Ease

A few days ago, I woke up to the sound of dinging. Morning text dings have replaced ringing phone calls as the end of sleep. No need to set an alarm; these texts carried their own alarms--news flashes, nearby street closures, L.A.P..D. missing persons announcements, a group text with war updates, and another with disturbing election news. Prospects for the day seemed to sink. This annoyed me, so I declared to myself, "May is not Mayhem!" I decided despite the early disruption, I would have a day of Ease. It seemed only natural to extend that vow into this Sunday post, initiating the upcoming week as a spiritual discovery and practice of Ease.

This does not mean that the days are suddenly smooth sailing. After my self-declaration on what May is not, the days were double packed with responsibilities and urgent tasks, making it difficult to remember the path of Ease, but that is the usual course of a new practice. Start with small pieces of Ease, recognizing them, remembering Ease, approaching the increasingly difficult or resistant chore, more relaxed and more gently. Try completing simple tasks with the recognition that they are not barriers to the day, but belong to the day's meaning and ...joy. There is joy in each day, It takes practice to recognize it and, even if very briefly, savor it.

A few months ago, I took 2 grandchildren with me to buy office and school supplies at the local Staples store. The kids were spying around for some inexpensive toy or treat. One of them found a plastic disc in a markdown items basket--it was part of a past promotional slogan on how easy it was to shop for supplies. When you push down on the disc, it announces, in a slightly excited, but victorious voice, "That was Easy!" I loved it and so did she, so we bought it. For a few weeks, when faced with a household chore or a school homework project, she would gleefully run and get the disc, and when the job was done, the voice rang out, "That was Easy!" Sometimes she surprised me after-the-fact, sneaking in the disc, including times when I had complained! Now I see an expanded value to the ritual.

To build a sense of Ease, you start with the obvious easy moment, and then that expands to a beginning recognition that life is actually full of Ease, every day there are moments of Ease. But difficulties tend to cast shadows that obscure the underlying Ease of life, the do-able, the delightful. Like any cognitive/emotional process, the more we recognize those Easy moments, the more awareness expands our capacity for Ease. The more we dwell on difficulty, the more space it fills in our expectations of disappointment and more difficulty. Consider this week that simply recognizing the way of Ease, in whatever activity presents itself, can pave the way to an Easier Life. Try it; it's Easy. (Susan Nettleton)

for poetry: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/155965/ease

https://medium.com/know-thyself-heal-thyself/path-of-ease-1d2a3dd1d8b2

https://www.wisdom2be.com/gems-poetry-wisdomstories/when-the-shoe-fits-by-chuang-tzu

Signs and Wonders

Last Sunday, I pursued the subtle. It was good preparation for some wild days that erupted later in the week!. With the energy burst of May blooms, there is also the touch of the wild and a whirl-wind of activity as the culture revs up, before summer. Today is Mother's Day, a time of appreciation for those who "mother" us, and hopefully that appreciation includes a small window that allows "moms" a day of ease. Even with all our modern appliances, and our knowledge of the importance of balance in life, "moms" lead pressured lives. I use the word "mom" to acknowledge every year, those who assume the role--regardless of the genetics and lineage-- of mother.

In my world, the past week erupted in that whirl-wind push of May with scheduling shifts, local school events, last minute errands, and well...Life blooming. One evening, a rushed dinner prep, put all the busyness into spiritual perspective. Unloading some hastily bought groceries, I shoved things into the refrigerator. Then, I remembered I didn't clean the radishes. I keep them prepped in the fridge for easy last minute salads. With a tired sigh, I begrudgingly found a knife and a colander, and began to trim and wash. Then a thought popped into my mind:

"The man pulling radishes, pointed the way with a radish." (Issa)

I have not thought of Issa's poem for a long time, and I had to smile (and relax), that it so spontaneously floated into my awareness. Kobayashi Nobuyuki, (1763-1828) is a famed Japanese Haiku poet. In many ways, he had a tragic life, including the death of his mother, when he was only 3. Yet, his poetry lives on in the beauty of simplicity that offers layers and layers of meaning. The poem nudged me to finish my chore and then sit with it in meditation.

