Presence: Balancing Joy and Sorrow

 We Madisonians continue to process another school shooting,  potentially shattering the hopes of this Holiday Season.  As with other school shootings, once again, I feel powerless, sadness, and compassion for all those impacted by what unfolded within Abundant Life Christian School, while I was strolling along Monroe Street enjoying the many inflatable Santas. This one is the tallest, towering over the small ranch  home. There are at least 75 inflatable Santas, including one on the deck of our apartment installed by the owners of our building. 

Processing my emotions lands me in this virtual space where I reflect on presence while balancing joy and sorrow.  Again I turn to poems for solace and this one by Jack Gilbert is helpful.

 A Brief for the Defense

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies

are not starving someplace, they are starving

somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.

But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants.

Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not

be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not

be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women

at the fountain are laughing together between

the suffering they have known and the awfulness

in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody

in the village is very sick. There is laughter

every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,

and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.

If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,

we lessen the importance of their deprivation.

We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,

but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have

the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless

furnace of this world. To make injustice the only

measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.

If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,

we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.

We must admit there will be music despite everything.

We stand at the prow again of a small ship

anchored late at night in the tiny port

looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront

is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.

To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat

comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth

all the years of sorrow that are to come. 

Gilbert's poem exemplifies practicing presence, meaning that you are keenly aware of what you are thinking, experiencing and feeling in any particular moment. Gilbert acknowledges the suffering inherent in the human condition while encouraging us to "accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world." Gladness may be as ordinary as the faint sound of oars of a rowboat gliding across a bay. Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), Lebanese poet, philosopher, and artist, also teaches us that joy and sorrow are inextricably connected. In the poem On Joy and Sorrow. He writes:

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and other say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater." But I say unto you , they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

During the December 15th service at our church (First Unitarian Society of Madison) Rev. Kelly Crocker, one of our Senior Ministers, spoke about presence. Here's access to the service. Kelly's message starts at 42 minutes into the service.  Kelly was at her authentic best; speaking from the heart, telling stories from her own life, and referring to several sources. Here's a few of my salient takeaways from her message entitled The Present of Presence .Text in quotes are Kelly's words.

• Being present to the here and now is the wisdom of every spiritual teacher and "every wise one throughout time." 
•  Dogs know how to "be filled with presence, to not be consumed with dread about the future, and as far as we can understand, they don’t seem fixated on what happened yesterday."  Human beings on the other hand "struggle with cultivating an awareness of presence."  We are easily distracted by our phones, jobs, worries, emails, social media, and the incessant flow of news. 
• Being aware of our internal selves changes our relationship with the world. For example, when we walk mindfully in nature the experience changes how we see nature.
•  Learning to be present also sensitizes us to how others are perceiving the world or as Kelly stated:  "Becoming aware of our own selves, we are able to notice the subtle expressions on the faces of those we love. We notice when a dear friend says she is okay, but something else is stirring beneath the surface."
• Presence requiring deep listening. Kelly told the story of how her son Sam as a young child  taught her the importance of deep listening. Kelly was distracted while Sam was trying to tell her something important. Sam eventually told Kelly she was not listening. Quoting Kelly: ... his tiny hands were on either side of my face, staring into my eyes and saying “listen, I want you to listen. Listen with your eyes, mommy." 

Kelly's point about listening reminds me of John Fox's poem, When Someone Deeply Listens to You.

When someone deeply listens to you

it is like holding out a dented cup

you’ve had since childhood

and watching it fill up with

cold, fresh water.

When it balances on top of the brim,

you are understood.

When it overflows and touches your skin,

You are loved.

 

When someone deeply listens to you,

the room where you stay

starts a new life

and the place where you wrote

your first poem

begins to glow in your mind’s eye.

It is as if gold has been discovered!

