Today has been the first time in about three weeks where I have had a decent day off. I’m not on the road today. Its not a work day. And I only have a handful of chores to finish off. And to that end, I have had a lot of time to do some of the things I have not been able to do – like a long meditation. Its been nice to take a few moments and breathe, relax, empty my mind and emotions…and just be.

I am now getting the chance to process my moments in my Bardic Grade initiation more fully. So much further down the timeline than I had originally wanted to. It was an intense moment in time, and still remains as such with me. A moment where my intentions and actions now meet – a moment where my focus is continually drawn back to, with nearly everything I have done since that moment.

One of my biggest recent influences has been Emma Restall Orr’s “The Wakeful World” – and its one particular quote that I have taped to my iMac that reminds me that I need to revisit this book sometime in the next calendar year – when I have stoked my Animism, Philosophy, and Psychology lexicon a bit more…

…the song is the expression of the moment as it unfolds, our soul riding the current of the spirits whose perpetual motion is our becoming. The Songs of being are the music of presence. The song is what we express and celebrate in every moment of our living.

This is what I have been missing over the past few weeks. The time to sit and take in thoughts such as this – and apply it to my daily moments in life. Literally, I have been missing the time to do just that. To be so focused on a thought, that I can block out most everything else.

For me, life is about being in the moment – the experience of what that very moment entails. The feel of the air against my skin, the drop of sweat that I feel beading down my arm, the feel of the dusty dirt beneath my feet, the hot, stifling humidity in the air – making me feel like I am drowning on dry land. That’s a typical mid-day during summer here in Texas. But then there’s the moment of hyper-focus – as I have described above – where I block out the rest of the world, take a thought and turn it over and over. Both of these types of experiences are critical for my daily Path. And when I don’t get the chance to maintain those two moments – I feel out of balance. And for the Libra that I am – I suffer from that.

The song of being – for me, I hear it in Wendy Rule’s music. 

Her voice and demeanor are the perfect foil for me to reach out and connect to my environment. Just as the cries of the Crow and the Grackle here at the house remind me that the bird bath needs to be cleaned out and refilled. And the connection, and related actions bring me to the moment of experiencing Life as it is…a moment of just being…