Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: mind

  • Learning to Succeed Differently

    Jack and Cindy continue to amaze me with all they are navigating. They wanted to come from Harrison to Bristol, Indiana, where his son and daughter-in-law are seasonal campers at Eby’s Pines Campground. It was Jeff’s birthday and the end-of-season super soup supper event. Jack had been there for that in the past and has lots of friends at the campground. Saturday they made the trip. Over 200 miles. More than three hours.

    We were supposed to drive down to Jeff’s house Saturday evening to visit a while and deliver chocolate chip cookies I baked for them, but by that time Jack was really tired. We agreed to drop off the cookies on our way to New Buffalo where I was guest pastor in New Buffalo Sunday morning.

    Before we left our house, Jack called. “Stay where you are. There is no heat at Jeff’s so we are loading up and heading to you.” When they got here, rather than have Jack get out of the truck, up the steps onto our porch and into the house for such a short visit, John and I shared some memorable moments with them in our driveway. Shortly after nine they left so we could get to church. Heading back home, they planned a stop at Michael’s for Cindy to get craft supplies.

    We got this message from Cindy about 9:15 Sunday night:

    Well, we just got home probably about 20 minutes ago. Jack wanted to stop at Four Winds, so we did.

    Then we had to stop at FireKeepers. Overall, we did pretty good. We ate Chinese at FireKeepers so that was our dinner. We’re having dessert right now — your cookies.

    Sweet dreams we’ll see you when we see you. Love you.

      It was a big weekend as Saturday was also Stacey’s 60th birthday. It does not seem possible that John and I are parents to such a mature woman. She and Doug celebrated by inviting family and friends to join them for Bluegrass Barnside at Arrington Vineyards.Even with so many significant folks unable to attend they had a great group.

      Stacey told us it was like having a living Celebration of Life. We have used those same words about Jack….

      Sunday’s theme of “Living with Intention, or Living in Tension” was exquisitely expressed through Jack and Cindy and Stacey, along with a host of others we know well and love deeply. The following was copied from FaceBook and seems to speak welcome wisdom to our world:

      I Am Learning to Succeed Differently by Helyn Cornille (Copied from FB)

      There was a time when success meant finishing.
      If I started something, I finished it.
      If there were stairs to climb, I climbed them.
      If there was work to be done, I kept going until it was done.
      I don’t live in that body anymore.
      And one of the hardest things about growing older has been learning that this does not mean I have stopped succeeding.
      Today I may look at a staircase that needs cleaning and know I cannot stand there and clean the whole thing.
      But I can sit on one step.
      I can clean what I can reach.
      Tomorrow, perhaps I can do another.
      The old me might have looked at what remained unfinished.
      I am learning to look at what I did.
      That sounds like such a small distinction.
      It isn’t. Because when our bodies change, we can spend an enormous amount of energy measuring ourselves against the person we used to be.
      What I could lift. How far I could walk. How long I could work.
      How quickly I could finish.
      But perhaps success was never really about any of those things.
      Perhaps success is simply continuing to participate in your own life.
      Finding another way.
      Resting when you need to.
      Starting again when you can.
      Doing something in ten small pieces instead of one heroic effort.
      And refusing to believe that adapting is the same thing as giving up.
      I am still learning this. Some days I am better at it than others. But there is something unexpectedly freeing about no longer asking, “Can I still do what I used to do?” and beginning instead to ask, “What can I do today?”
      There is almost always an answer. And sometimes it is enough.
      I am learning to succeed differently.

    1. A Real No-Brainer

      John and I are in Tennessee at Stacey’s. We drove down yesterday. While he was napping, I logged onto John’s MyChart to check for the last of the test results from his annual exam with his primary the day before. His thyroid is off again. His medication will be adjusted. But the results from the EKG need further investigation. Although he was already scheduled to have an echo-cardiogram, now seeing these EKG results the situation is experienced with a greater level of stress.

      Interestingly, several friends are navigating unknowns related to health. Some are worrisome. Some are severe.Some are life-threatening. It is very difficult to not get triggered into worry brain. I have been working on my upcoming Insights clergy article for the local paper. The theme is how life’s longest journey is the distance between the head and the heart.

      Tired from our travel day I was able to fall asleep, but several hours later I was wide awake in worry brain. In my heart I heard my own words from the Insights article, “If I had my life to live over again, I would ask that not a thing be changed, but that my heart be opened wider.”

