They spring from seeds...

"Events, circumstances, etc. have their origins in ourselves. They spring from seeds which we have sown." Henry David Thoreau

My quote from the canister this morning is wildly marvelous as a mantra for this new year, 2017. I came online to post something about the fact that there is such a job as an Audio Ecologist. No shit... get paid to listen and record what most of us would consider... ?silence? ?nature? Yep, Wow. Of course I heard about this on Krista Tippet's show... On Being. Today, Gordon Hempton and the story is "Silence and the Presence of Everything." Man I love her show. So much of what is good in living or worth exploring and learning more about she presents in the form of a person and a story. What a gift!  For people like me who think too much and feel too deeply these hour long segments provide something akin to hope when living day to day and interacting with the bulk of seemingly uninspired humanity begins to wear.

Then I come to my own practice and pull out a crazy quote like the one for today. If there is such a wonderful thing as an Audio Ecologist... what might I like to be? Anything I can imagine!

I do notice when things line up. Often there is a theme when things are presented to my attention. The Courage of Renewal and Parker Palmer's work... Hidden Wholeness speaks a lot about silence. Gordon Hempton mentions that the human soul presents and can only be heard in stillness. Do you think the two men know each other? I'm also almost done reading the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Here's a quick excerpt related to quiet and soul:

"...Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place. So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won't be heard: we don't want people to suffer because they don't follow their hearts."

"Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?" the boy asked the alchemist.

"Because that's what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don't like to suffer."

From then on, the boy understood his heart. He asked it, please, never to stop speaking to him. He asked that, when he wandered far from his dreams his heart press him and sound the alarm. The boy swore that, every time he heard the alarm, he would heed its message."

I'm grateful I hear my heart through writing and promise never to stop! 

Happy New Year!