Sometimes, it is the very light touch of another's journey that brings us to Peace. May is full of signs and wonder, including the stray thought that leads us back to our own inner path. (Susan Nettleton)

"In the cherry blossom's shade, there's no such thing as a stranger." Issa

For poetry: https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/B/Buson/springrain/index.html https://www.poeticous.com/david-whyte/the-lightest-touch https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/I/IssaKobayash/springday/index.html https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/L/LeeLiYoung/BecomeBecomi/index.html

The Subtle

May brings the full blossoming of spring. I am looking out the window, through fruit trees and oaks, up to the mountain above them, and above that mountain, the white clouds and blue sky. Yes, the full blossoming of spring. And we, the people of the Northern hemisphere, on some subtle level are in bloom as well. Even as conflict rages, and absurd events flaunt the news and social media, we humans are in the season for beauty to bloom through art, through discovery, through compassion and a heightened awareness of the natural world. Outwardly, Nature is vividly bursting free; inwardly, consider the possibility that subtle layers of awareness, long blocked by thought and the mind's incessant chatter, can also open and bloom. If, as Larry Morris said, "May is for manifestation," then we have the opportunity for clearer reception of inner spiritual direction, revelation, and demonstration.

May is a good time to revamp our meditation practice. Just like Nature with its seemingly infinite variety of life forms, there are abundant forms of meditation. I personally have woven through times of meditation in prayer form, or sat in simple silence, or entered into imagery, or sat with with mantra repetition, or let the mind lead through a mix, with stillness, or movement. But the last few days, I felt the pull to return to a mantra that was gifted to me almost 20 years ago. I felt the pull to focus my full attention in gentle repetition, not really expecting anything new. It just seemed like the thing to do that morning. I had always assumed mantra meditation was to calm the "monkey" mind, as thoughts fly around, jumping from one idea, memory, or concern to another, while the mind, occupied with a mantra, brought quiet awareness. During this meditation though, I watched my own mental processes pulling toward MY mental "agenda" in meditation: I had turned from my thoughts to give way to the mantra. But then it hit me; the mantra was only another mental activity. It just occupied the mind, while the "inner directive" the deeper connection, the movement of the Transcendent, came forth in the tiniest subtle direction, circumventing the mantra, the thinking, the pauses of silence--all of "meditation practice". What was most significant was Its subtlety. I realized how delicate this inner "communion/communication" is. So delicate and subtle, we very rarely become aware of It. Yet, something on an unconscious, or subconscious level, receives it anyway.

There is teaching story (often attributed to Buddha) that in various versions compares the practice of meditation to tuning an string instrument--a sitar, lyre, or in the West, a guitar: "Not too loose, not too tight." When the strings of an instrument are too tight, they break; if they are too loose, they produce no sound. This speaks to a balance point in our own practice of meditation. If you try to force your thoughts-- your worries, your fears, your pain-- into your sense of peaceful submission, your strings are too tight. If you just let your thoughts wander, and your attention wanders with them, you really aren't meditating. It's too loose, we loose subtle awareness. We all go through either process at times, and it's useful to recognize that. One way to restore balance is to remember the simple truth expressed by the Sufi poet Rumi, "What you seek, seeks you." Your mantra, or other meditation practice, is still the churning mind, with the volume turned down. Light can break through in unexpected flashes of wonder and insight, while you sit, or in extraordinary experiences that come while you are out and about in the world. But those are rare events. Consider this week, meditation as your acceptance of this subtle, subtle, movement, a daily opening of an inner door. Meditation is subtlety turning you to receive what is always freely given. (Susan Nettleton)

Why May come if not to release us to warm joy harmony and awaken us from lingering winter slumbers into God's Way for us Now.

