Riehl Life: Village Wisdom for the 21st Century » Grace Notes

“Grow Easy”

riehlife — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:36:07 +0000

Easy grow.
Grow easy.
Go easy.

How can we grow easier in our lives and our skins?

Space Design Meets Life Design Meets Spiritual Practice: Outer, Inner, Secret, and Innermost Secret

riehlife — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:59:12 +0000

African goddess mask emerging from Botswana basket...greeting and welcoming guests as they enter the Goddess Gathering Room. ---JGR

The phrase "Outer, Inner, Secret, and Innermost Secret" comes from a practice sequence in Tibeten Buddhism.

OUTER

In the design of space in my apartment, the Outer room in the front room...what most folks would call the "living room." But, for me, it is my Goddess Gathering Room." This is where I recieve guests, entertain, commune. It is my public salon.

INNER

The Inner room is my bedroom...very simple. Just a bed from my fathers house and a basket collection from Botswana.

SECRET

The Secret room is the back room. This is my study, my workroom, my den...my screen room...where I work on the computer and watch TV. This room would conventionally have been the master bedroom.

INNERMOST SECRET

The Innermost Secret room is a walk-in closet I've converted to my meditation/shrine room.

What are the Outer, Inner, Secret, and Innermost Secret areas of your life as reflected in your living space?

Timing is all.

riehlife — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:52:08 +0000

Timing and destiny and yearning.

What determines the timing of manifestation?

All coordinates come together.

Happening on god's time, not ours.

George Lucas’ fatherly advice for success in the arts

riehlife — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:45:23 +0000

Remember that ultimately going for the money is 100% wrong.

Going for love of what you're doing is sort of 60% right.

You can fill that other 40% with a little practical thinking: I also want to make a living at this. I don't want to starve.

---George Lucas, Quoted in USA Today

Bertha Calloway sailing across the great plains: Black History Museum

riehlife — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:30:18 +0000

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

~Bertha Calloway,

Founder of the Great Plains Black Museum

Poets’ Weather: James Dickey and Mark Twain

riehlife — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:33:25 +0000

photo by www.moonraker.com

A poet is someone who stands outside in the rain hoping to be struck by lightning.
---James Dickey

From the length of the bibligraphy of his poetic works, we can surmise that Mr. Dickey was frequently struck by metaphoric lightning.

Mark Twain gives us this advice: "It is best to read the weather forecast before praying for rain."

Whilst strictly not a poet, Mr. Twain's pithy epigrams have a distinctive, and poetic flavor, no?

Real Symbolic Actions: Flowers Feed Compassion

riehlife — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:33:04 +0000

Hostesses and the floral industry have known this for a long time. But the symbolic action of giving and receiving flowers makes people happy. The tangible symbol of being surrounded by flowers, makes people happier.

Now the Home Ecology of Flowers Sudy at Harvard reveals that:

1) Flowers Feed Compassion.

2) Flowers chase away anxieties, worries and the blues at home.

3) Living with flowers can provide a boost of energy, happiness and enthusiasm at work.

Read the entire article on About Flowers by clicking here.

Artaud: Poetry layer beneath the poetry

riehlife — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:28:04 +0000

"Beneath the poetry of the texts, there is the actual poetry,
without form and without text." -Antonin Artaud, poet, essayist, playwright, actor & director

Pelicans “Just Visiting” Along the Mississippi Flyway

riehlife — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:00:12 +0000

Pelicans were part of my lyric life in Northern California as Daniel and I paddled round the small peninsula on Clear Lake in our kayaks and there, they are! A cloud of squawking white swirling and settling on the water.

I see a blur of pelicans this morning, looking over my shoulder, as I drive on the River Road to visit my father six miles up-river from Alton, Illinois.

I slow down to see the sudden island of white as they rest on a sandbar in the middle of the Mississippi. Their awkward grace takes my breath away. And then, one opens its mouth. It's big enough to hold a woman's handbag for a jailbreak.

The eagles fly through first. But it's the pelicans that fly me home.

Riehlife Contemplation Series…and Lights Out for Earth Hour

riehlife — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:23:41 +0000

I've been harvesting my journals this week. One of the fruits of my harvest is this series of Riehlife contemplations which I hope you'll enjoy and use:

--for cultivating your own contemplations.
--for starting conversations with loved ones and friends.
--for prompting your writing.

What are your foul weather blue sky gifts?
What does your writing/safe haven burrow look like?
What are the rivers you need to cross? Where will you begin?
What are the bumps on the plain? Are they mountains or molehills?

While I always enjoy your emails, I'd also love to have you contribute to the comment-conversation as well.

Check out Susan Tweit's blog on "Earth Hour: Lights Out for a Brighter Future."

Hope we all feel our way around on Google today since it's "Lights Out."

See the transcendent Smithsonian Earth from Space images by clicking here.

Cheerio!

Janet