Something Else

• JOURNAL ENTRY ELEVEN: Turning Within

So when this happens … do we turn within to explore such intuitive nudges more fully or do we brush them aside because they worry us?

On some level there is a tendency to ignore what bothers us. Why? Because there is often trepidation around the unknown — around uncertainty, and mysterious feelings we can’t pin down or even describe.

But I wonder if we aren’t cutting ourselves off from vital information when we simply react. When we aren’t mindful.

Our cosmos are really pretty this summer, but there is something else in this picture besides the flowers. It would be easy to miss … if you didn’t study the picture for a few seconds at least.

Here’s another picture … maybe this will be easier.

By now, we know “something” is there, but what is it exactly? Dragonfly, or not really?

I wasn’t sure myself when I spotted it the other morning.

I was out early to walk our dogs, and watched it dart around our flower garden before reaching for my cell phone to take a couple of pictures. But it was a moving target … I had to act quickly and hope “something” clear showed up in the pictures.

Nature is often a reflection of our internal world, especially when we pay attention.

And this example reminds me of those imperceptible feelings that we readily discount unless they are very persistent. Or, unless we pause long enough to explore our inner world a bit more deeply.

There is so much information available to us when we consistently tune in to unseen forces, invisible worlds, and all things mysterious. But we have to be aware and willing to access it.

We have to be willing to trust it.

There really is something else in these pictures. I hope you find it.

Of course sometimes we have to settle for “not knowing” — even when we turn within to look more closely at our intuitive guidance.

Sometimes I can’t seem to make anything out, the picture is too fuzzy, too vague, too fleeting and ephemeral. But that’s okay. At least I was mindful enough to notice that odd buzzing in my awareness that often signals something more. Something that isn’t written in stone or on my calendar. Something unexpected or unusual perhaps.

The dial of life is always turning … the shifts can be subtle … coming and going almost without notice. And often outside of our full awareness. But when we are able to quiet our racing minds, override our goal-driven mindsets, another door opens. One that is vast, and often beyond our understanding — beyond the grasp of the familiar and the predictable.

These are lovely red flowers (thank you Nancy J. for sending me plant starts for your Cherry Chimes daylilies from your Missouri garden), and of course you can see my shadow taking the picture. But somewhere within the red lilies is something else.

I planted an Easter lily amidst the daylilies in late spring last year, and when I’d nearly given up on it this spring, the Easter lily made an appearance. Still very small, maybe four inches tall, and not visible in this picture, I hope it blooms before the first frost!

Of course it won’t be Easter, but it won’t matter. A white lily inspires anytime time of year.   

The more I pay attention to life … the more present I become, and the more I seem to know things for no reason at all. The more I sense the infinite depth of routine daily experiences. Looking into the day, I am the day. ~ dh 

A belief may be comforting. Only through your own experience,
however, does it become liberating. ~ Eckhart Tolle

FOR YOUR JOURNALS: The depth of life surrounds us, yet so often we are oblivious to it. By turning within are there ways to move closer to life, to become one with life?

It’s Year Five in this sunny space for kindred spirits, and this is my 11th journal entry for our 2014 spiritual journal: Turning Within. Posts are brief, but introspective. I hope you are keeping a journal.

The external world can feel glittery, compelling; we are easily distracted. Yet,  self-awareness, self-discovery, and certainly spiritual realization, spring from within.