(Larry Morris, Poems Hanging in Space)

For more poetry: https://www.poemi st.com/denise-levertov/aware#google_vignette https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43333/the-waking-56d2220f25315 https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/B/BerryWendell/RealWork/index.html

Disruption

As we enter this last week of April, I am hoping for a smoother ride. Whether we are following oil prices, airline availability, war escalation or de-escalation, upcoming election predictions, or neighborhood news reports, this month continues the 2025, into 2026 theme of disruption. It's a word that is popular in all sorts of political strategies and commentary. Large scale disruption of any social/political events collectively affects us to some degree, even if we personally are not actively identified with the sudden shifts. Those events are often designed to de-stabilize a sense of security and predictability in the play of power and social control. But there are other ways we experience disruption and this week, I invite your to consider personal disruption from a spiritual perspective.

Consider the times when Life is moving you along in a smooth ride--a metaphoric, open 4 lane freeway. You elegantly, take each curve and then, through absolutely no fault of your own, you are suddenly ensnared in non-moving traffic. What was planned as an enjoyable 30 minute drive, becomes a 5 hour non-moving nightmare. True, you are sharing that experience with everyone else sitting in stalled traffic, but this spiritual reflection is about your interpretation of disruption. The smooth sailing flow of freedom is blocked. Or, as I experienced this week, sudden engine trouble led me to drop off my car at the auto mechanic in a long busy day. I eventually returned home, carless, in the dark. I headed to the kitchen to figure out dinner, only to discover the water was turned off. It took a few texts to learn that an ongoing remodeling project next door had led to a plumbing issue and would shut down water flow for 3 or 4 days! (The construction contractor: "Oh, we forgot to warn you. Sorry.") No car, no water. Disruption.

As I write this (in a hotel room), the Zen tale of the nun Chiyono comes to mind. Chiyono studied Zen for many years without attaining enlightenment. Then one night, under a full moon, she carried water in an old pail made with bamboo. The bamboo broke; the bottom fell out of the pail, and Chiyono was set free. Her poem on the experience is one of my favorites: "In this way and that I tried to save the old pail/ Since the bamboo strip was weakening and about to break/ Until at last the bottom fell out/ No more water in the pail!/ No more moon in the water!"

Is it possible that what the mind and emotions label disruption of your plans and intentions, is actually its own form of Grace? A re-direct. A deepening. A time to give way to change. This is the spiritual practice of intuitive guidance. Intuitive guidance is not just inner receptivity to guidance that gently confirms our positive expectations. Sometimes guidance comes through road blocks, sometimes through disarray. Sometimes it comes in a whispered, "not yet." Where is it leading you? (Susan Nettleton)

For poetry: https://www.livingwellnessmag.com/poems/disruption https://pvcann.com/2023/10/15/such-a-gentle-disruption-a-poem-by-paul-vincent-cannon/ https://allpoetry.com/poem/16411688-Disruption-by-Matthew-Gregor

Cosmic View

The New Moon last Friday night, just the barest sliver in the evening, inspired me to reflect on the wonder of the cosmos. All the pressured political events, spilling over into religious squabbles, can quickly muddle awareness of the mystery and majesty of Life on Earth. Of course, this new moon holds added intensity--with 7 planetary bodies hovering in astrological formation in Ares. In addition, while the moon is still crescent, the annual Lyrid meteor shower will be more visible, with as many as 10-20 shooting stars per hour at it's peak Tuesday night! The Lyrid meteors are actually debris from the Thatcher comet, which itself is only visible every 415 years. The earth passes over the meteor showers every year around this same time and records of the meteor event go back over 2,5000 years.

Even more phenomenal, collectively, we are still processing new visions of our moon, across the backdrop of space mission Artemis II. I am still absorbing the Artemis Flight. Evidently, so are the astronauts, along with anyone fascinated by human capacity to launch outside the atmosphere, and beyond. They launched on April 1, and flew, 230,000 miles out into space, returning to the Pacific Ocean, on April 10, setting the new record for human travel from Earth, a total trip of 695,081 miles. The flight took me back to 1969, and Apollo 11, and earlier flights, my family waking up early in the morning to watch launches on T.V. Growing up in Houston, the "Space Age City", meant being prepared to discuss the latest flight events when summer was over and it was back to class. With Artemis II, though, there is a greater depth of meaning, that the star-struck astronauts brought home to us. Yes, in 2026, the space above the sky, the lower Earth orbit, is now filled with satellites, and even holds the amazing International Space Station, which I often forget is accessible to us via cameras. (In fact, I stopped to take a peak right now, and learned there are 7 astronauts on board, saw their names and bio's, 408 km above earth, passing over Mongolia as I write...https://isslivenow.com/). But the impact of Artemis II, is the Wonder and Awe the crew has conveyed.