 

When someone deeply listens to you,

your bare feet are on the earth

and a beloved land that seemed distant
is now at home within you

Kelly near the end of her message pivoted to a column by Perry Bacon entitled Don’t Doomscroll About Trump, Do These Five Things Instead. The second recommendation was to join a Unitarian-Universalists congregation. Bacon attended a UU congregation in Louisville, KY.  He was impressed how people engaged in politics in practical ways and created a space for sharing and actively discussing their values and ideals that they felt had been rejected by their fellow Americans. Congregants were canvassing in opposition to a proposed state constitutional amendment to create a school vouchers program, The amendment failed. Here's access to the column

Our UU values include inclusion, equity, working for justice, and honoring and protecting the marginalized. Kelly expanded Bacon's recommendation by encouraging the congregation to be aware of our Unitarian values and to let the world know of our presence. Our UU presence is now very important . Quoting Kelly: Can we agree right now, the world needs our presence and our loving attention? That so many in the world are counting on us? And they need us to yell “keep going! Keep going!"

Kelly suggested that a simple way for UUs to remind themselves of our values and the UU presence is to wear a chalice pin. This one is just one of many designs. Wearing a pin is a helpful reminder of the UU values, offers opportunities to share these with others, and broadcasts our presence. So, if you are a UU, wear a chalice pin.  Another option is to select or create and wear a symbol that represents your core values. 

Cultivating presence can be challenging. My daily meditation and Qi Gong offer opportunities to be present with what is unfolding in the moment.  Influenced by Buddhism, I pay attention to bodily feelings, another pathway into presence. Anne D. LeClaire in her book Listening Below the Noise writes about how her life has been transformed by being total silent while doing her tasks on the first and third Mondays of each month. How to practice presence is popular on the Web. A quick search lead me to Calm.com and an article which provides 9 tips for cultivating presence. Click here for access to the article 

Here are three pictures associated with when I was present. Sometimes further reflection happened while writing this entry.

I saw this inflatable menorah, a block from our apartment, while on my daily walk. I felt happy that the menorah was present, representing a different story from that of the jolly plump Santas along Monroe Street. Seeing it also reminded me that there are other Holidays besides Christmas. Hanukkah starts on December 25 and ends on January 2nd, 2025. A Jewish temple is a half block from our apartment. Kwanza is from December 26th through January 1, 2025. 

Our modern day Santas represents a different story from that of St. Nicholas, the distant ancestor of today's highly commercialized Santa. It is believed that St. Nicholas was born sometime around A.D. 280 in Patara, now in modern-day Turkey. He was a thin man with a trimmed beard. 

St. Nickolas was admired for his piety and kindness. He gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. Supposedly St. Nicholas saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father.  He provided them with a dowry so that they could be married. 

In 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nast created the first likeness that matches today's image of Santa Claus. His cartoon, which appeared in Harper’s Weekly, depicted Santa as a rotund, cheerful man with a full, white beard, holding a sack laden full of toys for lucky and well behaved children. He gave Santa his bright red suit trimmed with white fur, North Pole workshop, elves and his wife, Mrs. Claus. Here's access to a detailed history of Santa Claus

While walking near the west end of  Edgewood Drive behind Edgewood college, I noticed the sun sitting over Lake Wingra. My attention turned towards two ice boat sailors immersed within golden hues that shimmered across the ice  One sailor was up and glided across the newly frozen lake; the other down trying to get up. The Lake groaned as I silently watched with awe the beauty of this moment. I felt connected to the Lake and the sailors, while feeling grateful for living in my neighborhood with its close access to nature.

About a week ago I was walking home on the Southwest path on a cold, calm, and sunny day. I felt grateful for the warm sun on my face and the lack of any wind. 

Another walker alerted me before I sighted this regal and calm  hawk. For a few moments I watched and then fetched my phone with its magic camera. After taking the picture, I looked at the image and turned my gaze up at the pole. The hawk was gone. I continued walking feeling peaceful and connected to a space bigger than me.

Prospect Gardens always offers opportunities to cultivate presence, even during winter. Here's three pictures of plant remnants I saw on my walk through the Gardens during our first recent significant snowfall. Included are Eckhart Tolle's observations about presence. Eckhart Tolle is a popular spiritual teacher and author of the New York Times bestseller, The Power of Now.

I sometimes ask people, 'Can you be aware of your own presence? Not the thoughts that you're having, not the emotions that you're having, but the very presence of your very being?' You become aware of your own presence by sensing the entire energy field in your body that is alive. And that is the totality of your presence.

