Entangled

Lately, my life seems all tangled up.
When I solve one problem, another pops up.
I feel like I’m stuck in a dark hole,
and my usual ways of extricating myself from this place aren’t working.
If I simply change my perception, will my outlook change?
I’d like to think I can do this: walk through darkness into The Light
and find myself in a place where my view might still be a bit askew,
but opens up enough for me to no longer feel trapped and helpless.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

On Edge

I’m on edge — which is why tranquil views like this help restore my soul.
However, I am standing on a precipice to obtain this view.
Is the tension — the battle — between fear and beauty worth it?
I contemplate.
There is an easier path.
It’s beautiful too;
stunning, in fact.
Perhaps I need wind through a path that leads me back and forth from the edge,
so I may observe the inner fear,
mull it over carefully, dissect and unearth its hold on me
and then venture back to the precipice to explore what it holds for me.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

The Merge

What is it about nature that makes me feel closer to God?
Perhaps I feel less hemmed in, even when surrounded by flora.
Or free, as if I could fly away at any moment to someplace new.
I feel alone, yet not alone.
Comforted by the tall grasses reaching toward me in a way that makes me feel accepted.
I am not being judged for being broken,
or past my prime.
I see beauty all around me;
and beauty sees me.
I am unknown yet known.
I am loved in a way that makes me feel equal to everything.
I merge…

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Unexpected Gifts

Another birthday is about to roll by.
But I have already received a few unexpected gifts.
One was from a friend who anticipated a need before I did.
My spouse gave me two early gifts I love that are almost exclusively about shape and texture rather than function.
And this week when I was working at the Artists’ Collective in Elk,
a young woman came in —
a stranger —
and she immediately walked up to my artwork, which is nearly hidden on a stairwell wall.
I told her the art was mine and she asked me lots of questions.
We shared a Catholic past
and she was especially intrigued by a Madonna-themed piece that was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“The nuns I grew up around had a sense of humor,” she said.
Not only did she purchase the piece, but she reminded me of the gift of humor bestowed upon so many of my friends, nuns included.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Dew Transcendence

The morning was dew kissed.
Beads of water clung to flowers,
leaves and grass, magnifying what lay underneath.
Waves crashed and clamored up steep rocks.
Down at my feet I spied subtle movement. A centipede was carrying another centipede, deceased, over hill and dale, twig and leaf. Its meal? Its comrade? Both?
As I continued on I noted the sun and wind were already drying the dew.
It seemed impossible that the drops were disappearing into thin air, but that’s exactly what was happening.
The particles were now swirling around me: I was breathing them.
I felt the pull of oneness.
Whenever I feel alone
I know that I am not.
I am breathing in creation. My shadow is touching something I cannot reach.
My spirit is melding with The Source.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Building Cairns

Cairns help guide us along a path that leads to a destination already known to at least one person.
Or, as in this case, they can simply be an artistic presentation of interesting rocks that wandering beachgoers may not otherwise notice.
I was at Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, California
with my visiting niece, Heather, who was helping me find stones and glass to create cairns.
We were both searching for flat, stackable, intriguing specimens.
The beach did not disappoint.
We tried different combinations
until we created an acceptable stack.
Making cairns was a nice quiet way to be together — a shared silence.
A beachcomber walking by said: thank you for making beauty.
Perhaps beauty was the destination and making cairns was the path to it.
At least one person already knew this.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Photo Beachcombing

I often go photo beachcombing.
It’s quite similar to ordinary beachcombing except nothing physical is removed from the shoreline.
An ephemeral image is tucked inside a micro card in ways I don’t quite understand.
As with all photography, a moment in time is captured. That moment will never repeat. 
The sky will change.
A wave may suck my carefully composed picture out to sea.

Wind may blow a precariously balanced arrangement awry.
Even stalwart stones look different with every change of light.
Living in the moment is to “take in” what is around us right now, in grateful appreciation.
This shell, for instance, which I mistook for a fish.
Am I really living in the moment if I’m looking through the lens of a camera?
I believe so. I think of the camera as a pair of eyeglasses that enable me to see more clearly what is right in front of me by filtering out distractive peripheral vision. Which is why I often go photo beachcombing.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Insights

There is beauty in the ordinary.
The ordinary is extraordinary.
Wonder is all around us.
The simplest things are not simple at all.
Design is inherent in all things.
Nothing is ugly if viewed with an open mind.
Imagination is a gift to be practiced.
Life is more intricate than we suppose.
We are never truly alone.
These are just a few of the insights given to me during my meditative walks. I believe them to be true because I have leaned into their weightiness and felt the reverberations of their integrity.
What insights do you hold dear?

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Letting Go to Grow

This New Year’s Eve I’m contemplating what I can leave behind.
What am I clinging to that no longer serves me?
What happens if I let go?
Will I feel adrift?
Like a piece removed from the whole?
I have quite a few negative habits that need to be dropped.
I would benefit greatly by leaving them behind.
Yet they’ve become so ingrained, it’s hard to imagine life without them.
Some of these behaviors are like tattered baby blankets that elicit a form of security in my mind.
Yet, when I let go I may feel as solid as a rock.
Or as light as a feather.
I may feel more connected.
Entwined.
Less like a misfit
and more like an oddly shaped piece that makes a puzzle complete.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my most recent daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Alone or Lonely?

Do you ever feel lonely?
Adrift?
A tangled mess
on the road to nowhere?
I like solitude,
but solitude evokes a different quality than lonesomeness does.
Wanting to be alone is a choice, feeling lonely isn’t.
Then I remember I have a mate,
family,
friends so wonderful we feel uber-close —
connected.
And then there’s God. I feel enveloped by God – held, yet free.
And that makes me smile.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my most recent daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.