Once upon a time a little girl had a dream…

…she envisioned fields of flowers in a meadow full of butterflies…

A butterfly rested upon the  silky thread of a whisker from a horses nostril fluttering softly as a breath escaped.

Snort!! …and off tumbles the butterfly…

Oh!  Hi!

The scenery at the coffee shop this morning was delightful!  The energetic feel around the home boys sitting out front was squirmy and tight.  Took all I had to keep a straight face and let them be. Wanted to poke ‘em with a stick to see what would happen.  Grinning Big!    A wee bit of evil in me wanted to be set free. Don’t worry I was good I contained “Little Miss Evil” and walked by quietly like a good girl.  Damn I hate being good… missed out on some real fun.

Moral of the story… live every day as if it is your last. Explore every avenue… offer every opportunity… breath in every particle… and don’t let life get so serious that you miss out on the fun stuff. Lust after beauty… but allow your visionary self to truly see what makes that beauty beautiful.

This is what I saw this morning. It wasn’t that I saw three handsome men… what I saw was sun glasses glistening in the warm morning rays… the moving shadow cast from a body spoke as if it were itself a being.  Flickers of light caught on a dogs hair floating in the air freed from its four legged owner by the stroke of hand.  Graceful lines etched in the faces of men who were none too aware. The subtle movement of their clothing as air was being taken with each breath. The smell of copper in the air left palpable on the tongue… (hmnmm that’s curious?), and one very beautiful being emerging from the midst of it all.  Yes in a matter a  few very short seconds I was blessed, my senses fulfilled with these amazing beauties.

Yep my morning started off very nicely indeed.  I hope you see  the beauty that makes things beautiful and lust after it with all you have in your being.  At the end of your day my wish for you is a perpetual fulfilled smile that cant escape your face or your heart.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I know I fail on the blogging front.  I have been so busy living life in Silverton that blogging this summer has taken a major back seat.  As earlier mentioned I’ve been hiking, jogging, and enjoying the beauty of this place as much as I can. I wake up go to breakfast and take to the mountains for some powerful empathic communing with Mother and her creatures.  I have to say that I am missing Thankful Thursday. What I am really missing is the euphoria that stays with me through the day from being so thankful and experiencing the feel of it so thoroughly through my body, mind and spirit. So yes I’m about to embark on another flurry of Thankful Thursdays.

Simrat, a good friend, posted a video on Facebook that grabbed me and set me off to contemplate on something I have grappled with for many years.   I have always believed that every person had the ability to communicate empathically, only figured they just didn’t tap into it for whatever reason. Having spent nearly all of my life living empathically, communicating with animal kingdom beings mostly, but also occasionally if not fleetingly with people as well, it always amazes me how few people embrace it.  Horses and other animals I have known taught me how.   I’m so connected to them intellectually and spiritually through empathy that there really is no need for verbal  communication.  In fact I find empathic communication to be the truest sense of communication.

I miss it!

It’s a void here for me other than visiting with Cookie the guinea pig and Dragon the bearded dragon, or someones occasional dog or cat.  There is one person in town who is empathic in a powerful way but does not use it in any beneficial way.  You can feel the empathic nature of another person and see it as well. It is either there or it isn’t, and when it is there the connection is unmistakeable. I have found myself  strongly attracted to this person and wanting to immerse myself in silent communication with them.  But it’s pretty one sided and not going to happen.  They are not aware of their special connection.  It saddens me to find these lost people, who are missing out on a much deeper experience in life

Recently I have reconnected with an old friend who is also empathic, they have a powerful connection and do communicate on an earthly level with other living beings.  This person was strongly connected with me through my horses many years ago that created a certain bond. This reunion as brought back some powerful memories of a time when the majority of my communication was done silently between me and a horse while being around a certain few people who wanted to tap into their own ability.

As my regular readers know, I’ve been broken where  horses are concerned.  I’ll be reunited with them soon, as I’ll be visiting my reconnected friend in a couple months.  It will be wonderful to see him again after so many years, but  I’m petrified to see his horses, one of which I was strongly connected to. The thought though of passing through that veil into a world of empathic bliss is intoxicating.  A dangerous place for a empathaholic. Yet exhilarating!  Being with my friend again will be so perfect, but being with the horses… I don’t know yet.  When I think about it tears seep from my eyes and wash down my face.  Pro will be coming home next summer, and somehow I have to find a way to engage him empathically without fear.  I’m not going back over how I got here – read the blog you’ll learn.