 

  

When you take your attention into the present moment, a certain alertness arises. You become more conscious of what's around you, but also, strangely, a sense of presence that is both within and without.

When you wash your hands, when you make a cup of coffee, when you're waiting for the elevator - instead of indulging in thinking, these are all opportunities for being there as a still, alert presence. 

 I close with this picture of our Christmas tree and a quote from Rumi, a 13th-century poet, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic. He was born in what is now Iran. 

 If everything around you seems dark, look again, you may be the light.

May we all be the light during these Holidays in the midst of joy and sorrow. 

 

 

     

Election Aftermath: Good Intentions, Interdependency, and Peace

During the afternoon before the critical 2024 election, when I was cautiously optimistic about Kamala Harris being president, I visited one of my favorite places in Madison, the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. I was hoping to add a jingle to an interactive outdoor sculpture entitled "Good Intentions", designed by UW–Madison art student Mariah Skenandore. It's on display in Longenecker Horticultural Gardens through November 18.

The interactive sculpture is co-created by visitors who obtain a jingle from the Visitor Center and place it on the designated tree. When hanging the jingle you keep a good thought, prayer, or intention in mind. The jingles move with the wind releasing the projected thoughts, prayers, and intentions into the world and beyond.

A dance of the Ojibwe people inspired the sculpture. The dance involves a dress with 365 jingles and each jingle holds a prayer or good intention. During the dance, the jingles strike each other sending out what are considered healing prayers and intentions.

All the 365 jingles were taken and on the tree. I still enjoyed the sculpture with its red ribbons and silver jingles. I offered the following good intentions to all beings: 

"May all beings everywhere be safe and protected.

May all beings everywhere live their lives with ease.

May all beings everywhere be healthy and strong in mind, body, and spirit.

May all beings everywhere be happy." 

The "jingles" hardly moved in the calm air. As I turned to leave the tree, I once again noticed the blooming lilacs, which I saw for the first time a few weeks ago. Yes, lilacs still blooming in November. Wondering why? The short story is that a blight in spring, plus unusual weather, as a friend stated, caused the lilacs to be drunk, thinking it was spring again in the warm autumn. For a more scientific explanation go here.  

I just about finished reading Suzanne Simard's book "Finding the Mother Tree, Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest." It's a good example of the power of intentions coupled with action. Suzanne was born and spent her childhood in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia. Her family for generations were small time loggers as she grew up in the woods with a lake near her home. She eventually earned a forestry degree from the University of British Columbia and a doctorate in forestry from Oregon State University.

As one of the first woman scientist in forestry, the young Suzanne began challenging predominant forestry practices that viewed trees as independent from all others and who competed for  resources with all other trees and plants. Her early research showed that trees were interconnected through an underground  network, that included fungi, was not popular with policy makers within forestry. She was considered naïve. Nevertheless, Susanne persisted following her intentions by observing the forests and doing peer reviewed scientific experiments. Years later and now it is widely accepted that trees are interdependent and form complex and cooperative communities. Interdependency is now widely recognized as the hallmark of a forest with trees and plants connected through underground networks. At the center of the networks are Mother Trees who are major contributors to the health of the entire forest. Even when dying, Mother Trees send out important carbon to nearby offspring. 

The book's lessons of intentions and interdependency apply to our lives. Especially now, I keep these lessons in mind as I try to absorb the enormity of a second Trump administration . For now my intention is to gain emotional balance when fear and grief arise in me.  The following poem by Alfred K. LaMotte helps me. It reminds me to be grateful that I am part of a marvelous interdependent world.  

Election 

I voted.

I voted for the rainbow.

I voted for the cry of a loon.

I voted for my grandfather’s bones
that feed beetles now.

I voted for a singing brook that sparkles
under a North Dakota bean field.

I voted for salty air through which the whimbrel flies
South along the shores of two continents.

I voted for melting snow that returns to the wellspring
of darkness, where the sky is born from the earth.

I voted for daemonic mushrooms in the loam,
and the old democracy of worms.

I voted for the wordless treaty that cannot be broken
by white men or brown, because it is made of star semen,
thistle sap, hieroglyphs of the weevil in prairie oak.

