Creatively Responding to What is Here

I have big plans for this coming weekend! Do you? Today at the grocery store, the dairy and egg aisle was stacked knee high with beer. It must be a holiday! Meanwhile, there is a heat wave moving across California, and I do believe that my plans will have to change to accommodate the weather. 

If I were to give a title to today's blog post, it would be something like "The Power of Letting Go" or "Creatively Responding to What is Here." 

I have invited people over on Saturday. We will spend time together outdoors, first in meditation, then doing some farm work in the garden. Singing together, eating, a wee yoga stretch, and some sky gazing are in the plans too. 

How wonderful will it be to spend time together with people and get some help with turning the compost and putting gopher wire into the garden to protect the roots of the veggie plants from the gopher family's big appetite. 

However, because of the heat, I may have to practice the "Power of Letting Go." If I hold on tight to my list of what I want to get done, I am sure to suffer. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of the to-do list. I live by a to-do list. I am, though, a bigger fan of letting go and pivoting when needed ("Creatively Responding to What is Here"). Heat wave coming? No problem; we can work in the woods instead of the garden. Really, who knows what will happen. Do you? Something is always bound to happen, and it can be unexpected!

Sometimes I wish that as children, we were given an instruction manual to help us with the mind. Thank goodness mindfulness meditation is that instruction manual. It can help us learn to respond (rather than habitually react) to what is right in front of us. Humans do learn by contrast, and a mind stuck on what it wants (or doesn't want) is very painful compared to a mind that is letting go. 

I'll let you know what happens with the work party, and I'd love to hear from you too!