12.7.13 Small Moss Refrains

Sometimes I just walk outside 

or turn the corner driving the car 

or head past an old Oak in my yard

and it just blows me away 

I guess taking a photograph

is a way of tolerating  

what to me 

is overwhelming wonder 

and beauty 

all day, every day

Sometimes it's hard to 

get somewhere 

there are so many large 

and small amazements 

singing their small 

moss 

or sunset 

or stand of trees 

refrains

Hadley Fields 

Wildlife Sanctuary 

Sunset

12.7.13 Won't You Be....

Won't you be
Please won't  you be
my neighbor

the coned up pup
still appealing to the 16 year old Queen

12.8.13 Beneath Those Experiences

Sitting , 
gazing at the sunset, 
or the alleyway, 
or water 
as it slowly drops 
again, 
and then again, 

as hopelessness 
and helplessness 
seem to wash over us, 
while all along, 

Within the sitting and 
beneath those experiences 
lives the peace 
and the ease
of conscious awareness.

12.9.13 Coned Up Head Coned Up Head Bashing Through The House

“Breaking News- Cone-Headed Teenager German Shepherd Trashes Home and Reduces Humanoid Parents To Blithering Idiots”

( sung to tune of Jingle Bells) 

Bashing through the house
With a duct taped coned up head
Water spilled o'er the floor
Food strewn underfoot 

Desperation wakes
With a sharp cone in your face
3 more days and we will see
A normal pup again.... Oh! 

Coned up head
Coned up head
Bashing through the house
Terrorizing kitties
Not quiet as a mouse - oooohhhh....

12.10.13 A Small Orange Poem, Just For A Moment

Leaving the office, 1:15, I pass by a town worker, putting up the snow fences ; the sun blazing through the cloud cover, some small Orange of optimism peeking through the mountains of the range.

Q: Some small Orange of optimism peeking!

A: See? What was that little touch of orange doing over there, at one in the afternoon?

Q: Wow. Gorgeous!

A: I know. So lovely.

Q: So optimistic the demons are fleeing its glow....crap are they headed west toward me?

A: Haha. I just never see orange at that time of day. Was curious.

Q: It was a small poem.

A: A small orange poem, just for a moment. Yes.                                           T 2.7.15

12.11.13 The early , the cold, the not yet take-it-seriously-deep-winter

The early , the cold, the not yet take-it-seriously-deep-winter, the dog walk, the 8 month old with a 

cone on the head and no free off leash run for a week, the pulling of the chain, the skidding of my 

boots, the understandable launching of the small moose into the air, onto me, in desperation, the 

learning to shovel the snow with his cone and lean back to eat the snow, the tracking the local coyote 

group this year, snuffling each and every individual's track I show him, knowing tonight they will in 

turn be snuffling and tracking -us, my continual wonder at the spring buds being quietly grown on 

trees as winter sets in, the sun breaking through the naked branches, casting its brazen light through 

the forest, the whirring shushhhjing sound of the small wind moving through the stand of Pines, the 

way so many of us as children felt so alone and baffled and bereft until we learned that the trees were 

applauding us and loving each and every one of us, walking beneath their gaze, and finally , simply the 
grace of this and every gift of a moment.

12.14.13 The Cow In The Kitchen

If I have to choose story, or a joke, that held the greatest lesson for me and my life, I think this one would be among the greatest candidates.

It seems everyone of us, at one time or another, needs to recognize the cow in the kitchen. 

And when the cow is gone, oh how grateful we are.

And I bet you anything that some of my friends know the biblical story of the same ilk.

When I'm telling this story to clients, and they're on the table, and I'm working on them, teaching them about their health, describing their organs , empathizing with their great challenges or pain, I call this "The Cow In The Kitchen".

I say, "Have you heard the story of The Cow In The Kitchen?"

It's a joke and it's a story and it's a parable and it's probably in the Talmud. And maybe the Bible. Who Knows. And sometimes they know the story, but it's a really good one. So here it is.

Once upon a time there were two people who lived in a little house, and it was so crowded, and they were so miserable.

So they went to their Rabbi and they said to her "Our house is so small. We are so crowded. We are so miserable. Please, help us."

She turned to them, and said "Go outside, and get one of your chickens, and bring it into the house." And so they did.

In a few days, they returned to the Rabbi , and they said to her "We did as you suggested, and the chicken is flying here and there, dropping feathers and getting into the food and making noises early in the morning."