      Knowing I needed to activate the heart, I listened to with Dawson Church. I could see that it was even challenging to identify a person or a place which gave me peace. Finally, on the second listening to Dawson (“EcoMeditation”) I was able to remember the joy I feel when watching the birds at our bird bath from my kitchen window.

      The 7 Steps of EcoMeditation

      Before you begin, turn off your cell phone, laptop, and alerts. Give yourself the gift of 20 minutes of undisturbed time. You can do this first thing in the morning (my favorite time), last thing at night, or during a break in the day. Sit upright in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.

        1. Use your fingertips to tap on each of the EFT acupressure points in any order, while holding the intention that you are in a calm and peaceful state, and nothing matters except the gift of undisturbed time you are now giving yourself. Tap from top to bottom, and when you get to the last point, start on the first point again. If you don’t know the tapping points, you can find them on the diagram here.

        This is time just for you. Let all your preoccupations vanish, and allow yourself to be fully present. As you tap, say, “I release any and all blocks to inner peace. I release all tension in my body. I release anything in my past, present or future that stands between me and inner peace.”

        2. Stop tapping and relax your hands. Close your eyes, and let your tongue rest loosely on the floor of your mouth.

        3. Feel your hands. Feel your feet. Feel the space inside your hands. Feel the space inside your feet. Feel the space inside your legs, your arms, your torso, your neck and head. Feel the space inside your whole body. Picture a big empty space behind your eyes. Picture a big empty space between your eyebrows. If thoughts arise in your mind at any point during the meditation, just let them go. Watch them drift like clouds across the sky, without attachment.

        4. Breathe slowly, for 6 seconds per out-breath, and 6 seconds per in-breath. Count to 6 silently each time you breathe in, and each time you breathe out. Notice how relaxed your tongue is. Picture the big empty space behind your eyes. Keep your tongue relaxed.

        If physical sensations arise in your body, such as aches or pains, just observe them. You don’t have to do anything about them. Keep your attention focused on your breath, counting 6 seconds in, and 6 seconds out.

        5. Visualize the location in your chest where your physical heart resides. Imagine breathing in and out through your heart, while maintaining 6 second in-breaths and 6 second out-breaths. Maintain a relaxed tongue.

        6. Imagine a beam of love pouring out through your heart toward a person or place that you love with each out-breath. Stay in this state for several breaths. Notice the big empty space behind your eyes, and how relaxed your tongue is on the floor of your mouth

        7. Bring the beam of love back into your body, into the area of your physical heart. Send that love to any part of your body that is uncomfortable or in pain. To end the meditation, take 3 deep 6 second breaths.

        When you feel complete with the meditation, return your attention to the room you’re in. Open your eyes and look at the object closest to you, and observe its characteristics, such as color, texture, and weight. Shift your gaze and look at the object furthest away from you. Notice your breath. Notice the weight of your body on the chair or on the surface on which you’re sitting. Feel your hands and feet. Be aware of the time.

        Bring yourself back to the here and now. While a meditative state supports our well-being, it’s also vital to orient yourself to the “real world” and function there effectively at the end of each meditation period.

        Do this every day for a week, and you’ll notice a difference in how you feel during the rest of the day. Do this every day for a month, and you’ll be hooked. It only requires 20 minutes, though you may want to gradually increase your time frame to 30 or 45 minutes.

      John is notorious for saying, “I realized that 99% of the things I have worried about never happened. That is proof worry works.”

      If you are not so sure that worry works, you will be interested to know that MRI scans show EcoMeditation decreases activity in the brain regions associated with self-focus and suffering, and increases activity in the areas of compassion.

      This seems like a real no-brainer to me….

    2. Agitation and Imagination

        Agitation is interesting.

        Instead of trying to make it go away, allow it to be fully present, so that you can watch and learn its nature clearly.

        ~ The DailyTejaniya

      It is difficult to recall how long ago now I saw so clearly the futility of speaking about a situation that is causing agitation. Any idiot can speak about the problem, but only someone with imagination has the wisdom mind to see solutions.

      You are the only one who knows the conditions in your own life that are currently playing this dynamic out clearly, however, everyone has something going on right now that invites feeling helpless and perhaps even a bit hopeless.

