Today was busy enough to make up for my mostly “chill and relax” weekend. Phew!
Still, I’m going to keep this short because I’m trying to get home and eat dinner earlier. Why? Because my naturopathic integrative oncologist has encouraged me to do Intermittent Fasting.
What that means for me is that I don’t eat for a sixteen-hour period of time each day (this is also known as “daily time-restricted eating”). So I eat normally but only within an eight-hour window each day.
It’s not that difficult, but I’d rather eat dinner earlier so I don’t have to wait quite so long into the next day before breaking my fast.
Sunday mornings are full, of course. Today we arrived at the Temple of Light at 8:40am to rehearse and make other preparations for Sunday service singing and chanting.
Afterwards Ramesha had plans to spend time with a friend, while I did a darn good job of replicating yesterday’s achievement.
In other words, I’m proud to say that I didn’t do much of anything all afternoon and into the evening. High points were relaxing with a novel on the patio; taking a nap; reading some more; and eating.
I’m getting pretty good at this “doing nothing” stuff!
I’m feeling pretty good about how little I accomplished today.
True, I did four loads laundry first thing this morning (it was getting kind of urgent!), but otherwise I mostly kicked back and enjoyed being at home.
I had to chuckle at one point when I realized I was feeling kind of proud of doing so little.
The other morning there was a red-tailed hawk perched in a tree right outside my bedroom window. It was fascinating to watch him as he sat there for quite some time.
I’ve often heard that when one has an encounter with an animal that feels potent or powerful, it’s a good idea to reflect or meditate on what the spirit of the animal might be telling you.
Or you could search the internet for “hawk symbolism or meaning” (which is what I did). 🙂
But I actually found quite a bit to think about in following excerpts from some interesting websites…
“The hawk totem is a messenger of insight, adaptability and openness, it is also about visionary power and guardianship. Hawk’s spirit teaches us to be observant and to pay attention to what we may overlook. This could mean a talent we don’t use, a blessing for which we haven’t expressed gratitude, or a message from the universe. The hawk has keen eyesight, it is about opening our eyes and seeing that which is there to guide us. Hawk spirit awakens vision and inspires us to a creative life purpose.”
“A hawk is a wonderful symbol of freedom and flight. The meaning of seeing a hawk symbolizes a creative being. Encountering a hawk means you should let your creative spirit flow. It can be through music or poetry or other creative talents.”
Ah, if only I was “playing catch” rather than “catching up“!
Yeah, it’s the usual aftermath of SRW, where I get to wade through the emails, voice messages, and tasks that were postponed during the busy week.
At the same time, there are possible new projects and ideas calling for attention. Not to mention the need to start preparing for being out of commission for a couple of months.
The sooner I can knuckle down and catch up on the little stuff, the sooner I can devote my energies to the big stuff.
Spiritual Renewal Week concert on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at Ananda Village
In addition to creating challenges in presenting our Spiritual Renewal Week concert, the fire and power outage also affected how it was shared.
Usually concerts during big events are live streamed so that people worldwide can enjoy them, but that couldn’t happen due to being on generator power and other circumstances beyond my limited technical understanding.
The combination of a nearby fire and the power outage also left many Village residents unsure whether the concert was still happening, not to mention those who were considering evacuating.
I was sort of surprised to realize how strange it was to get home afterwards and not be able to pull up the live streamed video. And not to receive comments and voicemails about it.
It really did start to feel a little bit unreal, like I just imagined the whole thing. Turns out the proof is in the video!
The first photo is me and Ramesha (except we were still Sharon and Fabio at that point) at our wedding blessing.
The photo lower down was taken on my birthday, just a couple of weeks ago; amazing that there are eighteen years in-between the two!
Yep, today we’re celebrating getting married on this day, eighteen years ago. I’m so grateful to be sharing my life with the most wonderful guy in the world! 💖
Earlier tonight we enjoyed excerpts from the Peace Treaty, then there’s Sunday service tomorrow, and that’s it!
My predominant thought as this deeply inspiring week draws to a close is immense gratitude — yet again! — to Swami Kriyananda, for the gift of spiritual community, for the music of Ananda, and for the example of discipleship and a life lived for God that he gave us.
