Article Highlights:

• Who greets you?
• Attending your own garden
• Join me there

Dear Secret Gardener,

I attended a funeral that, amid the sadness, also had many moments of beautiful and glad-hearted sharing.

Printed on the program was a poem by Thich Nhat Hanh:

Tomorrow, I will continue to be.
But you will have to be very attentive    to see me.
I will be a flower, or a leaf.
I will be in these forms
And I will say hello to you.
If you are attentive enough,
You will recognize me,
And you may greet me.
I will be very happy.

Reading this again later, I thought to myself, “Who is greeting me now, when I’m too distracted to hear?  Who could I hear if I paused to be attentive?  The ancestors perhaps, with a word of encouragement?  A friend who has passed?  Perhaps the spirit of the flower itself even?  Who don’t I hear?”

So I listened… right then I became attentive and said, “Hello?  Who greets me now?”  Then I listened attentively.

The little Japanese Maple began to shimmer outside my window in a sudden breeze.  The clouds above made just enough room for the sun to highlight it prettily in its shady grove, and the wonderful wind chimes nearby tinkled melodically for a time.  The wind, the sun, the tree, it’s leaves, their melody… they greeted me.

“Hello,” I said, “I recognize you.  Thank you so much for showing up to greet me in such an immediate way!”  They did indeed seem happy to connect.

It dawned on me then: I have a secret garden. One that’s there just for me.  It’s in what’s around me, different every day, each moment.  My own secret garden.  You have one too.

I thought it would be fun to enter our secret gardens  together, right now, through the portals of our attention.  The garden’s are separate but we are not.  It would be fun to do this with you.  Pause momentarily, be attentive to the subtle world around you.  Who is there?

Perhaps you will ask for someone in particular to give a message or let you know they are there.  Maybe you will hear someone ask you for something.  A butterfly might flutter by, or you’ll feel a hug.  Perhaps you’ll feel my heart open toward you.  You might hear the voice of your own Soul.  Or the room might feel so full you will be certain of Presence.  Let’s pause together and see!

As well, maybe this week or this month we can let it be our secret delight… taking many, many moments to be attentive to all around that can be seen and heard and shared in our own responsive secret gardens.

From my attentiveness I greet you now, and recognize the beauty of your intrinsic goodness that’s so very apparent, even from here.

In recognition,
Mayet Leilani

Dear Mindful One,

I thought perhaps just a poem today, a musing on mind that I had one day.
May it find you in a perfect moment,
Much love,
Mayet

Frame of Mind

The mind
always clinging
to like, dislike
Obsessively repeating
repeating what it
already knows
nothing new to say

Such relief
Turning away
freed from its
linear fixations
Mind is not just that
collection of limitations

It is also un-fabricated
Primordial purity
the essence of
Life’s magic

It is a joy
Being in that
frame of mind
Informed by the
Heart’s Truth

~ Mayet Leilani

Dear One,

Opps! Accidentally sent the “wrong” blog last week on Easter. So here’s the Easter blog this week. It’s still a nice message for today or any day, right?

This morning I felt the drooping spirits of hunger’s plummet, the shakes and undercurrents of doom and discouragement as hormones flag. It’s time to break fast and lift the day. But first, in the advantage it gives of hazy mind, I write from a less able thinking state – a short message for Easter.

Easter Feast

Many saints of old lived in this place of physical denial, plumbing it’s unsteady lows for spiritual highs. Somewhere in the epigenetics of my DNA, and yours, lingers residue of those many deep vows with their fearful certainty that great sacrifice is required in exchange for Light.

So many ancestors within me over so many ages, strenuously striving through self-denial, hoping for crumbs at the table of Spirit, not seeing – having been taught otherwise – that the feast of Spirit is spread before them, daily, free for all to partake to satiety. It’s time to feast! Today, think not of sacrifice but of celebratory feasting.

Happy Easter, 🥚 🐣 🥚 🐣
Mayet Leilani