Tai Chi Chih is a marvelous discipline.  Each of the 19 movements has its own design, precision and intention.  Every part of the body participates in the slow and gentle motions; the physical body moves, the mind becomes quiet and alert, the life force energy – Chi – flows.  Each position is completed with a pause, a sinking down into a graceful conclusion.  We rest before beginning the next movement. 

When I moved from South Dakota in 2010, I brought many activities to a conclusion.  I was resting, taking a long pause before the next movement.  Once in Washington, I settled into a rhythm of days and experiences that were slower and more gentle, like Tai Chi Chih.  I tried to be mindful of bringing each activity, each encounter with others, each day to a graceful conclusion.  At the beginning I was a clumsy novice at this practice of intentional awareness.  My movements were awkward, my balance was shaky, my conclusions were often less than graceful.  Yet, with practice I improved.  Far from being perfect, I’m just pleased that I feel more “present” in my days, more content with having few agendas, being more likely to say “I don’t know,” and more apt to sit in wonder.

I’ve learned so much, met amazingly diverse and talented people, visited breathtakingly beautiful places.  I’ve started new projects, said goodbye to many pasts, chased run-away horses and caught some new dreams.  My body and soul have ached from digging in the dirt and digging into the past.  New growth has been the glorious result – strength, contentment, fertile ground prepared for more.

Within the coming month, I will begin the next movement, a literal move back to South Dakota.  It is home to me.  In Washington, I have received so much goodness to take back with me, have deepened and strengthened family ties, have created new memories. I am extremely grateful for this long vacation, this pause between what was and what is yet to be.  I’m taking time to bring a graceful conclusion to the days, to feel the movement of the Chi within and all around, to store up the light and then to travel on.  Grace – full!

Listening to the news from any source is an exercise in sorting through a tangled mess; culling the wheat from the chaff, weeding out the poisons to discover the nugget of gold.

Some say end times are here.  The world as we know it will implode, explode, burn up, freeze over, or otherwise cease to exist.  And all of life along with it will no longer be.  It has to happen, they say.
Corruption and greed are rampant, violence is out of control, survival of the self at all cost is the law of the land.  Like Henney Penney, we run helter skelter crying out, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”

Others say it is all an illusion and what you see is what you experience. Life can be amazingly perfect, they say. If you focus on the good, the evil will no longer exist for you.  Focus on all that you desire in this life – better health, more wealth, the perfect career, the ideal home, the soulmate partner – and all of this and more will be yours.  That is, if you do the meditation and visualization; repeat the mantra; follow the formula; mindfully walk, chant, breathe, sit, pray.  And if you do it explicitly, correctly, then the world as we know it will be blissful!

I confess to flip-flopping.  To covering my head and running around fearfully beside Henney Penney. Conversely, I’ve been known to do all of the positive thinking and visualizing that I can imagine. Have you, by chance, flip-flopped a time or two?

I do believe that flip-flopping is a shared human fallibility.  We can’t know fully what is true. Either a flip or a flop position contains element of truth.  The world as we know it is experiencing extremes in all sectors that conceivably must collapse or change dramatically.  And our beliefs and perceptions of the world and others do determine our experience.  Optimists generally are happier than pessimists; pessimists claim to be more “reality-based” than optimists. 

Resolution to our dualistic thinking, these opposing sides, the flip-flopping is not in propping up the sky to protect Henney Penneys.  Nor to tune out and “om” our way into deaf, dumb and blind bliss.  Some of our systems must crumble creating chaos and upheaval.  Thus the way is opened for more inclusive and compassionate solutions that value and sustain life and interdependence.

The way has always been shown to us by great master teachers and visionaries: Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama. I’m sure you can name others who have inspired you.  The faces are numerous, the message is universal and enduring.  Change must be internal before it can become an external force for good. The heart must change from fear to love.  Love first, then right action will spring forth.  Always.

Most of us have but a limited sphere of influence.  We interact with our families, our closest friends, our co-workers, perhaps daily.  How many of those interactions are fully, completely embodying love?  Even if there is the tiniest sliver of anger, the minutest drop of judgment, if guilt or duplicity sneak in, there is less than 100% love.  We won’t attain or remain in 100% love permanently.  We will flip-flop in and out of love, in and out of fear and control.  But what an accomplishment sublime to reach a state of pure love, if only for an instant.  What a gift to ourselves and to those nearest and dearest – to see the other as not separate from myself.  When goodness, happiness, good health, education, clean air, pure water, safe communities are as important for the other as it is for me, the world as we know it will change. When circumstances demand action and when that call to action is heeded not out of fear but in response to a need for loving solutions, a way will be found.  Your part, my part, all will be clear.  The first step, as we know, is to love my neighbor as myself.

Now, I have some weeding to do!

“Will you go with me to the mountains?” he asked her long ago.

Knowing he was asking for much more than just a jaunt across a couple of states, a climb to the summit and back down again, nevertheless she answered immediately,

“Sure. When?”

And so began a friendship, a life long friendship. 

Their first trip to the mountains was disastrous!  Their world views clashed dramatically and each was determined to define and defend their positions.  This first trip was also sweet and playful and tender.  It was a defining moment in time. 

Once you climb the mountain, tedious, exhausting, laborious, nearly impossible though it may be, the view from the top is magnificent.  One’s perspective is permanently altered.  The ascent and descent alone – the challenge of it and the accomplishment – give one a feeling of pride and confidence.  Nothing will ever be the same.

And the surprises along the way - chance encounters with others, the angle of the sun’s rays through pine trees, the coolness of a breeze on hot skin, a lake tucked between high peaks and invisible from below, cold water from glacial melts, bird song, elk grazing in a pristine meadow, a ranch hand sized dinner for famished bodies, the twinkle of millions of stars in an indigo sky, moon rise above snow capped peaks -  all this and more leaves one full and hungry for still more.

Over the years the two friends took many more trips to the mountains that he loved and to the waters that called to her. The obstacles they encountered were as varied as they were numerous.  And the overcoming took each of the friends to depths they never imagined existed, let alone were possible to reach. Sometimes they needed solitude and went their separate ways.  When they came together again, they brought insights more often than excuses; forgiveness more often than blame; and promises understood though sometimes unspoken.

And so continues a friendship.  It seems there is no ending in sight.  That is until one of the friends leaves this earth experience.  And then, who knows.  There will be more mountains to explore, more lakes to sit beside and dream.

“Will you go with me to the mountains?”

“Sure. When?”
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