I am so thankful for the reconnect with my friend from the past, all the possibilities we are seeking to explore in the future, and the opening back up of that door to an empathic communication with life.  We have a song.  “Start All Over” by Tracy Chapman.  This song applies to our   journey, my friend and I… but also to everyone and the world in general.  It says it all, and this particular video is amazing to listen to…

Tracy is just the most beautiful woman!

(Paris 1998 – Tracy Chapman)

Here is the video that Simrat posted on Facebook that sent me off  on this reminiscence of empathic connection with life.  Its amazingly accurate in  my book.

(RSA Animate – 21st century enlightenment )

I agree with many of the thoughts in this video – that humanity can recreate their situation if they reunite with a common empathy.  I believe humanity if collectively empathic with their Mother and each other can have a New Beginning.

I believe my friend and I will soar this time around. You know why? Because all we have to do is be presently empathic for one another and set our egos aside. Something we both understand and seek.  To experience a kinder, gentler more compassionate life for the better of both.  Being on the same Red Road is an amazing way to journey through life with a friend.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Feb 18, 2010

It’s not going to be about me today. Instead I want to share with you how others perceive Gratitude. Quotes from people who have a rich sense of  thankfulness. Wisdom begot from observations and or personal trials.

There is no harder lesson to learn for some of us than to be grateful with utter sincerity.  To freely, openly, and with utmost bravery let go of our safe entombment of attitudes on all fronts in order to be grateful to its truest purest sense.

So if we carry around a stone in our heart – If I remain captive of the fact that someone holds me in disgust because I was willing to put a horse down rather than see it go out into the world and be  subject to a life of pain and abuse, then I try to heal myself by saying thank you for the food and warm home I posses, am I truly being thankful? Or am I being selective, holding my stone tightly within my heart while babbling about being grateful?  I believe that in order to be truly grateful we must let go of our stones.

(This is how I perceive most hearts, mine included.)

Gratitude, the act of being thankful can heal us of our burdens. By casting out the stones in our hearts sometimes one at a time over time or instantly we begin to shine inside and heal from past and present wounds. I see this as the first step to healing our world. One person, one stone, one act of “pure” gratitude at a time.

(This is how I perceive Gratitude (water) as it cleanses us of our stones, if we allow them to be washed away.)

An now some quotes to ponder… They pretty much touch on how I view gratitude and the act of faithfully participating in Thankful Thursday.

FREDERICK TURNER:   To those who followed Columbus and Cortez, the New World truly seemed incredible because of the natural endowments. The land often announced itself with a heavy scent miles out into the ocean. Giovanni di Verrazano in 1524 smelled the cedars of the East Coast a hundred leagues out. The men of Henry Hudson’s Half Moon were temporarily disarmed by the fragrance of the New Jersey shore, while ships running farther up the coast occasionally swam through large beds of floating flowers. Wherever they came inland they found a rich riot of color and sound, of game and luxuriant vegetation. Had they been other than they were, they might have written a new mythology here. As it was, they took inventory.

H. U. WESTERMAYER:   The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.

MARC ESTRIN:   Kindness trumps greed: it asks for sharing. Kindness trumps fear: it calls forth gratefulness and love. Kindness trumps even stupidity, for with sharing and love, one learns.

JOHN F. KENNEDY:     As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

(This image by Montague Dawson British Master Nautical Painter – Painting/Print/Note cards – is for sale at Encore Editions for $15.00 – Please visit this fine site to find many more exquisite paintings.)

Why a painting of a ship on a peaceful ocean you ask? My perception of bounty and a completely free spirit – cleansed of its stones. The feeling and healing one reaps from Gratitude…

BLISS

For more gratitude/thankfulness please visit these sites: Akal Ranch – Tired Dog Ranch – Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch – From The Horses Back – Grateful For – Jonathan Lawson of mysnowpro.com – Maryanne Garvin of the Silverton Movement Center – Gemini and of course our guest blogger Zebrafinch… OUR CIRCLE IS GROWING

Popularity: 39% [?]

This is how we humans should live with our fellow Brothers and Sisters of Mother Earth.  This woman is truly Walking The Red Road and living in the light of White Medicine.

AHO

Popularity: 23% [?]

From Tashunka Witko

Please visit Tashunka Witko’s Facebook page to read the entire Dine’ (Navajo) Creation story.  Tashunka Witko brings to fans and friends collections of histories, stories and videos insightful of Indigenous People of our lands.  Be sure to  check out the  supporting links to this story. They are located at the bottom of story on Tashunka Witko’s Facebook page.

