We are all creatures of habit and routine. Every one of us. Early in the morning on a day when the weather is decent, I sit outside with my laptop or books at the table under the evergreen trees. I see the same squirrel feeding on cones in the tree directly above, tossing left overs down around me, as I try to ensure that the bits don't land in my coffee cup! I see the same robins coming to pick bugs from the grass around me. I see bees gathering nectar from the same flowers, and the songbirds coming to drink and bathe in my bird baths. Many of the same vehicles pass by as the neighbours are setting off to work - and the same people out for their morning walk or run.

It's a new day, with new experiences waiting ahead, but it is lived in much the same way. Each year people plan holidays to special places - where they have never been, or old familiar haunts that they enjoy. They may not go on exactly the same day each year, but it is routine to plan a holiday somewhere at some time during the year.

We plant our gardens (or not), we attend conferences or festivals, we belong to groups that have regular get-togethers, we gather with friends for boating or skiing, much like the birds fly south or north depending on the season, and the deer gather for mating or winter protection.

There are cycles, seasons, habits and routines that we follow. They provide comfort in their familiarity. They provide a known factor to our lives that doesn't require much thought or consideration about whether we will do it or not. They are proven activities in our life, and sometimes we follow them even though they may prove to be detrimental to our well-being. The deer still attempt to cross busy highways, the cougars still try to move into town to stake their territory, and people work at jobs that have negative affects on their health, and join in activities which hold the possibility of death in one miscalculated move - because it is something we always do. It serves a purpose in our life - good, bad or indifferent.

Bee on Daisy. Pollen on its legs.

Bee on Everlasting Flower

Squirrel eating fir cone.

Perhaps you have heard someone say "I am of two minds about it" when confronted with a decision to make - not knowing which way to go - which choice to make. Well, it seems it's not only humans that have this difficulty. One day I was out picking cones off the lawn that had been blown down from the fir trees in my yard. I gather them up to use as mulch on an area where I removed the grass. It was much to hot and dry in that particular spot, so I tore up the grass, put down old used carpet, some black cloth on top, and am in the process of covering it with cones from the trees. I did a section of the yard like that last year and it has worked out very well, so I extended the area this spring.

Using Cones for Mulch

Squirrel

It's a beautiful fresh morning - the last day of June. As I sit outside in the early sunshine at my table in the back yard, there is a tiny bird about 30 feet up in my fir trees singing his heart out. The stellar jays are hopping around nearby, flicking over leaves and cones - picking into the piles of fallen needles, on the hunt for tidbits of grub where ever they can find it. Amusingly, both of them found a peanut that had been stashed, at the same time. There was an open-beaked, indignant squawk from the one who was a fraction of a second too slow, but that was the extent of the confrontation, so they are obviously working together to feed young ones. There are two robins flapping around in the branches, chasing each other, and a finch having a quick drink at the bird bath. The orioles nesting on the light pole are busy swooping around catching breakfast and singing their thanks for it while sitting on the hydro lines. Beneath the cacophony of voices I hear the buzz of hummingbirds as they zip through my yard to a neighbour's feeder. I must find a plant that likes my yard so they will stop and feed. I only have one type of plant for them in my garden. It's an early bloomer and is all done now, but when it was blossoming, they would come and feed right beside me near my patio.

The singer from the top of my firs was just hopping around about 5 feet away, and I am no bird expert, but I believe he was a wren. I've been hearing him sing for days, but never seen him close enough to tell, before. There is also a woodpecker picking at a neighbour's clothesline pole to see if he can scare out any bugs hiding in the decaying wood. In the trees behind the next street over, I hear the squirrel complaining about something, and along with it a stellar jay, so I expect they are arguing over who the stash of peanuts belongs to. I don't know where they come from, but someone in the neighbourhood is putting out peanuts. I find the remnants in my birdbath thanks to the crow; broken shells beneath a tree branch courtesy of the squirrel; and stashed in the oddest places by the stellar jays.

Jays can be amusing little critters. Bold and sassy, they have very little fear of us humans. The ones I am most familiar with are the stellar jays and Clark's nutcracker, along with the magpie of course. They are all rather raucous in their calls and habits. A nutcracker (which I've always known as a whisky jack) will often come and take food from your hand if you coax it, and the stellars like shiny things. I had some glass pebbles set out on a table to use for a game. They were the kind you fill flower vases with, and were shiny. Every now and then I would find them in the oddest places in the garden and couldn't figure out how they got there until one day I saw a stellar jay pick one up in its beak and carry it to the back of my yard, where it promptly poked it into a hiding place, pushed some dry leaves over it, and flew off, no doubt proud of its accomplishment!

Surfing the web looking for eco-friendly ideas and finding many out there. Some are good ideas, some are just smoke screens to make people think the products have changed when they have only moved the pressure from one ecologically damaging area to another. All of these things are good in many ways regardless, because they focus the public's attention on the fact that changes in our thinking must take place. As the saying goes, change your thinking, change your world.

