This is the way that it is now.

The Buddha encouraged his followers to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Refuge points to a time to rest and take a breath. It’s a time to rejuvenate and gather the strength to step back on the path, to take the next step. It’s a place to feel safe, to feel heard and to be authentic. We take refuge in the Buddha. Not in the man but in all those who are awakened. They are everywhere and we don’t know it because they don’t act any differently. They work, eat and sleep just like regular people. The only difference is “Buddhas” realize their identity with the ultimate reality while most do not. We take refuge because they demonstrate that this is possible for each of us. Every person can do this. They give us hope, courage and clarity. We aren’t idolizing or worshipping them. We learn from their lives, their presence, their speech, and their teachings. That learning isn’t work; it just rubs off on us as we allow ourselves to drink from the deep well of Presence that they embody. We take refuge in the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha and others. The teachings arise in our thoughts and behaviors and inform us how to see clearly. They help us learn to break through the many stories and illusions we hold. We see that those stories are not essential to who we truly are. In taking refuge in the Dharma, we open ourselves to experience learning from every experience. We make our meditation practice our life. There are no boundaries between sitting on a cushion and being in the subway. Wherever there is resistance or contraction, there is learning possible. Whenever insights occur, there is learning happening. We take refuge in the Sangha. The sangha represents a non-verbal connection. In a silent retreat, often people feel close to others even though they don’t have a clue about their stories. Sangha gives us a practice to open our hearts and be authentic and vulnerable. We can practice letting go of any boundaries and protection that we carry with us. Within the sangha, awareness of openness and gratitude grows so that we can begin to feel the times when we close ourselves and our barrier comes up. We become attuned to the joy of living without that protection and become curious about how the Dharma can help us live without contraction. We gain more courage as we watch all the other Buddhas in the world. We can’t separate the three. The sangha is a place of Dharma. The sangha is a place of Buddhas. All sangha members are inspiration to each other and Buddhas. The sangha is the Dharma sharing the path and its challenges with each other. They are interconnected into such an amazing gift.

May the Winter Solstice truly signify the beginning of regeneration for all of us. Winter gives us time to lay fallow for a while as the fields do. During the business of life, we can forget our life values and react to situations in ways that are unskillful. It’s part of being human; it’s part of life. And the Buddha taught that all phenomena are impermanent. We know that, at least intellectually. Winter solstice is a time to stay low, to stop and nurture and grow, to reflect on the truths that are always around us. I have a t-shirt that says, “Impermanence makes anything possible.” It is possible to not take life so personally. It is possible to feel gratitude, even in the midst of hardship. It is possible to be aware of the vitality of life around us as we busily move from car to building and back. It is possible to accept laying fallow, resting in quiet, with the trust that the cycle will continue with roots, blossoms again as it does. It is possible to find calm in unpleasant times. It is possible to live with the knowing that “All shall be well, All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well,” as Julian of Norwich stated in the 1400s. I have so appreciated walking the path in meditation with all of you. May you have a nurturing wintering season and may you come to see that all is well. As you know, Days of Meditation do help – in fallowing and in being aware of the process of setting roots, blooming, resting, and accepting the cycle. The Days of Meditation occur at Michigan Friends Center in Chelsea. The next dates are: February 10 April 27 More information on the "Retreat" tab above. There is an open invitation to join the Chelsea Sangha on Monday nights from 7 pm – 8:30 pm.

Approach each day with amazement, wonder and gratitude. After all, what have you done to earn the inconceivable gift of life? What a gift to be able to breathe air. When one contemplates the process of air, there’s an appreciation for how oxygen is continually manufactured by natural processes through trees, plants and other forms and breathed in by other life. Carbon dioxide breathed out, activating the process again and the conversion into life-giving oxygen. A dance in nature of give and take, with each giving the other life. And you are one of the recipients of that gift. On average over a lifetime a human will take 670 million breaths. How many are you aware of? And with each of those breaths you are sharing molecules with all the living beings that have come before… dinosaurs even! We live on a little rock hurling through space at approximately 300 miles per second! That rock revolves around a sun that is just the right size to warm the rock without burning or freezing it. That rock has an atmosphere, water, and soil. The sun isn’t exploding or imploding as some do. We live inside one of two trillion galaxies! How amazing! In Michigan right now, there is color everywhere. Of course, there always is - multiple shades of green, brown, blue. Right now, the added colors of yellow, red, orange and mixes of colors everywhere. And sometimes those colors are set against a blue sky or the more common platinum colored skies of Michigan. Birds are moving this time of year. The gift of music fills the air if you listen, especially near bird feeders and trees. The antics of the chickadees and nuthatches, the bossiness of the starlings and blue jays and the multitude of juncos and sparrows can be a joy to watch. Look to see. Do you wake up, go through your morning routines, have breakfast, plod into your daily activities and forget to be aware of the life thriving around you and in you? In the pressure of the news and all the little things that show up to irritate you, have you forgotten that you are living a gift? Yes, sometimes life gives us what we do not want. And still there can be moments of awe, of curiosity, even of gratitude. This moment is a gift. How often do you stop with amazement, wonder and gratitude at this gift of life?