And so the Rabbi suggested that they bring in more chickens. And the people went home, did as she suggested, and kept returning, over and over again, each time the Rabbi suggesting they bring in more and more relatives, and homeless people, and neighbors, until finally, The two people went to see the Rabbi.

And she suggested that they bring the cow into the kitchen.

And so, they did.

They returned home, went outside to get the family cow, and carefully brought her into the kitchen.

The following day they returned to the Rabbi, wringing their hands, in great great distress.

They said to her "we have done everything that you suggested, Rabbi, and our small home is filled to the brim with so many people and neighbors and visitors and animals.

There is chaos and noise everywhere, and we cannot sleep or clean a table to prepare a meal. Please, please help us."

And so, she did.

The Rabbi told the people "Return all of the animals back out to the yard, to their own homes.

Bid leave of all of the individuals you invited to come visit and stay in your home."

And so they returned to their small home, and did as the Rabbi suggested.

The following day, they rushed back to the Rabbi, filled with gratitude and relief.

"Our home is so spacious, and beautiful, and quiet.

There is room for everything, and we sleep well at night.

Please accept our deepest gratitude for your assistance, Rabbi."

And smiling, she did.

11.26.13 Everywhere At Home

November peace and wind and chill by an Amherst reservoir ; 

dogs racing through the stately Pine forest 

and tumbling down to the tiny iced layer of the pond, 

lapping the frigid waters, 

splashing about as their chests grow icicles 

and frozen drops as I watch, 

as they turn and tumble and leap, 

as the iced chins and glorious manes 
glimmer in the late November sunlight.
The air a miracle in cleanliness ; water too.

The tough climb up the rocky paths, 

over ribbons of tree roots, 

pressing through pine boughs on dark paths,

 the elder trees hovering far above. 

In the distance , the call of a Red Tail Hawk 
- as the late fall wind sweeps across the land.

As I age, slowly I discover myself 

everywhere at home.

12.6.13 "Let Evening Come"

"Let evening come...."

12.7.13 Things Clients Say As They Improve....

Things Clients Say As Their Health Begins to Improve, Coming to Sessions 

Q: Its so hard to get sessions and learn what health problems I have. Sometimes it's so overwhelming; other times I'm just glad to begin to understand what my health is really about.
A: Yes.
Q: It's so hard to find the money and time and energy to take the things that will help my health problems.
A: Yes, I know.
Q: Its so hard to change the ways I do things so that the work I get done in sessions stays, and I get better. It's so hard to be mature and admit to myself what will cause more problems, and what will improve things.
A: So true.
Q: It's so helpful that there is a way for me to get worked on and take things and I can really tell how I am getting better.
A: Yes. It's not a magic pill. It's slow and steady. Sometimes two foreword and one back. Lots of learning. But usually, usually, there is a path for each and every health challenge, and that path entails balancing the equation. And then slowly, gradually, some degree of improvement....or recovery....happens. And then we learn the faith and the patience and learn to receive support and share our distress, and on down our path we go.

12.8.13 A Long Long Time

Anyone in this house 

who even gets close to me

 gets morning acupressure 

down their spine.

 It makes them stretch 

and smile

 and moan 

or purr

 and live

 a long long time.

12.9.13 Go Outside. Breathe Deeply

Go outside. 
Breathe deeply. 

You are alkalinizing your body. 

Your blood. 

Making unbeneficial processes not work well. 

Making health work better. 

In more balance.

Go outside. 

Early in the morning.

Just for a moment.

A breath of a moment.

Or in the evening. 

Watch the sunset.

Watch the stars appear

one by one.

Think of nothing . 

Bring your kid. 

Your dog.

 Your beloved. 

Just stand there.

Before bed. 

After dinner.

Or bring out a little stool.

I do. 

Put your jacket on.

Kid on lap.

Breathe deeply.

 In and out, 

in and out.

 Don't think. 

Just unwind.

 Nourish two birds

... with one act. 

12.10.13 Small Moss Refrains

Sometimes I just walk outside, 
or turn the corner driving the car, 
or head past an old Oak in my yard, 
and it just blows me away. 

I guess taking a photograph
is a way of tolerating ,
what to me ,
is overwhelming wonder
and beauty,
all day, every day.

Sometimes it's hard to
get somewhere
there are so many large
and small amazements

singing their small moss
or sunset
or stand of trees
refrains.