It is the thinking that must change before the products for the lifestyle will. The mental attitude we have about how our lives should be lived. We tend to think that cutting back on our energy consumption to save the planet will put us back in the Dark Ages and we don't want to give up our cars, computers, microwaves and electric light - but it doesn't have to be that way.

There is an interesting article written by Clair Go-eun Chun, the Managing Editor of the Korea IT Times that I read recently. It's called 'Nothing Made of Gold Lasts Forever'. She has a vision that encompasses a green lifestyle and convenient, wireless technology that would allow people to connect no matter where they are. We do that to a great extent already, but her vision is to have a lifestyle where we could learn, work and play at home if we desired. In the process we would save the massive amounts of energy we now consume, running children to school every day; getting to work; shopping; heating and lighting massive buildings full of offices and such.

Seagulls on Skaha Lake Shore

Flower Centre

Have been out touring around the last few days. It's springtime and there are good days when one gets drawn outdoors after the cold winter. There was also a fresh sprinkling of snow on the higher elevations, and this morning the water in my bird bath was frozen..... so it is up and down....that time of year when you have to take shorts and a parka with you where ever you go! Just in case. This weekend is the first long weekend of the vacation season in this country - the weather is 'supposed' to be warm — and I do recall years when I have been swimming in the lake on this weekend, as well as ones when I have ended up with a horrific sunburn because I was unprepared for the heat. But this is not one of those years. This is a come-prepared-for-anything year.

Like a dog worrying a bone, I am continuing on the subject of the speed of life. Whether you agree with the ideas about a matrix of belief waves I presented in my last blog post or not, here is a TED video with journalist Carl Honore, who spends a great deal of time promoting the Slow Movement around the world, whether it involves the slow food movement  or other aspects of living. It's worth a listen. He notes numerous studies done that point to the benefits of moving slowly - taking more time, at least for specific parts of your life, or periods of your day. Some of those benefits are more enjoyment and a better understanding of your world or your relationships and a quality of life that cannot be achieved otherwise.

Most of us are so busy rushing forward to the next activity that we don't listen to what people are saying to us. We don't take the time to truly appreciate what we are doing. We don't see what is around us. Perhaps if we did, we would find that the answers to things we are so busy rushing around trying to find are actually staring us in the face here and now. We are producing a population that spends more time doing than thinking and in the process we begin to resemble robots or worker bees more than we resemble thinking humans beings. We may as well be factory robots that work for 'x' number of hours then shut down.

Don't get me wrong - I follow the famous Nike slogan that says "Just Do it" as much as the next person. But doing it doesn't mean doing it blindly. It means don't fuss it to death and end up not accomplishing anything. It means don't expect or wait for perfection before you take the next step. It means don't just spend your life dreaming about doing things, get them done. I don't think it becomes a positive influence if we merely DO things for the sake of DOING, regardless of whether they be constructive or destructive.

Where we run in to our first problem is trying to do too many things. Pick the ones you enjoy. Pick the things that are important to you. Learn to say no to the rest. Setting some criteria for your decision making means the process becomes easier over time. Giving yourself permission to slow down and enjoy life helps too. We seem to have brainwashed ourselves into thinking that having an easy rhythm to life is a sign of stupidity or slothfulness. It's not. Frankly, blindly rushing around for activity's sake isn't particularly productive. It's just busywork.

Take some time to enjoy the mi world around you

The last post (which you should probably skim to get the background for this post) was discussing the idea that the universe likes speed. I've seen and heard the phrase bandied about in many different places when people are speaking in terms of getting what you want in life. Going for your dreams. I understand the idea behind it, but wonder if perhaps what people are connecting to are patterns of information and the resonance of thought waves as opposed to merely the speed at which you do things.

What the heck am I talking about?

Here is a quote from Gregg Braden's book "The Spontaneous Healing of Belief" that might help give a background to what I mean;

       "The revolution of scientific understanding suggests that from our personal    health and relationships to global war and peace, the reality of our lives is nothing more and nothing less than our "belief waves" shaping the quantum stuff that everything is made from. It's all related to what we accept about our world, our capabilities, our limits, and ourselves."

He is speaking about a much larger sphere of influence than I refer to here, but what he is saying is that scientific research is pointing to a connection between our thoughts, our emotions, and the physical stuff that constitutes life as we know it in this universe. This idea is huge when you stop to think about it. But it is also exquisitely simple and makes sense. Think about it for a minute.

So, to expand along my own thought lines, if the 'belief waves'  that emanate from us are connected throughout with other 'belief waves' in a quantum matrix of some kind, then it would make sense that those waves that fit the patterns and frequency of others will travel along the matrix much easier and more quickly than discordant ones. If you get the information pattern right, it will quickly absorb into the flow of other similar patterns. If the resonance harmonizes with other waves of energy, the thoughts you send out will again be quickly absorbed into the flow of similar waves. As the saying goes - go with the flow.