The people next emerged into a Yellow World (Niholsoi), meeting other animal beings: squirrels, chipmunks, mice, turkeys, deer, spider people, lizards, and snakes. The people still had their problems and quarrelsome behaviors. Eventually the men and women separated and began to live on opposite sides of the river. During the time of the separation of the sexes, the men survived by hunting and planting; however, the women did not fare as well–they were not skilled hunters and did not tend to their fields. After four years the women were starving and begged to return to the men. After the sexes were reunited, Coyote stole the Water Spirit’s baby. As a result, the Water Spirit got very angry and caused a great flood.

The people escaped the flood by climbing through a huge reed, led by the locust. The last animal to climb out of the reed was the turkey. It is said that as he was climbing up, the foamy water of the flood was rising and lapped at his tail, thus creating the white-streaked tail feathers of the wild turkey. The beings emerged at a place called into the White, or Glittering, World–the present world. Some stories say this place of emergence was in the mountains of Colorado, near Durango.

At this point, the small group had grown to include other holy beings, including insect beings, bird beings, and animal beings–each being contributing to the planning and organization of the world. First Man formed four main sacred mountains from the soil that was taken from the lower worlds and these became the sacred boundaries of the Dine world. Each mountain was fastened to the earth in a unique way and given special adornments and empowerments.

Although each mountain was given specific natural endowments, nevertheless, all of the mountains were also endowed with all of the natural beauties and powers of the universe. The complexity of understanding nature through relationships and interrelated processes of all things is the basis and foundation of the Navajo view of the sacred mountains. The deep natural communication that is ongoing in the universe can be expressed through many concepts. In this case, it is expressed through the four sacred mountains.

So much in this story rings true to me. I can see how the people expressed the lives of their elders, for-bearers. How the story of the beginning of Mother was translated through them.  Things like the great flood (rising of the oceans, melting of glaciers). I’m guessing memories from all around the world remember some catastrophic event that changed lives forever.  Also its speaks to the spiritual nature of the Four Corners areas that it became the Dine’ homeland.  Sends chills (thrills) all through me.  The story tells of how the Dine’ people struggled to understand how disease, poverty, dispositions and responses to life effected them on deep personal levels and their survival as a people.  Much like today, as we battle against new diseases, societal difficulties, and survival of our nations. I’m thinking we have not learned much. Recreating the wheel so to speak. We could learn so much from people like the Dine’ if we would just listen and act upon the lessons received.

When I speak of White Medicine and finding its healing powers in the San Juan mountains I speak of the sense of a deep spiritual relationship with Mother.  A lifting of burdens is the result. Much like what it must have been like for the Dine’ when they discovered this perfect place the call home.

AHO

Popularity: 14% [?]

Great Grandson tells how One Bull was blamed by Lakota people for the demise of Sitting Bull and the Lakota people.

Popularity: 20% [?]

I probably should be out walking, or doing something rather more productive than posting a blog today.  But something just happened that could very possibly change my life forever.

On a whim I decided to visit a website of a Master of Horsemanship who entertains only a small group of people. Those who share a similar philosophy.  He doesn’t make himself available to the general public. You have to earn his trust just as you have to earn the trust of horse.

When I wrote my email of application to join his online forum based school, I figured  that I would be flat turned down.  I share his philosophy, but have trained in traditional styles most of my life.  However, I have been going through a life long change of application and personal relationship with horses.

The experience involved with the process of living with Spanish Mustangs (particularly the ones I lived with), and working with wild BLM mustangs (American Mustangs) changed me forever and basically ruined me for traditional horsemanship of, I think, every kind out there.  I don’t care if I ever ride a horse again.  Of course I would like to ride I love riding, but when it comes to my relationship with my horse, I really don’t care. I don’t want a horse for riding – that’s the point. If I ever get another horse he/she will be a companion, friend, co student.

I WANT TO SEE  WHERE OUR RELATIONSHIP CAN GO AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM ONE ANOTHER, NOT WHAT MY HORSE CAN DO FOR ME OR FOR HIS BREED – I WANT TO GROW WITH MY HORSE AND WITHIN MYSELF.

I truly have been changed where horses are concerned. Horses like Asad

and Kindlewood

changed me for life.  They were friends and we sometimes went riding together. I was never alone or needed human companionship when either of them and I were together.  They new things about me no one will ever know or understand. I believe it was same in return.  Looking into their eyes there was equality between us.  I became over protective.  That became my personal down fall. I thought I could protect them. I believed it – too much ego involved there.  We all fell.

With all that aside, I know my days with horses are not over.  I’m not sure I’ll own a horse again. (OWN) Yeah okay – I’m not sure I will share that intimate life long experience with one certain horse ever again. Then again maybe I will.  That part of my life is up in the air.  I can tell you this…

…if i travel down this road with this Master I will not be involved with exploiting horses for any reason or for anyone ever again.