      I have previously mentioned my friend having SERIOUS health conditions in Florida over the winter and since returning to Michigan. (See Anxious Feelings – Power of Presence)

      Well, conditions continue….

      Last week I spent the morning with them at the hospital. She was having the long-awaited cardio version to return her heart to a normal sinus rhythm. We had opportunity to laugh at ourselves and one another. She had been desperate for a hair cut. The day before the cardio version she had an appointment, but when it came time to leave the house she refused to put her slippers on, going to the car instead in her bare feet! Helpless to reason with her, he drove her to the salon only to have her unable to navigate the unbearable heat of the blacktop parking lot. (Plus, with all the shenanigans they were already too late for her appointment!)

      While the three of us waited in pre-op they were both willing and able to confess to and laugh at the absurdity they had collaborated. Unfortunately, we are all prone to mind states and habitual attitudes and unconscious catalysts that augment agitation and interrupt imagination, robbing us of the peace we truly are.

      We talked about how counter productive human behavior can become when conditions prevent us from being able to have or do or be what we desire most — and sometimes actually need. You only have to think for one moment about the political or environmental or institutional climate crisis we are experiencing on this planet to understand fully the feelings leaning toward helplessness or hopelessness. Add as backdrop the layer of the inevitability of old age, illness, and death (from Buddhism: This body is subject to breaking up, subject to being laid down).

      So, this morning I am allowing agitation to be fully present.

      I am remembering how consistent I had to become with taking John’s vitals EVERY DAY and reporting them to his doctor EVERY WEEK for over two years now. You can watch and learn agitation’s nature clearly. The doctors’ agitation with the insurance stranglehold is not other than my own. The agitation with delay in getting access to what we want or need. The agitation that is precariously leaning toward helplessness or hopelessness, but also can open us up to imagination.

      This comes from the preface of Imagine Healing: Guided Imagery to Help You Heal, by Debra Basham and Joel Bowman.

      Woven into the fabric of your illness or health crisis, are the emotional, mental, and spiritual dynamics of both “dis-ease” and well-being. That simply means what is in the way, is the way. The use of your imagination can help you heal now.

      By activating your imagination, you will not only be healing the physical ailment, you will be healing on all levels—body, mind, and spirit. Why settle for healing that is just skin deep, when you can activate your innate healing capacities. Although we cannot “unhappen” history, you are able to experience relief from painful memories, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, even as you physically heal

      Agitation is interesting.

      Blessed be.

    3. Grow Through What You Go Through

      Light rain was tap dancing on the metal roof of the lanai as I sat in the darkness waiting for the sun to make its debut thinking about a dear friend of mine whose brother-in-love is going to be having lung cancer surgery soon. She has been a champion of ours for decades, having thrived through cancer herself. A video interview of Jane’s Imagine Healing Journey is featured on our website.

      I imagined her sharing the Imagine Healing process with him….

      Opening email from The Daily Tejaniya I read: “Practice with the idea of not trying to create an experience. Instead, just take your experience as it is and try to learn from it.”

      You can see the middle path!

      Doing the process of Imagine Healing supports the central nervous system so the physical body has the best opportunity for healing. Having done the process, you are much more capable of being present to learn through your experience.

      Our granddaughter is going through a lot right now. I sent her a photo of a sweatshirt I had seen on Facebook with the words: Grow through what you go through.

      A quick internet search for that phrase took me to a sweet website which listed 12 Hacks to Grow Through What You Go Through. Number 3 on the list is about how you can grow through your fears.

        We don’t run from our fears; we go through them. To get past our fears, we need to do three things:

        1) acknowledge them,

        2) let them go, and

        3) replace them with something else.

      That list took me to a post by another Facebook friend and colleague, Lisa Gordon (I was trained in Healing Touch by her mom, Janet Mentgen). Lisa posted a sweet reminder from “The Female Hustlers” offering a perfect way to navigate these last days of December 2023:

        De-cember
        de-clutter
        de-tach and
        de-lete
        anything that
        de-values your life.
        Don’t bring
        it into 2024.

      Whatever is happening in your life right now, may you grow through all you go through.

    4. LOVE Came Down at Christmas

      I am grateful John and I had a practice run at not being physically with Stacey and her family for Christmas in 2019.

      Last year we attended a Christmas Day potluck at Pine Island Cove with Michigan friends, Linda and Fred, who also winter here in Florida.