I am not inferring that we need to all believe or think the same things, but the universe is made up of patterns of information. For a simple example, there are information patterns for growth that move an acorn seed into being an oak tree. Each one is slightly different, but they all have the characteristics of an oak tree in the end. There are patterns of information that create a human. Each one ends up as a unique individual, but all have the characteristics that make it a human being. You can introduce the influence of an 'almighty being' or leave it out, depending on your own personal thoughts, but the patterns are set and follow through regardless of how you believe they are created or controlled. (That idea alone could produce a whole other discussion, but right now I just want to deal with the underlying basics of the framework.)

Resonance comes in to play when we consider the rhythm of the universe. The sun has a pulse of energy, the earth has a pulse of energy, humans have a pulse of energy. It is the ability to tune into this natural energy pulse and align with it that I am speaking about. Here, I think, is where the idea has arisen that speed is important. Perhaps we have latched on to the wrong word and misinterpreted the concept. I don't think that it means we should hurry up and throw things out into the world without any idea of the results it may produce, thinking that we can fine tune along the way. That idea may well be what has resulted in the global mess that we deal with today. I think what we may be looking at/for is the right thought patterns that resonate with the rhythms of the universal matrix that ties it all together.

This time of year being at the change in seasons is a good example of what I am speaking about - a change in the rhythms of the planet. In the northern hemisphere there is a ramping up of growth, and in the southern hemisphere a slowing down. We don't always pay much attention to it in our busy lives, but we do feel it if we allow ourselves a moment. Spring is always accompanied by a spurt of energy - Fall is accompanied by a slowing down, a relaxing. As a species we may have tried to separate ourselves from these rhythms, but we are still affected by them. Whether we admit it or not we are connected to and part of the information patterns and rhythms of everything around us. The energies of the universe flow through us just as they flow through plants, animals and inanimate objects. We are not somehow impervious to these influences. We are one life form among many. Perhaps if we stop trying to separate ourselves, and try instead to connect ourselves to these natural rhythms we would find the peace we are looking for.

This was sunset about a week ago. Lots of snow still on the ground, but winter does have beauty hidden within its harshness.

A week or so later, this is how the evening looks. The snow is melting, the robins and juncos are picking bugs and seeds, and plants are beginning to show sprouts of green.

Not only do these photographs look different, they feel different. They stir different thoughts and emotions within. Connect with that and go with the flow. Move with the rhythms of the universe.


If you wish to hear Gregg Braden's thoughts on how the universe functions, you will find videos on Google videos from several years ago, as well as info on his own website http://www.greggbraden.com with links to his interviews and articles. He ties together scientific research with his own brand of spirituality and it makes an interesting mix.

I keep hearing and reading the phrase "the universe likes speed" - and I am wondering. Does it really? Is speed the most important aspect to success? Is speed more important than knowledge or expertise in the subject? Does the importance of speed negate the necessity of planning projects? Or is speed merely the important part of being the first to grab the money and create a 'brand' for your product that sticks in the customer's memory?

Granted - that last aspect can be very important to big corporations that are in competitive fields and want us poor lemming-like customers to be drawn un-thinkingly to the first product that catches our attention. We are often so overwhelmed that finding a familiar product on the shelf makes us happy, even if it isn't the best or cheapest, or even if it pollutes our planet. We just want easy. We are bombarded by so many products and so many 'do's and don'ts' that easy gives the brain a moment of peace. A moment where we don't have to consider weighing any information.

But to consider speed as the most important aspect of living a successful life doesn't sit comfortably in my mind. When I look at nature itself and ask myself if this idea is borne out in the reality around me, I don't see it as being important. With some things, speed is a factor. With others it is not. To me, speed is only one aspect of life - sometimes useful, sometimes not. Consider the fact that creating universes, creating planets, is not something that happens overnight. It takes aeons. Consider how many ages it takes to wear down a mountain into a fertile flood plane. Consider how many hundreds of years some trees grow before collapsing back to add the nutrients they have stored within back into the forest floor. These are not things that fail without speed.

Yes, I know that with some insects, for instance, their lives are over in a few days or months - so speed is a factor for them. If they don't mate and lay their eggs for future generations, the species ceases to exist. But even in that case, if they are only alive for three days, one day is the equivalent of one-third of their lifetime.

Getting back to human beings - I have met some people who are constantly on the move, doing things, moving forward, tackling new projects and completing them in record time, successfully. At the end of the day they are happy with what they have accomplished. But I also know others who are vary laid back and take their time with planning and completion - who also go to bed at the end of the day happy with what they have accomplished. And at the end of a lifetime, one has not accomplished anything more important than the other. They are just different, and fulfill different needs within the universe.

Perhaps I am missing something important - maybe I'm not seeing it right, but to me, some things flow fast and others move slow. Success can be derived in either situation. It's like the yin and yang. One cannot be experienced without the other as a balance. Rivers sometimes rush. Rivers sometimes trickle. It is the ebb and flow of life. I just don't feel that one speed is best for everyone, and the only way to achieve success. Some walk to the beat of a different drummer and are just as important to the orchestration of life.

Any comments? If you see it differently, where do we differ in our outlook?

Insects don't live long. What we call speed is necessary in their short life.

Gold, on the other hand, takes ages and requires the right conditions to form. Both are necessary for life on this planet.