A Shadow of My Mere Self

Taken at Deer Island on a hot summer day, this photo conjurs up all sort of possibilities:

"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves."

--Buddha

"I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got, But there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy.” -- Fra Giovanni Giocondo

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” -- Carl Sandburg

Hot! Hot! Hot!

The past few days have neared record temperatures -- or at least it feels like it -- well into the high 90's, low 100's here in Novato, California. I love HOT, much prefer it to cold -- although if I am walking/running, I prefer the cooler morning hours. You know it's hot if you sit down at your desk, 15 minutes later your t-shirt is wet and sweat is rolling freely, profusely down your body! There is a certain wild freedom to that!

Today I went for one of my daily walks at Deer Island, this morning it was fairly cool. The moment I set foot in the California Bay Laurel woods about fifty yards up the trail, a Red-Shouldered hawk called out to me. Just the other day I had been walking, and thinking, where are all of the hawks? Two minutes later I found this gorgeous feather, standing straight up in the woods debris. What a gorgeous feather, I wasn't sure what type of hawk it came from, but it was a big one -- the feather was 11" long. Well, once returning home I got on the computer, and after a few minutes of browsing on the internet, I realized that I was not in possesion of a hawk feather, but a wild turkey feather, another denizen of the California landscape. According to Ted Andrews (author of Animal-Speak, The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small) the turkey is sometimes called the earth eagle, and is according to Native American mythology helped to create the world. The turkey is also linked to the ancient idea of the third eye, the center for higher vision. I always enjoy seeing them grazing in the wild grasses. Last month a "flock" of females and chicks -- at least 30 chicks -- noisily wandered across the trail in front of me, with a male, tail feathers fanned, carefully keeping himself between me and his harem.

Mindfulness in a Feather, Part of the Whole

Often when I am walking on Deer Island I am aware -- I don't know quite how to describe it -- I am aware of my surroundings "peripherally." It may take me a few minutes of walking to rid my mind of its thoughts, but I gradually settle in to being aware of the whole -- a combination of sounds, (jays squawking, hawks calling, pipits chattering, grass heads popping, twigs crunching), colors (browns of the trail, golds of the grasses, green of the leaves), or sensations (temperature of the air, how bright or overcast it is, the weight of my feet hitting the path, sweat trickling down my chest, hair blowing in the wind). I guess I could say that I mostly walk with a sense of feeling -- I feel someone moving through and around and about as a part of the whole. I guess that's very zen -- it can be very much a meditative state. Often animals or objects will appear and grab my attention. And for a very brief moment they and I am still part of the whole -- until my focus lingers too long on that animal or object. So I stop and take it in. And then I start moving again. Today the Island's gift to me was a hawk feather, on the ground in the woods, blowing back and forth in the breeze. How beautiful, how charming, how mindful.

Dear, Deer Island...

I had another magical walk on Deer Island this morning. It was one animal appearance after another. First as I emerged out of the little woods, there was a huge coyote about 5 yards off the trail standing on the grassy hillside. I stood still and looked at him for 5 minutes. I would move a little down the trail path and he shadowed me on the hillside. But nothing threatening -- we just were checking each other out, and if you believe at all in animal shamanism, well there was an energy exchange, I can I tell you that! Our little "conversation" was rudely interrupted by two Red-Tailed hawks that burst out of the neighboring trees, calling up a storm with their sharp, short voices. I called back to them and scared the bejesus out of the coyote. He stood there in shock while I made my get away. Next I saw deer, then on top of the ridge (where I can see Rocky Ridge and far away Mt. Diablo to the east) a big Harrier swooped down near me. Off in teh distance I could hear the calls of White-Tailed kites and Sparrowhawks. The only thing missing was a bobcat -- maybe one day! Here are photos on Flicker of my altered book Deer Island Odyssey. Have a wonderful, magical, day!