I am honored to be accepted into the online forum school of  Nevzorov Haute Ecole – the school of  learning from the Horse Kingdom.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Something from me…  where the wild horse issues are concerned the answer is not slaughter.  Not mass slaughter for certain. Ethical behavior is the answer.  Not every horse will live out his life as in every other species including mankind, someone will parish.  Mass murder of a species is not the answer to government issues, wild life issues, grazing and rancher issues, pipeline for a greener America issues.  Creating a sustainable environment that addresses those issues and the habitats of wild horses is the answer.  When we elected our President  and Representatives and Senators to lead America toward a greener world, we did not elect him or them to murder our horses to do it.

The “Government” does not own those horses.  We “THE PEOPLE” of America do not own those horses, “MOTHER EARTH” owns them.  They are her children.  Stop killing the children!

AHO

“WILD HORSES” – by: Mike “Hawk” Huston (excerpt from Bulls and Beavers)

Captain Smith slows his tired gelding to a stop. Every man and horse in his regiment is either tired or nearly broken. For the life of him, he cannot figure how the savages and their wild horses can consistently outrun and outmaneuver his highly trained and conditioned men and military stock. For ten years, he has chased, tracked, and pursued the savages, and never once has he caught a lone warrior… even on open ground. Maybe instead of shooting the Indian ponies at every opportunity the army should consider commissioning the wild stock and using them for troop movement. Never! He and his regiment would be the laughing stock of the western army…

A modern victim of wild horse slaughter as seen “Straight From The Horses Heart:

Mike Hawk Huston continues…

Today, the wild mustang is still wild and free upon the western plains and mountains; but who can say for how much longer. Their habitat is under attack by those wishing to use the land to graze cattle, sheep, as well as those hoping to open the wild horse habitat for oil exploration. Often times the majestic wild mustang is viewed as vermin by those wishing to profit from their home range. I do not begrudge the rancher for needing graze for their cattle, nor the oilfields for drilling American oil. The media would like everyone to believe that the horses are in need of a drastic decrease because of overpopulation. The truth is, their home range is being taken away so quickly and loss of food sources on crucial winter range to overgrazing is causing the wild mustang to have to fight for survival within their own designated habitat…

(The entire story can be found at Bulls and Beavers)

Livelihoods at stake…

Toas Art School – Wild Horse Photography

Now for some more FANTASTIC (these are must see) images of wild horses by another Photographer check out the link Naturescapes – Wild Mustangs of the Rockies

Popularity: 31% [?]

While surfing the net for Thunder Medicine I came across a heading that read “White Thunder Medicine”. Following the link I came to Ryan Burr, Native American Artist.  I believe he captures the essence of  “The Message” within  “White Thunder Medicine”.  (not the titel of his art below)  The knowledge that is imparted in the painting below is profound. I will not attempt to explain it. It will be different for each of us.  I suggest if you are interested in the wisdom within this painting… study it.  Let it tell you its stories. Accept those stories just as they appear to you.  See how they apply to your current state of existence.  If you get that far – those stories will be your truth.

Ryan Burr

RYAN BURR  is a full blood Mandan and Hidatsa from the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, in North Dakota.  Ryan (48) has been a professional artist since 1988 and prior to that, a graphic artist for 9 years. In 1989, Ryan entered his first all Indian Art Market in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has won many awards in art competitions at major Indian Markets.

The style of art he creates is inspired from his home, the Badlands in North Dakota. Ryan works in pen and ink, pencil, colored pencil and acrylic paints. He blends the past with a spiritual theme that connects man and nature.

As a Northern Traditional dancer, Ryan shares the Native culture through art and dance. Traveling the pow wow trail throughout the United States and Europe, he hopes to bring to you a unique view into the world of the American Indian.

On to Thunder Medicine…

If Thunder frightens you then maybe its message for you is to face your fears. Or to acknowledge that you have fears.  Does its coming cause you to batten down the hatches, or check on the safety of your crops, your animal friends, your family. Is that the only time you really give their safety much thought?  When dangers appear?  What lesson could one find in that scenario?

