— the sun and earth, the water and wind, the worms and critters, the farmers, packers, drivers and store workers, cooks and tasters, others sharing your table.

• Commit to eating moderately, with awareness of the conditions that created the food and the way they come together to become the taste in your mouth and the energy for your body.

• Envision the food becoming your strength to serve others with love.

And maybe you hold someone’s hand.

Keepsake two: A song for your walks

Consider whether you can sing a sweet song without a smile. And I mean, you really form the words with your mouth and hear your little or loud voice sharing its chime.

Here’s a perfect smiling song that brings me joy as I walk small Hazelnut through the neighborhood. Perhaps it will inspire you as well. Here are the words:

My mind can go in a thousand directions

but on this path I walk in peace.

Every step, a gentle wind blows.

Every step, a flower blooms.

Listen in and say hello to every flowers who joins you.

Keepsake three: Listen.

The last thing I bring to you, my friend, is quiet.

I gathered up a lot for you and me to share. The good news? If you like it, you can gather more. Place it around you and let it protect you. Sit within it and listen. When you want to speak, pause and hear the quiet first. Before you turn on your devices, turn on your quiet— just for a moment or two— and breathe with it. Share it with others too. Maybe you ask your family to sit and listen to the quiet with you for a bit. You will hear so much together, sharing the quiet.

Please let me know how you use these little souvenirs. And perhaps you consider offering your support with Deer Park. They share so much love for the community and we, as a community, can share our love for them as well.

Oh, and here is one more little token… a poem I wrote from the path.

Here is the soul’s mate. 
A stirring, gentle, and a sigh. 
The breeze sighs. 
The oak still drips fog
on softening rocks, on dead spring flowers. Mustard flowers stride in all directions.
Two armies of ants meet. Two lizards freeze. We take shelter among the rocks. 
The sun sneaks onto our backs like a whisper, here you are.
 

Thank you for being you. Love!