That Wonder seemed particularly palpable when speaking of their time that stretched further than any previous flight--beyond radio contact with Mission Control, relying only on each other. That reliance revealed the true depth of human connection. Consider these quotes from the crew as they faced the reporters when back on the ground. Astronaut Jeremy Hansen: "Humans are just great people...What I have seen has brought me more joy and more hope for our future." What he was left pondering was "the depth of the galaxy". Astronaut Christine Koch: "Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbedly in the universe. Planet Earth, you are crew." Astronaut Glover, coming home to a neighborhood celebration for him, spoke of love for all, and loving "our neighbors as ourself." "Lets be neighbors."Astronaut Hansen, spoke of the love they shared, and expanded it, "When you look here, you're not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you. And if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper. This is you."

This seems like the week to take the Cosmic View, beyond power plays, marketing, and tired scripts. We may never board a space craft, but our awareness can and does expand. It's a good week to move beyond tight frames of reference and binding social constructs. What is that view from the Cosmos?...Love as connection that is not Earth bound... Consider, not just outer travel, but inner as well. (Susan Nettleton)

For poetry: https://poets.org/poem/when-i-heard-learnd-astronomer https://magazine.uc.edu/editors_picks/recent_features/armstrong/poem.html https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/C/CarpenterEdw/Freedomdeep/index.html https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/157986/high-flight-627d3cfb1e9b7

Waiting

April brings more than spring flowers--it is tax season in America and so we have yet another reason to look back on the year we have left behind. It's psychologically more difficult to embrace the forward movement of Nature's cyclical seasons, while simultaneously meeting the responsibility of social and legal requirements. If you haven't completed your April paperwork, consider taking a break or two to remind yourself that outside, whatever the weather, Life is expressing as spring. And you, as an aspect of Nature, are expressing spring, even if in struggle.

My personal struggle this week popped up unexpectedly in meditation. Sitting quietly, I was aware of the background "to do list" still running through my mind. It was seemingly a long, long list that included more than tax filing. With a sigh, I exhaled the stream of thought, and found silence. Then one word popped into my mind. It was not a word I wanted to "hear." I almost dismissed it, but then caught it again, as it faded..."Wait." Of course, my mind immediately started questioning. Wait for what? Why?

When you feel pressured, waiting can seem like a waste of time. We mix it up with fearful or resentful resistance and procrastination, but sometimes, waiting is an art. While we may affirm our capacity to receive Grace, Healing, Understanding, Right Action, Prosperity, Love--right here, right now--there is something to timing in the unfolding of Life. We are unique individuals, but our lives intersect with other lives, our events impact other events. Our events are impacted by the unfolding Good of others. Sometimes we need to wait as Life unfolds, and we are not given explanations nor time tables by the Universe. It is a matter of Trust.

Meanwhile, the entirety of Life, and the entirety of your personal life, are not on hold. I guarantee you there are other duties and delights reaching out to you, while you wait. Waiting is not inactive, because Life is Large. Find the unrelated task. Venture out of routine and/or place. Head for discovery--inside your home, or outside your door--outside your perimeters. Divine Timing is stirring you to new perspective. Give it a chance this week. (Susan Nettleton)

"All is in Divine Timing, and I am guided every step of the way."

For poetry: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48946/kneeling-56d22a97b5917 https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/R/RilkeRainerM/AboutPatienc/index.html https://monadnock.net/burroughs/waiting.html

Easter Sunday 2026

Today is Easter Sunday. Depending on your religious background and beliefs, Easter Sunday can be the spiritual highlight of the year, or it may have mellowed into picnics and Easter egg hunts, with little recognition of its religious roots. Still, Easter has been celebrated in many different forms for 2,000 years. Of course, there are religious celebrations in other belief systems that have continued across much longer time spans. Religious beliefs and ceremony are like the deep roots of ancient forest trees that still survive; we too, as aspects of nature, have our deep roots--the human roots of tradition, ceremony, with stories of ancient times and prophesies of our future. To me, those roots underscore my sense that life thrives in variation. In many ways, our understanding of religion is divisive, as if the "right way" is to strive to bring all of humanity into one Belief, but Life is abundantly diverse.