Image found at:  Taranallen

What do we learn from thunder…  Its power… its weaknesses…   Its beauty and its ominous character.  How it comes to us, how it affects, how it leaves us.   Are we Thunder’s children?  Thunder has its own grace while it calls to us in a loud boisterous voice. The shivers left on our skin are barely perceptible memories…  leaving us to seek out and  to grasp those memories intent on understanding the impact of them in our lives.   Thunder raises our awareness teaches us to listen to the most sensitive stimuli in the world around us.  It leads by example… “Go FORTH”,  it says…  “conquer your passions, life’s plan, your path”.  A certain power raises up within our hearts when we consider the lessons of Thunder.  Fill every possible part of your being until it runeth over with a magnitude beyond your comprehension…  then spill it out onto the world and make an impact! Do not follow your passions. Be them!

Another example of Thunder Medicine.

ThunderDreamers

How does this make you feel?

AHO

Popularity: 14% [?]

Oh this is a goodie today. Not sure if it will be a long one or a short one. But I am excited about todays Thankful Thursday.

First off let me introduce to you, Zebrafinch, our latest guest blogger who will be featured here often on Thankful Thursday.  Be sure to read below this post to have the process of becoming Grateful eloquently penned.   I am looking forward to each and every one of Zebrafinch’s posts. Not only does it help Zebrafinch find her own sense of gratitude, it also touches me and helps me deepen my own sense of gratefulness.

Thank you Zebrafinch for sharing your thoughts on THE PONY EXPRESSION and for being part of the healing process.

Next Chris a friend from England, commented on one of my posts today.  He was saying how I had shared with all of you that I really had an issue with snow and was struggling moving to Colorado much less Silverton, Colorado.  He was dead right – I struggled for several years with the idea.  However, I have found the snow to be healing.  Someone else came to my home one day and said you surround yourself with nurturing things, everything you do seems to be aimed at nurturing yourself.  That is exactly what I have set out to do ever since 1997 and having spent that year reading the book I mention on an early Thankful Thursday, Sarah Breathnaucht’s “Simple Abundance”.  I suggest you check it out again, and come to think of it I will join you. Refreshing that process can only be…

…well…

 …nurturing. 

It has shocked me just how nurturing the cold, icy, wet, sticky, colorless stuff they call snow can be.  Having been an advocate of color and having the eye of an artist, color has always effected me in curious ways.  Thus, I have avoided the color white most of my life. It was cold, barren, lifeless to me. Instead I surrounded myself with deep earth tones and rich spiritual colors. Now finding myself surrounded by white I am feeling regenerated, cleansed and reborn into a new way of life.  Its exhilarating.  White, icy, cold= exhilarating… yes I get it!  Hello!!  I have found a new appreciation for SNOW.  Will I remain in it for the rest of my life? Probably not, or… maybe I will.  That will depend on the next chapters of my life.  But for now I am embracing it with a sense of adventure and appreciation for the healing effects it has had on my soul.

I was talking with one of my clients yesterday when he suggested that my move to Silverton maybe was a product of intervention guiding me to a place where I would naturally regain my fitness.  Well Creator if that is so. THANK YOU, THANK YOU and THANK YOU!!  I will never be able to show my gratitude strongly or purely enough. I believe it to be true, and I WILL be mindful of the gift. AHO    …I was given a vision years ago of what I might be called to do. Help others find their own brand of nurturing to empower themselves. I saw myself in a high desert  boulder ridden remote location. People coming to sit with me. Just a sharing experience.  Heck I don’t know if it was my imagination running away with me or truly a calling.  I don’t really care. I know that some times people do come for help. Other times I feel the urge to offer an open ended something to someone.  Some jump to fill the void and others walk away.  I am thankful that whatever I have to share is useful to some, and still feel that someday I’ll be sitting on a porch of some simple abode in the high desert. In the meantime I am still walking down a path of preparation in mind, spirit and body.  For this path I am thankful.

Today I am thankful for:

1) the sweet hiss of steam coming from the boiler in my room.

2) the claw foot tub where I take my nightly soaks in a mixture of lavender, frankincense, tea tree, and lemon oils to candlelight dancing upon the walls around me.

3) my chest freezer full of good foods for the winter

4) all the green plants…

and Dragon…

and Connor the betta fish who surround me with livingness.

5) the wonderful people who have surrounded me with friendship since moving to Silverton. They include but are not limited to. Pam, Maryanne, Patty, Karen, Cindy, Matt, Alan, Tim, the Gillan boys, and of course my daughter and son-in-law, Heather and Malcolm and their entire family. For all of you mentioned and not, I am so very thankful.  Love you!

6) the glorious sun reflecting itself off the snow-bright mountains  into my room from outside my window. The glow as it travels through the leaves of my plants is heavenly.

Happy Thankful Thursday everyone. Don’t forget to keep reading below for more thankfulness from guest blogger, ZEBRAFINCH.

Popularity: 20% [?]