40 Lbs of Bird Seed and Inner Wisdom

As the snow falls gently, before it starts to get much heavier and blankets us in the nearly two feet or more that have been predicted, I stop, and marvel at the beauty all around me. While others are stockpiling snacks, and toilet paper and booze, my heart is warmed by the thoughtfulness of a dear soul friend, who ventured forth to buy 40 pounds of birdseed, to make sure that the congregation of cardinals and blue jays and others that gather in her back yard to party could continue to do so throughout the winter weather! She does this, she tells me, because it brings her great joy. But I know, it is because she has a big compassionate heart...

I sit here, in my office, warmed by that thought, thinking of how my husband has instead, set up ominous plastic owls to scare off the birds because they leave droppings all over the deck, and I have to laugh...What is one person's delight, is another's irritation...

Earlier, I tried to go down to the river, to watch and feel the heavy wet snow cover everything in sight and become one with the river, but it had been partially blocked off, so I was not able to go for a visit...

I sit here now, working and watching the snow coming down, and feel myself invited to journey very deeply in as I sip a cup of coffee, lost in thoughts, my tongue on edge with poems that seek birthing...

I have been reflecting a lot on inner wisdom, and relying on one's inner guidance this week. And I have come across a number of quotes from both Paramahansa Yogananda's writings and other sources that have spoken to me on this topic...

"Getting in touch with yourself
must be your first priority."
~ Tom Hopkins

"Our lives improve only when we take chances...
and the first and most difficult risk we can take
is to be honest with ourselves."
~ Walter Anderson

"Adventure can be an end in itself.
Self-discovery is the secret
that fuels daring."
~ Grace Lichtenstein

These quotes invite self-inquiry and thus self-awareness, which invariably leads to relying more deeply upon one's inner wisdom. We carry within us, the seeds for our own happiness and healing. And yet, we spend so much time looking outside of ourselves for answers...

Earlier this week, this very same friend who so selflessly has provided for the birds that visit her back yard, invited me to trust my inner wisdom, gently urging me to take a more active role in my journey of healing and in re-igniting my yoga practice.

I listened, followed her advice, and found myself, as I shared with her a few days later - joyously reconnecting with the heart of the practice once again, enjoying the movements I could still do without the experience of pain, I suppose, not unlike someone learning a new skill for the first time. Within me, lay the ability to not only experience my practice with more joy, but I found that its fruits spilled over in my meditations, and my disposition and demeanor as well...

"Be so happy in your mind that nothing that comes
can possibly make you unhappy."
~ Yogananda

"If you want to be perennially happy,
look within.."
~ Yogananda

"Sorrow has no being of its own...
Constantly you affirm sorrow,
therefore it exists.
Deny it in your mind
and it will exist no longer."
~ Yogananda

"Avoid associating with those
who are always complaining about life.
God will never reveal Himself to you
unless you are contented and happy."
~ Yogananda

To connect and embody our own inner wisdom, there are things we must let go of - things that we must, in essence renounce. Only then will we live more deeply...

"Renunciation does not mean giving up everything;
it means giving up small pleasures
for eternal bliss..."
~ Yogananda

We give up some things, to experience others. And in these small things, we find great joy and touch the Divine in our lives. It can come through the spontaneous and loving insight of a friend, through the falling snow as a gift of God, through the warmth and comfort of a cup of coffee, or through nascent poetic musings...

All is well in my heart and soul...

Life is truly a thing of great beauty!