      This year, John and I share our day with all of you in our hearts.


      Our hearts are uplifted by the truth: “We isolate this year so that when we can meet again next year no one will be missing.”

      Today, our home-away-from-home may be empty of friends and family, but my heart is full of love for each of you!

      Our hearts are filled with memories!

      Our hearts are warmed by Christmases past.

      Our hearts are nourished with the true meaning of Christmas:

        That Mary and Joseph—Mary heavy with child—traveled through the countryside.

        She was at the time of giving birth to the child.

        They found shelter, simple shelter.

        And many beings experiencing, “The light has been born! Ah… The light is back!”

        It wasn’t me, it was more that my birth opened the doorway so that the Heavenly light—the Love, the remembrance of Love—could pour through.

        What was that star? Let us metaphorically call it an opening in the dark heavens where the remembrance of light and Love could pour through—pour through to where I lay as an infant, not to highlight me but to remind humans nothing is hopeless.

        Light IS.

        Love IS.

        And it is right here.

        And it was pointing at me, but it could be pointing at any of you.

        Here is the ground of love and light.

        And the earth sang, “Halleluiah!” not for my birth but for the remembrance: LIGHT IS, LOVE IS.*

      * Jeshua, channeled by Barbara Brodsky on Christmas Eve 2020, sharing some thoughts about what Christmas means to him and how we can carry the meaning of Christmas through to our times.

    5. Transformation

      Recently, I included some information about transformation from J. Krishnamurti in my clergy “Insight’s” article.

      Transformation is said to occur only when NONE of the following are present:

        desire to change the experience
        judgment
        analysis
        justification
        grasping
        selfing
        resisting
        believing that “I am witnessing”

      Since the coronavirus stay-safe-at-home order in March, I have done daily yoga with Kathy Zerler. We started out by phone, but when it became obvious that the YMCA could not safely and legally hold the classes onsite any time soon, we started recording her yoga classes using Zoom. Kathy’s videos are available on Youtube by putting “Kathy Zerler yoga” into your search engine.

      This morning I had a heart-felt experience of transformation — exactly as Krishnamurti describes it — during the guided meditation at the end of class. “Your World is Your Greatest Creation” was published in Kathy’s Joyful Meditaions:

      Imagine yourself on a solitary beach at sunset. You are very relaxed after a long day…

      You come upon a raft that is half on the beach and half in the water. Your name is written on a flag that waves from a mast in the center of the raft. You understand that this raft is yours to use for as long as you need it. You decide to load up every person who has ever hurt you. Politely, you help each person onto the raft. When they are all seated, you toss in the baggage they have heaped on you along with a few things of your own that you no longer need. You push the raft out toward the setting sun and watch as these people and their baggage float out of your life.

      You are allowed to let them go. Just let them go….

      I have heard Kathy do this guided meditation several times before, but something truly remarkable happened today when the only person that got into the raft was me!

      I was alone in the raft and I could see clearly that only my distorted thoughts, beliefs, attitudes had hurt me.

      I gently oared the raft toward the setting sun in perfect peace.

      Transformation….

    6. Page 166

      Sacred Stories

      I walked out of my office, having just posted a Sacred Story titled: Like Talking to Your Dad Again!. He had passed 49 days ago, and his daughter was having a sense of his presence.

      My husband was sitting at the dining table reading a book about the history of our area.


      He asked what I was doing, and I mentioned having just posted the sacred story about our friend.

      “I am looking at a photo of him right now,” her husband said, pointing to a page in the book.

      I immediately sent a text message to his daughter. “I just came out of my office having published your sacred story and here is a picture of your dad on the page of a book my husband is reading.” I sent her a copy of the cover of the book, and the photo of her dad. “Your dad’s photo is on page 166!”

      “That is….I don’t know what word describes it!” she texted back.

      “Now your dad is just showing off,” I responded.

      “He always did have a flair for the dramatic,” she shot back.

      Be mindful of your experiences so you can recognize and share your sacred stories. They lift us all up….

    7. My Longings

      “Strive to be uncynical,
      to be a hope-giving force,
      to be a steward of substance.”
      ~ Maria Popova
      Bulgarian-born, American-based writer

      Last evening as we finished dominoes via Zoom, I asked what the most significant news of the day was. My friend said probably that the Trump administration ordered hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send all COVID-19 patient information to a central database in Washington, meaning that the CDC was no longer going to have access to the real-time data about the coronavirus.