I voted for the local, the small, the brim
that does not spill over, the abolition of waste,
the luxury of enough.

I voted for the commonwealth of the ancient forest,
a larva for every beak, a wing-tinted flower
for every moth’s disguise, a well-fed mammal’s corpse
for every colony of maggots.

I voted for open borders between death and birth.

I voted on the ballot of a fallen leaf of sycamore
that cannot be erased, for it becomes the dust and rain,
and then a tree again.

I voted for more fallow time to cultivate wild flowers,
more recess in schools to cultivate play,
more leisure, tax free, more space between days.

I voted to increase the profit of evening silence
and the price of a thrush song.

I voted for ten million stars in your next inhalation.

Another intention that helps me cope is to cultivate peace which is not always easy to feel. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer's poem provides some helpful hints.

Toward Peace (June 10, 2024)  

Perhaps some part of me still believes
peace is a destination,
a place we arrive, ideally together.

I notice how shiny it is, this belief,
like a flower made of crystal,
beautiful, but lifeless,
 
devoid of the dust and scuff
that come from living a real day.
Meanwhile, there is this invitation
 
to grow into peace the way real flowers grow—
in the dirt. With blight and drought,
beetles and hail.
 
Meanwhile this invitation
to live in the tangle of fear and failure,
to be humbled by my own inner wars
 
and wonder how to find a living peace
right here, the peace that arrives
when we take just one step through the mess
 
toward compassion and notice
as our foot rises our heart also rises
and in that lifted moment
 
still scraping along in the dirt,
there is a peace so real we become light,
become the momentum that is the change.

Unlike the night of November 5th, for me, November 2nd was a peaceful day. Thirteen volunteers voted to continue maintaining Prospect Gardens. Here's the crew: (starting on the left and going clockwise), Marcel, Sheila, Alice, Becky, me/Jake, Gaon, Rajeev, Ryan, Gregory, and Ann. N., to the left of Gregory with the red pullover is Jim.  Thank you all for your good work. Not pictured are Ann B. and Laura.

This was my last session as crew chief. Becky, Ryan, and Gregory have stepped forward to form a management team. Thank you. I, like Suzanne Simard's old trees, will find ways of supporting the team.

Here are a pictures of  some of the November crew.

Rajeev and Gaon putting up orange snow fences; hopefully preventing city snow blowers from pushing snow into the Gardens. Both are seniors and members of the Leo Club. They are now busy applying to universities. This is the second year these two put up the fences. They worked so well together while exhibiting their problem solving skills. They didn't even need the ladder. 

Sheila and her friend Marcel pruned the raspberries and then cut back the upper section on the Regent side of the Gardens. The old faded picket fence is once again visible. 

Sheila and Marcel working together represent the support of both neighborhood associations. Sheila lives in the Dudgeon Monroe Neighborhood and Marcel lives in the Regent Neighborhood.

Here is another example of the long time support of residents from the two involved neighborhoods: Ann N. (with the hat) from Regent Neighborhood and Laura from the Dudgeon Monroe Neighborhood.  Both have been volunteering for years; Laura is from our original group of volunteers beginning in 2010.

They are on break which we always have. Time to talk and connect is an important part of our work sessions. 

Ryan tugging away at a vine while clearing out a Regent side section. In early summer Ryan returned to the neighborhood from working in South Sudan. He and his wife live nearby the Gardens. Ryan wants to ensure Prospect Gardens continues into the future. 

Becky and her great smile. She, like Ryan, wants to ensure that Prospect Gardens continues into the future.

As I already mentioned breaks are an important part of our work sessions. Here's Jim resting during a break when we enjoyed chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, and apples. Once again, Ann B, my wife, made sure we had treats. Thank you Ann.

I end with another Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer poem. More messages that allow life to flow through me as I adjust to the new political reality. Actions on my part in the continual struggle for justice, peace, and equality will emerge.

Because

So I can’t save the world —

can’t save even myself,

can’t wrap my arms around

every frightened child, can’t

foster peace among nations,

can’t bring love to all who

feel unlovable.

So I practice opening my heart

right here in this room and being gentle

with my insufficiency. I practice

walking down the street heart first.