This week, I once again encourage you to reflect on these themes of variation and diversity as the ongoing, living, thriving pulse of the natural world. Cultural and political structures are a kind of subset of Life's variation and Life is vastly more than human attempts to contain it in isolated belief structures. Even within a given religion, there are subsets within subsets, histories within histories, reformulations, and hidden, esoteric interpretations. What a wonder! What a puzzle--all the pieces don't match, but then again, some do, some line up. My point is to encourage your own inner structures of belief, and the way those structures of beliefs and understanding mesh with pieces held by others, and the way they simply may not. That is the weave of human consciousness--accepting agreement and non-agreement.

In honor of Easter then, consider these quotes from Jesus and their relevancy for April, 2026: "The kingdom of God comes not with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you". Note the individuality implied here, rather than a collective experience; the entire spiritual realm is within you. And yet, you are within It. This is the Mystery, and very much in the spirit of a Zen Koan.

Consider Matthew 22:37-39 and Mark 12: 30-31 as Jesus speaks of the greatest commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

This is clarified further in Luke 10:25-37 in the Parable of the Good Samaritan: "On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. 'Teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the Law?' He (Jesus) replied. 'How do you read it?' He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, Love your neighbor as yourself.' ‘You have answered correctly’, Jesus replied. 'Do this and you will live.' But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?'"

This is the heart of the questions and definitions that for centuries, many have used to circumvent the basic teaching: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus answers by saying, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, who came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denari and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,' he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'" (Note, Levites were descents from the Jewish Tribe of Levi, who served as singers, guards, and assistant to the priests and Samaritans were a mixed race with different religious practices, including paganism. Samaritans were generally looked down upon and shunned by the Jews.)

Jesus then asked, "'Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’’ Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise”.

Beyond all the interpretations of the crucifixion, the conflicts within Christianity, and conflicts between religions, (and non-religion), there is this teaching to contemplate: Love your neighbor; help where and when you can. Happy Easter. Enjoy the delights of Spring. (Susan Nettleton)

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/T/TagoreRabind/1Thouhastmad/index.html https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2015/04/james-broughton-easter-exultet.html https://www.all-creatures.org/poetry/swan.html

Stay Open

This week, March fades into April. It's been an eventful month and I feel the pull to extend this winter-into-spring transition. A metaphoric blooming of spring seems tenuous with so many rapidly unfolding events--war, Saturday's phenomenal nationwide protests, airport chaos, the A.I. surge, contradictory news, and of course, the actual weather. How do we connect with the Real?

The other morning, I needed information about changing my internet service, so I called my phone company. The call was answered by a robot. It introduced itself as a "digital service provider". Let's be clear, it was a machine, and a machine that actually spoke a little surly to me when I corrected its misinformation. So I hung up. Realistically, I will have to call again, because I need to set up the change in my account, but I took a few steps back first to recalibrate. With a little self-reflection, I ironically realized that my next planned task was writing this Sunday's post on the intended topic, "staying open" to the Good.

We connect to the Good by our openness to it. But how do we distinguish the Good from societies' waves of shifting reassurances, and almost simultaneous undercurrents of threats? Here, I have to repeat one of my favorite quotes from Robert Pirsig, (who attributed it to Socrates): "And what is Good, Phaedrus, and what is not Good? Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?" We all have within us the capacity for recognizing what is Good and what is not Good. Yet, as a culture, and as a world, we do not all agree on what is Good. That said, we as individuals do have the capacity to Cultivate the Good, by staying open to it, and trusting that the larger Reality (God) does both guide and protect us. Staying open to Good as an affirmation of our spiritual life is more than just "hope"; it is actively participating in an unfolding process of Life, our personal life, that remains an essential part of the whole. I have to call it essential, because Your individual life is such a miraculous mystery. In other words, You, as a unique individual, complete the whole of Now.

