The Garden, by Sara Teasdale
My heart is a garden tired with autumn,
Heaped with bending asters and dahlias heavy and dark,
In the hazy sunshine, the garden remembers April,
The drench of rains and a snow-drop quick and clear as a spark;
Daffodils blowing in the cold wind of morning,
And golden tulips, goblets holding the rain—
The garden will be hushed with snow, forgotten soon, forgotten—
After the stillness, will spring come again?
The Orb is a biofeedback training device I bought from Amazon on a whim. You hold the soft ball in both hands with finger tips on the sensors, which then measures instant biometrics like heart rate variability and pulse. It connects to an Bluetooth app (of course) which gives you feedback on your nervous system reactions and tracks progress over time.
As you hold it and watch, the color coded feedback rings range from purple (very alert) to white (very calm.) So far, I've only seen white for a few seconds at a time. But I'm new at this.
The idea is to simply observe what you are feeling body and mind as the colors transition, which it does pretty rapidly at first. The harder you try to attain the white ring of Nirvana, the quicker it transitions back to stressful purple. Well, that's not much of a revelation. "Forcing" yourself to relax is counterproductive.
On the other hand, you could also get yourself a stress-relieving funny little pet. Time again for some cute doggie pictures from Carlton.
That's the Seattle radar map this morning and into the foreseeable future. The weather gurus are predicting a wetter than usual month, and that's really saying something when it comes to November in the Northwest.
Marooned Without a Compass Day is today, a November 6th holiday. How is you sense of direction? Mine is so pitiful and all the compasses in world probably wouldn't help. If fact, GPS Siri leading me like a blind person has has probably made it worse. Those creased maps we used to carry about in the glove box were better for our brains.
But on another level, this is also a day to pause and check in on your core moral purpose and faith, your inner compass, and especially when life feels out of control or overwhelming.
Rainy day thought:
"Everything in this world happens with a purpose. You are born in this world with a purpose, you are chosen by purpose.”
Have a good weekend.
We use the online encyclopedia Wiki almost daily, but did you know they also have a spin-off site called Local Wiki.
It describes itself as "Wikipedia, but only for things a half-hour walk from you."
Just enter your zip code or address, and see what shows up as neighborhood highlights and attractions.
In 98116 for example, Madison Middle School (the bane of our parking existence) is grandly described as a "landmark school" with a 100 year old history. Schmitz Park is listed, that time capsule of nature and old growth trees in West Seattle, a few blocks from our house. And so on...
It's interesting reading impartial descriptions of places you always take for granted, and what you can find out about your home turf.
“It feels like an entire country coming together and saying: Enough.” David Holt
President Trump has spent the past two years trying to subvert American democracy. On Tuesday, voters stood up to him.
Our country already feels changed.