And if it is insufficient to share love,

I will practice loving anyway.

I want to converse about truth,

about trust. I want to invite compassion

into every interaction.

One willing heart can’t stop a war.

One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry.

And sometimes, daunted by a task too big,

I tell myself what’s the use of trying?

But today, the invitation is clear:

to be ridiculously courageous in love.

To open the heart like a lilac in May,

knowing freeze is possible

and opening anyway.

To take love seriously.

To give love wildly.

To race up to the world

as if I were a puppy,

adoring and unjaded,

stumbling on my own exuberance.

To feel the shock of indifference,

of anger, of cruelty, of fear,

and stay open. To love as if it matters,

as if the world depends on it. 

Indra's Net and the Common Good

In the midst of societal polarization and an unpredictable election, I offer these reflections about Indra's net and its implication: the need to work for the common good. I first heard about Indra's net at a meditation retreat. Steve Spiro, a gifted teacher of Chi-gong, mentioned the net during a talk. According to a Buddhist story, Indra's net is an infinitely large net owned by Indra, a Hindu/Buddhist god.  

Here's how Francis H. Cook describes Indra's net:

" Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each "eye" of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering "like" stars in the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring." [Cook, Francis H. (1977), Hua-Yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra,] 

The net is a metaphor for the universe and our world in which all phenomena are interconnected and mutually interdependent. Chief Seattle's reported words tells us more about Indra's net.

"This we know: All things are connected

like the blood that unites us. 

We did not weave the web of life,

We are merely a strand in it.

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves."

Chief Seattle was the leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples from Washington state. He died on June 7, 1866 at the age of 85 or 86. His wisdom and words live on. Seattle is named after him. 

So here we are embedded in Indra's Net. Chief Seattle reminds us that whatever we do to the net/web affects us. The climate crisis is an obvious example of how individual and collective actions negatively affect both the web of life and each one of us. Right now stories about the horrific Hurricane Helene underscore the truth of Chief Seattle's warning written so many years ago.  

       

Prospect Gardens is a jewel in Indra's net. On September 21st thirteen volunteers joined my wife Ann and me as we once again cared for the Gardens. Nine of the volunteers are members of West High School's Leo Club, a community service club sponsored by the Lion's Club. 

Pictured are the stalwart Leo Club members. In the blue shirt (far left) is Sanjana, then in the dark blue shirt is Hazel, wearing a pink shirt is Kaylee, Emily in black (leaning on the rail), wearing a gray shirt is Amy (in the middle), and to the left of Amy is Selene. At the top, is Vasu, Gaon, and then Rajeev, Leo's Club's president and a senior.

Rajeev is my contact who recruited participating Leo Club members. He was also helpful in guiding his fellow students after I gave instructions.  Thank you Rajeev. A special thank you to the nine Leo Club members who gave up their Saturday morning. Each one of you is a gem.

    

Here's a picture that includes the adults: Becky far left, sitting on the second step is Peggy, third step far right is Percy and behind Percy is me. Not pictured are Laura and Ann B. Thank you for your good work. A special thank you to Ann B. for providing cookies and grapes which all enjoyed during a pleasant break.

The Gardens are just about ready for winter. Putting up the orange snow fences is one of the few  remaining tasks.

Our collective efforts resulted in two large piles of plant materials. Here's Percy between the two piles with her trusted hand tool. Percy with her oversized hand tool can clean out weeds in no time.  

A special thank you to John from City Engineering for scheduling the pickup. His crew did an exceptional clean up. Thank you crew members. The crew and John are more jewels in Indra's net. 

Here are four more pictures of crew members in action or taking a break .

Peggy working on the Regent side. This was Peggy first time volunteering. Thank you, Peggy. You are now officially an experienced volunteer and will be warmly welcomed back. 

Becky, Selene, and Amy after cleaning up a Regent side section next to the path. What a team! 

Sanjana, Emily, Rajeev, Gaon, and Vasu. Lots of youthful energy even after a few hours of hard work.

Emily did an outstanding job of removing white snake root from the Gardens. Not an easy task because she worked on a slope and sometimes with rocks underfoot. Emily revealed her grit while navigating the challenging terrain. I wonder if she ever thought about rock climbing.   

