Reading Thich Nhat Hanh.

I have never been a farmer

Yet farmland feels welcoming to me

A green field under a golden sun

Or corn stalks under a full moon

These things are a blessing

Thirty-five years I have lived in this valley

The seasons of the year

The seasons of the crops

These are the seasons of my life

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There are often times when I cannot fill

This emptiness that exists in my heart

So I suck the light right out of the sun

Sunlight in my heart and in my mind

So warm, and in that way, for a while

The emptiness doesn’t own me 

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The Sacramento Valley, 1am

Still in my reading chair with Thich Nhat Hanh

Setting down the book

I breathe in, a deep and slow inhale

And I pull something of this valley into my body

Breathing out, a long and slow exhale

Something of me leaves my body

And flows out into the valley

The Sacramento Valley is my home

Everyday I put my footprints are in this soil

And at night my rest is under this darkness

James Lee Jobe

Gustavo Ortiz

Repetition is what allows something brand new to occur. Repetition, like the lapping of ripples against a rock, gently shifts the ground on which we tread, and so alters our relationship to the things we experience.

Anne C. Klein, “Revisiting Ritual”

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When we don't ask, we don't let others give. When we fear rejection, we don't let generosity arise.

Bernie Glassman

Viktor Sheleg

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James