      I had a heavy sensation low in my gut.

      I drew the 5 of Clouds, Comparison, from the Osho deck before I went to bed. I sent the message to my friend. “Just look around. All is needed, and everything fits together. It is an organic unity; nobody is higher and nobody is lower, nobody superior, nobody inferior. Everybody is incomparably unique.” I slept rather fitfully.

      When I woke this morning, I knew I was dreaming again, but these images like the past several dreams of children needing support are gone before my feet hit the floor.

      My mind is very clear, however, about the “Say Only” story of the importance of reserving judgment as things are unfolding. I first read this story in The Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado. I have since learned that it predates Lucado and Christianity, and is still true….

      Perhaps President Trump will be able to report data so that those who have discounted the gravity of the virus and been defiant about protective measures will be able to tolerate (hear) the truth from someone they trust.

      I must begin by calling forth my own trust and calling forth his higher guidance.

      I looked back over several recent Daily Quotes from Aaron:

      July 8, 2020
      When enough of you are ready to hold the real vision of a world at peace, where beings do not manipulate, steal, kill or otherwise harm each other, the capacity to hold that vision will emerge in world leaders. You will call them forth. They do not lead you so much as you invite them! The effective leader can only walk where some are ready to follow.

      July 13, 2020
      Bring into your heart and mind the president of this country and others who help to guide him as he makes his decisions. He has a difficult job. You may not agree with his decisions. But certainly you will agree that in his deepest heart, he hopes that his choices for this country will bring peace in the long run if not sooner. This is a man under enormous pressure and he needs your loving wishes even if you say no to his choices. ‘As you strive to guide this nation, may your heart remain open to love and as free as is possible from fear. May you be happy and find peace.’

      July 14, 2020
      You are ready to take this step, ready not only to be awakened but to help the whole Earth awaken, each of you in your own way. I’m not suggesting you’re all going to be like the Buddha, with his path. Your way of awakening the Earth may simply to be to plant an enlightened garden, a garden of plants that you co-create rather than order around. How do we co-create with the Earth? How do we co-create with each other? How do we use our power and unlimitedness in ways that do no harm?

      July 15, 2020
      You as a world are inviting conflict but then not doing the needed practice with it, so you must invite it again and again. You are like the child in school doing endless multiplication table drills; they are unpleasant but you have not studied the tables, and will not, so the teacher repeats the drills. Your inattention calls forth the repetition. If you wish the drills to cease, learn the tables.

      Aaron’s daily quotes are not selected. The quotes were placed into an archive, and each day one is randomly generated. Some quotes may have never been published, some pop up with regularity, and I have seen some publish two days in a row. Aaron himself established this random generation as a condition when the Daily Quotes began to be shared.

      The impact of the coronavirus, and the divisiveness of of sisters and brothers is unpleasant. Wish the drills to cease; learn the tables.

      Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, The Book of Longings, is a mesmerizing work of fiction. Ana—a rebellious and gifted young woman of Galilee, meets and marries Jesus. Before their meeting, early in the book, we witness Ana in a clandestine rooftop meeting with her aunt, Yaltha, another unusual woman of the time.

      “Do you know what an incantation bowl is?” Yaltha asks Ana. “In Alexandria we women pray with them. We write our most secret prayer inside them. Like this.”

      Yaltha places a finger inside the bowl and moves it in a spiraling line around the sides of the bowl. “Every day we sing the prayer. As we do, we turn the bowl in slow circles and the words wriggle to life and spin off toward heaven.”

      My most secret prayer has been written into my “incantation bowl” and I will sing this prayer every day: May all beings be happy and find peace; may we awaken wisdom mind; filling the universe with love; joy; kindness; and compassion.

    8. Moth Magic

      Sacred Stories

      When she woke up, she walked outside and this beauty was on the door.

      Automeris io, the Io moth, is found throughout the eastern half of the United States, as far west as Utah, Colorado, and Texas. Its range extends as far north as Quebec, Ontario, and southern Manitoba, but as with many other moth species, it is less common now in parts of its range.

      Just the evening before she had sketched this Emperor gum moth in preparation for her Young Naturalist nature sketchbook class scheduled for this very morning:

      While it was not the same species of moth, it is just as beautiful, and magical. She had never seen this species in her area before.