Hazel thinning out Jerusalem artichokes while scaling a slope on the Regent side of the Gardens. She showed her tenacity while maintaining her balance and pulling on the sturdy stalks. 

Indra's Net and Chief Seattle's words implies that we have a responsibility to further the common good. Many times as we tend the Gardens, passersby express their thanks for the beauty we now maintain. Their statements tell me that developing and maintaining the Gardens has impacted the common good of our neighborhood. 

Goldfinches eating Jerusalem artichokes seeds and a Monarch butterfly feeding on the blooming asters are more signs of how Prospect Gardens benefit nature and the common good. The Monarch I saw is probably migrating to Mexico. The bright golden male yellow goldfinches are changing into a brownish-dull yellow hue as they prepare for winter. Shades of brown help the males blend into the bare underbrush of winter; offering some protection against predators. 

The little bunnies who ate some spring plants have moved on. Reluctantly, I admit they too are part of Indra's net. Chipmunks on these warm autumn days still scamper between and among the rocks. 

Frank Joswick (1905-1995) 

 Furthering the common good and community service were ingrained in my high school education under the influence of Mr. Frank Joswick. During the early 1950s rural school consolidation swept through Wisconsin. Mr. Joswick, Administrator of the Pulaski Schools, led the initiative in the Pulaski area. He worked tirelessly convincing one room school loyalists from 13 small rural school districts that consolidation would benefit their children. 

The one room school I attended for six years closed in 1956 after joining the new Pulaski district. As a seventh grader, I attended the new elementary school in Pulaski and entered an expanded new world. 

Now the Pulaski Community School District is the largest district by area in the state. It spans 176 square miles and has five elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. The district serves 3700 students. 

Mr. Joswick's  educational philosophy permeated the consolidate school district and his legacy continues. Mr. Joswick was the district's Superintendent for 35 years. He believed that school and community were closely linked. His educational philosophy also stressed that democracy required a sound public education system and that learning occurs in community settings. Plus Mr. Joswick stressed that we have a responsibility to work for the common good through community service. 

Community service was so important to Mr. Joswick that during the early years of his superintendency teachers he hired were required to do community service. Mr. Joswick throughout his life time served the Pulaski community in several ways besides being superintendent of schools. For example, he founded the Tri-County Medical Clinic located in Pulaski, served on the Village Board, and after retirement FX managed the Pulaski Canning Factory. One of my summer jobs was with the canning factory. Packed green beans for long hours in sweltering heat, and sometimes partied afterwards. 

Mr. Joswick taught a senior government course that reflected his educational philosophy. I missed his course because he retired before I was a senior. I still experienced his educational philosophy. In 1942, Mr. Joswick made the lapsed community newspaper part of the high school curriculum with students and a teacher in charge of the community newspaper. During most of my high school years, I worked on The Pulaski News as part of a journalism class, led by Mr. Bernard  Olenejeick. He acted more like a newspaper editor than a teacher while we were reporters.       

I also during one year, with a signed pass in my pocket, walked downtown to Pulaski businesses, convincing them to buy ads. It was an easy sale while teaching me the importance of contributing to the common good through community service. Publishing a newspaper with other students also taught me valuable skills of working as a team and how to collectively meet deadlines.

Here I am as a senior, the guy with the crew cut. We are in the back of the high school's library, probably conducting research for a history or social studies report. We could quietly converse. If we were too loud, Mrs. Schroeder, the gentle and respected librarian, would let us know. 

The Pulaski News continues to be a community newspaper and the oldest student -run newspaper in the country. The paper is produced 26 times per year and is written by students who are in an English class. During the summer, there are six part-time paid editors on staff. Editions are both in paper and on online. Follow this link for more information 

On September 28th,  Ann and I got up early for a trip to my home town, Pulaski. I was a panelist with my sister Barbara and several others from the Pulaski area. The panel was part of an event about one room schools sponsored by the Pulaski Area Historical Society. A very pleasant time with panel members and people in the audience as we shared stories. 