Our capacity to affirm the Good in Life is our participation in unfolding Good. There are many ways to that. Today, I am sharing two of my favorite affirmations, inspired by the late Reverend Johnnie Colemon, the "First Lady of New Thought", who founded Christ Universal Church in Chicago in 1956, and was the minister there for 50 years. She was one of the most powerful, inspirational speakers I have ever heard. Both these lines below hold the theme of staying Open.

"I am open to new delight and discovery, knowing I am sheltered from that which is false in my life, in the world, and all my affairs."

"I am completely open and receptive to the inflow of infinite Good in my life."

This first one acknowledges that humans are susceptible to, and can get caught in, the nets of false ideas and false understanding. The Real provides shelter. Here, I can also add Robert Schuller's prayer--a good one to remember as well: "Lord, help me to see where my answers are wrong." We aid ourselves in the spiritual art of side-stepping the false, by remembering that we humans are susceptible to blind allegiance in belief systems. To truly be healing and transformative, our affirmation of Good requires depth. "Completely open and receptive" to the Good, means our willingness to dive deeply into "delight and discovery." What an adventure!

Now I am ready to re-tackle the phone/internet carrier. I really do know how to ignore the robot, and find my connection to a human being and the Real. You do too. (Susan Nettleton)

https://hopefischbach.substack.com/p/poetry-lesson-stay-open-by-james https://hillsidesource.com/openness-poem?rq=openness https://words2da1.wordpress.com/2023/08/11/poem-for-everyman-john-t-wood/

Spring Refresh

Ah, Spring is arriving! Officially, the spring equinox was last Friday, on March 20 this year, and the sun shown across the equinox equator bringing almost exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime to the entire planet as it rotated; the entire Earth has been bathed in Light. Now the balance tilts and our northern hemisphere will have increasing daylight until summer solstice, June 21. Although worldwide, we begin each New Year on January 1, the equinoxes of March (for our Northern Hemisphere) and September (for the Southern hemisphere) alternate in bringing a "refresh" of newness of seasonal change. Our collective awareness of this wonder has ancient roots in human observation and study of our planet, the seasons, and the night time sky. Living in the Northern Hemisphere, in a time of climate shifts, uncertainty, and war, it seems particularly important to enter the spirit of a new season. Let this first week of spring, regardless of the outer picture, be a time for a reset, a time to refresh and enter the Spirit of Spring.

The first layer of a spring refresh, might be simply spontaneous. Yesterday, I was up early, having committed to listening on my phone to a program in another time zone. While attending, I decided to make my morning coffee, and I opened a kitchen drawer. What a mess! My brain was processing the program, but my eyes and hands began to throw out very old spices, some of which layered the drawer with spilled remnants and stain. I realized in the rush of everyday mornings, I had ignored the overload. Some times cleaning really means throw it away! I actually did not connect this sudden imperative to liberate the drawer with my theme of spring refresh, until I sat in meditation. Then, I unexpectedly saw the link--the centuries of traditional spring cleaning and a renewed round of release-the-old, is embedded in human consciousness. Don't dismiss the small step that expresses nature's renewal. We are of nature and sometimes the way of nature is slow and piecemeal, and subtle. And sometimes, it is full throttle.

Consider too, a spiritual refresh. In writing about this time of year, I often reference the religious holidays that can overlap in spring. To me, that overlap of differing belief systems seems particularly significant as an opening for renewal. Ramadan, the holiest month of the year for Muslims, ended this past Thursday night, as devotees broke their month long daytime fast (no food or drink from sunrise to sunset for the entire month). The holy month of Ramadan includes prayer, charity, and celebration, and this year ended powerfully with the dawn of the equinox. In Judaism this year, the solstice falls between the religious observance of Purim (March 2-3) and Passover (April 1-9) which overlaps with Easter this year. In Catholicism and other Protestant denominations of Christianity, there is Lent, a 46 day preparation for Easter Sunday. This year it began February 18th, and ends on Sunday, April 5. While I usually feel a surge of spiritual options and openings with these overlapping sacred holy days, this year, specific countries, in differing streams of these religions, including America, are at war. To see beyond the tragedy of territorial and deathly conflict, requires a deeper renewal. Our choice is to open to that renewal.