      She wrote: Life and art…. art and life…

    9. I Concur

      The weather changes very quickly. At 8:45 today, my friend sent a text suggesting we cancel our 9 a.m. bike ride. Rain and thunderstorms were in the forecast. My response: “I concur.”

      Concur is one of those words rarely used. It means to agree, be in accord, go along, be in harmony, be in sympathy, see eye to eye, be of the same mind, or be of the same opinion. It also means to happen or occur at the same time; coincide.

      On one hand, I can see why the word is rarely used. On the other hand, it should be tattooed on our foreheads. Case in point, my recent letter to the editor:

      Confusion and misinformation about COVID-19 has run rampant, making matters worse. Individuals have to make their own choices, but our individual choices affect how we come through this as a whole.

      As a spokesperson for and practitioner of what has been called alternative medicine or holistic health for almost 30 years, I see two vital points of clarity:

      First: At any moment, you cannot be 100% confident you aren’t an asymptomatic carrier. Just as chicken pox is highly contagious before a person knows he or she has the virus, many people are being exposed to COVID-19 by individuals who do not know they have the virus.

      Second: Just breathing can spread this virus. Talking, laughing, and singing are as dangerous as coughing. Infectious aerosols can accumulate especially indoors, but also in any poorly circulating air, and can then easily be inhaled into the lungs.

      Studies are being done as quickly and effectively as possible due to collaboration in the global scientific community.

      Initially the CDC said to wear a mask only if you were sick or caring for someone who was sick. But this was due primarily to the global shortage of masks that were desperately needed by those on the front lines. Research has found that wearing masks significantly lowers the risk of spreading the virus, and that many unnecessary deaths will be prevented if everyone wears a mask. Mask-wearing has been widely adopted in Asia since SARS, and has been seen as a civic duty and a signal of “support” to health-care workers and the national economy.

      Myriad reasons exist for not wearing a mask: Masks can be uncomfortable, they fog up your glasses, they are hot, some people feel claustrophobic in them, hearing can be compromised.

      But there is only one reason to do the right thing.

      You wear a mask and safe distance not because of what you might GET, but because of what you might GIVE!

      It goes against our nature to isolate. We are social creatures. It goes against our nature to wear masks. But our nature has been shaped.

      By 9:00 this morning, just 15 minutes after our text concurring to cancel our bike ride, the skies were clear. I called my friend and said, “Let’s get on our bikes and ride toward one another.” We did just that. And we had lovely sharing.

      The previous evening she had heard a talk about why it is vital we bring native plants to suburban yards. A talk by Doug Tallamy, an entomologist at University of Delaware, author of Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants. From Doug’s website: Garden as if life depended upon it. You see, native plants support pollinators and food webs far better than introduced ornamentals, and some native plants support much more life than others. Choosing the best plants for your area is the key to success.

      Heading home from our ride, as I turned onto my road I was gifted an amazing view of nature’s linear wildflower garden! I pulled into the entrance of our park, got off my bike, and walked out to the road to take a photo. (See Sacred Story: Linear Garden.) Right there, without any fertilizer, and no need for irrigation, nature’s gorgeous, life-sustaining plants.

      Perhaps nothing since the Civil War has revealed our ability to see things differently from those we love the way this coronavirus has.

      Some see beauty and perfection when looking at a perfectly manicured lawn with the sprinklers twirling—totally missing the warning signs.

      The neighborhood in which we rode today is proliferated with a variety of evergreens planted widely in many housing developments a couple of decades ago. Those trees are dying a premature death. An appropriate species, but not native to this zone. Pines are among the oldest trees on Earth. Ponderosa pines, common throughout the western United States, have a lifespan of 300 to 500 years, with an 800-year-old tree documented in Utah.

      Shortly after we got home from our ride, my friend sent a text: Raining quite hard here! Lucky us.

      Our nature has been shaped just as surely as have our landscapes. We need the rain. We need the native plants. Right now, we need the masks.

      I so appreciated reading the words of a friend on his Facebook post: “I will wear my mask when out in public to respect your right,” and I also felt the sting that came with the rest of his sentence: “to live out your lives in fear.”

      Noticing the warning signs does not mean one is living out life in fear.

      Where are the bees?