During the event, I mentioned the historical impact of the consolidation movement and Mr. Joswick's leadership. In response my 83 year old brother Tom, in the audience, talked about how Mr. Joswick's course influenced his life and values. Tom's life long lesson from the course is the importance of living in ways that results, to quote Tom, in "the greatest good for the greatest number." This quotation according to Tom is from the writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225--1274), an Italian Dominican friar and priest, an influential philosopher and theologian.  

Tom's lessons from Mr. Joswick's course, Indra's Net, and promoting the common good are on my mind as I make decisions about the critical 2024 presidential election. My ballot also includes Congressional offices, three local referendums, and one state-wide referendum to change the Wisconsin Constitution. Tending Prospect Gardens is always a refuge and now provides one from the tense election dynamics. 

In this spirit of this blog, I will not advocate for candidates or state positions on the referendum.  However, I do encourage you to vote. I end these musings by extending a blessing as expressed in Carrie Newcomer's poem.

Blessing

" May you wake with a sense of play,
An exultation of the possible.
May you rest without guilt,
Satisfied at the end of a day well done.
May all the rough edges be smoothed,
If to smooth is to heal,
And the edges be left rough,
When the unpolished is more true
And infinitely more interesting.
May you wear your years like a well-tailored coat
Or a brave sassy scarf.
May every year yet to come:
Be one more bright button
Sewn on a hat you wear at a tilt.
May the friendships you’ve sown
Grown tall as summer corn.
And the things you’ve left behind,
Rest quietly in the unchangeable past.
May you embrace this day,
Not just as any old day,
But as this day.
Your day.
Held in trust
By you,
In a singular place,
Called now."

    

Precious Life and Well-being

Monarch From
Neighbor's Garden 

As the dog days of summer continue I start these reflections with Mary Oliver' poem ,The Summer Day.  Her poem ends with a challenging question and Dr. Richie (Richard) Davidson's research on well-being suggests some answers. Dr. Davidson is a research professor of psychology and psychiatry and the Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He and Center staff have extensively researched mindfulness and meditation with the result being tools that help people build skills of well-being. 

The Summer Day

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean--

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down --

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

With your one wild and precious life? 

Dr. Richie Davidson would encourage a plan for our precious lives that includes well-being. What follows are points that I have distilled from his research. 

·        Well-being is when our lives have "greater comfort, health and happiness" (quote from online article, includes audio ) 

·        Well-being is a composite of four skills (also referred to as “pillars” and/or “constituents”) that can be learned. The skills  are awareness, connection, insight, and purpose. We integrate the four into our lives through learning and practice, and without feeling that a problem must be fixed.

·        Well-being and its four skills are grounded in the examination of traditional contemplative literature and findings from modern biobehavioral science. Data from MRI brain scans of  experienced meditators are a primary source and was the basis for applying the construct of  neuroplasticity to contemplative practices. Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural pathways throughout life and in response to experiences. Dr. Davidson and his team found through meditation (and by inference practicing the four skills) we rewire and change our brain's neural networks in ways that ultimately benefit us emotionally. 

   

·        Awareness is paying attention to what’s happening in the present moment.  As Mary Oliver states in the poem "The Summer Day:"  I do know how to pay attention.  Davidson points out this is no easy task. He writes: "The level of distractibility in our culture today is skyrocketing, diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are steeply rising, and the tech companies are masterminds at competing for our attention" (quote from another online article).

·        Connection is a composite of qualities that support self-care and caring for others. In the set are appreciation, gratitude, kindness, generosity, and compassion.

·        Insight is the capacity to curiously investigate and understand our thoughts, beliefs, and expectations and how these shape sense of self and perceptions of the world. Furthermore as a result of insight we better understand how an overemphasis on self (me or mine) is an obstacle to well-being.   

·        Purpose , the fourth skill, sets a sense of direction in life. We sense where our life is headed. We also are better at clarifying our values and able to ascribe meaning to our lives.

Well-being and it’s four related skills, as laid out by Dr. Davidson, may strike you as being rather complex and challenging. Dr. Davidson reminds us that we learn other complex skills through understanding and practice. I would add that Buddhist teaching about wise intention and wise effort are helpful. We start with setting an intention that can also be thought of as an aspiration. Our ambition is  to integrate well-being into our lives without setting a goal that must be met at all costs. Determination is required but efforts are gentle, free off striving, and marked with patience. Furthermore, wise effort involves recognizing that mind and heart states are not constant or forever; they arise and pass away. Yet moment by moment we continue to move forward, in this case, towards well-being.