Remember the equinox, just last Friday, when the sun shown on the entire sphere of a rotating earth. No one is left out of the movement and Light of wholeness. No one. Matthew 5:45 "...for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust." We share this planet. Your inner, spiritual renewal is not separate from the world's renewal. The world's renewal is not separate from your inner renewal. Whatever our belief systems, we share this planet. Spring is arriving. Let our hearts weave, and refresh, connections of Peace. (Susan Nettleton)

for poetry: https://yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=2948 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54303/meeting-at-an-airport https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/R/RumiMevlanaJ/lookatlove/index.html

Excerpt from The Power of Consciousness

Today's post is a section of Dr. Susan Nettleton's online Sunday talk, "The Power of Consciousness" (If you would like to be on our email list for future talks, email us at hillsideew@aol.com, or our website contact page at hillsidesource.com)

"So, what do I mean when I say consciousness? Loosely, we can say consciousness is a particular kind of awareness that includes awareness of ourself. Consciousness includes being aware and able to think about one's own existence, emotions, thoughts, and environment. The more I searched to find a concise definition of consciousness, the more I realized the cross currents of definition. Some philosophers and modern researchers view consciousness as the mind; your consciousness is your mind and your mind is a complex set of capabilities and processes interacting with your body and emotional states. Consciousness then, becomes a subset of the mind, representing our immediate awareness of our inner and outer experiences.

Usually, we consider consciousness as conscious activity of the brain, but modern research is re-defining what consciousness is--awareness is not so cut and dried. An essential factor is that we must use our mind, our consciousness, to define consciousness. We don't get outside of our mind. Or do we? Consider the wandering mind as opposed to the focused mind. Essentially we have come up with a term and a concept to pursue understanding of how human beings process and use awareness of our own experiences, and awareness of our own thoughts and feelings, and our interactions with other minds. Don't mistake what we name we give it, for this awareness of ourselves as living, thinking, planning, learning beings.

Then we have cognitive science as a 20th century construct, that explores the process of thinking, in the fields of anthropology, linguistics, philosophy, psychology and neuroscience. It sprung from the 1950 construct of the mind being like a computer with the adage: "the mind is like software, the brain is like hardware". This was a shift away from the 17th century revelation of Descartes, "I think therefore I am", and the idea that the mind is separate and different from the body (although there was some awareness that the brain could communicate with the body to some extent). We now know that cognition, as our process of thought and thinking, is not located in your head. Rather, it is described as a neural network of interactions with the body and its environment. The degree to which we are aware of that functioning, is an aspect of consciousness. As one of the articles from Cal Tech's consciousness exchange described, "We know that consciousness is inextricably linked to the brain, but a comprehensive understanding of this connection remains an open scientific question."

My intent here is a call to a practice that affirms the positive aspects of Life right now, as Life is, today, March 2026. My short review of these 20th century and 21st century constructs is to orient that consciousness of yours to where we are now, in this exploration and understanding of the power of consciousness. I accept the power of individual, conscious, positive affirmation to lift your sense of meaning and purpose. Research shows that positive affirmation and a positive state of mind supports health, including mental, emotional health, as well as physical health (more important now than ever in a time when our healthcare systems have fragmented). Positive affirmation as an aspect of spiritual practice, enhances your participation in the unfolding, collective, technological and environmental shifts of our times. The power of consciousness is really a call to you, to affirm the Highest and Best unfoldment for you personally, and for our world. There's a lot of room there for layers of the social order. The way of affirmation has been around a long time; really as long as prayer has been around. The psychology of affirmation blossomed in the 20th century, why not continue and enhance it in the 21st. Affirmation is prayer; it is faith in the Good of what we name as God, or the Universe, or the All. This is the power of consciousness.

Today's poetry: https://www.eugeniasalomon.com/blog/the-wind https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/1527532/apocalypse https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/A/AngelouMaya/ABraveand/index.html