Prospect Gardens has been an important part of my life for 15  years. I'm now evaluating how the Gardens fit into the larger purpose of my life. Tending the Gardens have contributed so much to my sense of well-being while providing opportunities to practice the related four skills. Now the Gardens are teaching me to let go and how to develop a revised plan for this precious life. The plan is still emerging.

  

Meanwhile, I celebrate the contentment and being part of a  community felt during the July 27th Prospect Gardens work session. I am also celebrating the return of the sparkling blue small rock that disappeared about a few months ago. Someone created it several years ago and I imagine it was a child. Why this gem disappeared and returned is a mystery. I offer thanks to the person who returned  the gem.

Here's the July 27th crew near the end of a longer than usual break. I always build in time for chatting. Thank you very much for your good work. 

I'm in the first row in a long sleeve shirt, despite the warm day. I was prepared to remove stinging nettles. 

To my left is Ann N. Behind Ann and me (starting on the left) is Madeline, a West High Leo Club member and a Junior, Laura V., and then Joyce. On the top row, are Gregory, Jessica, Becky, and Astrid. Ann B. took the picture.

Later in the morning Laura B., the keeper of several prairie gardens along the Southwest Path in the Westmoreland neighborhood, stopped by. As usual she was on her bike. While we chatted, I learned about a native nettle species and how the larvae from the following spectacular butterflies eat nettle: Eastern Comma, Question Mark, Red Admiral, and Milbert’s Tortoiseshell. I agree with Laura's assessment: Nettles serve a purpose! Now to learn the difference between native and non-native nettles.

The work session ended before the day's heat really settled in. Here's Jessica about to leave after her first time tending the Gardens. She and Gregory removed  many young Japanese Sumac from a section on the Regent side of the Gardens. Jessica has a Japanese Sumac on the back of the bike; hoping to transplant it.

As is customary in my posts I share pictures about the Gardens and here are six. Many plants are now at the peak stage of blooming. Yellow from native plants and pink from non-native phlox are now dominant colors throughout the Gardens. Our initial plan was for all native prairie plants. Several years ago, for a reason I can no longer recall, a few Non-native pink phlox were planted. They have now multiplied and spread. They even thrive in sections covered with rocks. 

Golden Soldier Beetles (if you look closely) busy pollinating a prairie coneflower. 

Joe Pye Weed in full bloom. Another native plant that attracts pollinators, including bees.  

Top of a Cup plant. These are self-seeded from a neighbor's yard. They are thriving and spreading along the Fox side of the Gardens. It's always a pleasure discovering what plants find their way into the Gardens. Less pleasurable, is noticing those we plant and that don't thrive. For example, the Gardens once had several patches of vibrant red Cardinal plants. Now only two plants remain on the Regent side and you really need to look for them. 

Black Eye Susan  (yellow) and purple Asters. These migrated from another section of the Gardens. I'm somewhat surprised by how early the Asters are blooming.  Perhaps a sign of an early autumn? 

  

More Black Eye Susan, and Culver Root (gray blossoms). The tall broad leaf plant not yet in bloom is a Jerusalem Artichoke also known as Wild Sunflower. The tubers are edible. There will be many. 

The Elderberries are ripening and some are ready to pick. Another sign that summer's pace has quickened. June, who lives near the Gardens, harvests the berries and makes tasteful jams and jellies. 

 Elderberries must be cooked first to safely remove the lectin and cyanide (toxins). Raw elderberries have a bitter, tart flavor, but cooked they taste quite different. Raw berries are also mildly poisonous. .

I end these reflections with another Mary Oliver poem and a wish for you. The poem, to me, underscores our precious lives while speaking to us about well-being. 

When I am Among the Trees

When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, “Stay awhile.”

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It's simple,” they say,

“and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine.”

Sun Dial in Prospect Gardens.
Gift from former neighbor. 

May you be "filled with light, and to shine" as time goes by. May we meet again in person or through this blog.