The Huichol

Every once in awhile - don't you find something / see something - that resonates with you exactly?  I felt that way when I saw some Huichol art at the Tucson Gem Show last year.

Every day I was at the show I made a visit to the room where a group of Huichol Indians were selling their beautiful crafts.  After the first visit I was hoping to buy pieces from them for my store which is why I was at the show, but I also just loved being in their room.

Those guys had a presence of soft spoken, sweet energy that welcomed you with no words. Just walk into the room (a cheap hotel room converted into a wonderful world by their art being spread across every surface) and things felt remarkable - like stepping into another world.  Human beings are capable of so much - just by being there those Huichols made a peaceful and magical space!

I'm also a lover of bright, rich colors.  My office and bedroom are both full of bright colors: orchids, flowering plants and bright woven fabrics.  Those colors wake up a part of my brain where new thoughts burgeon.  So Huichol art which is all about explosive color is perfect for my temperament.

Most of all I love how the Huichol's vision sees everything as alive.  That is what I see when I move around the world too.  With my eyes I see there is spirit in everything informing us and yet in a way it is invisible too - not everyone sees this.  It seems to many this phenomena is completely invisible :(

I feel gratitude to the Huichols for showing that life is bursting out of everything so beautifully in their art.

If you live in New Mexico - there's a really incredible Huichol exhibition called "Balancing the World" at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe right now.

There are also a series of talks coming up at the O’Keeffe Theater at the museum and I am especially interested in the the one given by Dr. Peter T. Furst on Nov. 7

I'm a bit overwhelmed by this all right now.  I've been trying to take in the Huichol mythology which has amazing ideas about the shadow (ala Jung) which I am very interested in these days.  There are also profound immediate problems the modern Huichols are undergoing which breaks my heart and which I want to help with.

Mother

My counselor once told me - you will never find your Mother in a flesh and blood person.  I had been hoping I could expect my partner of many years to fill that role......but I know that's not fair.  I'm not everything to him - how can he be to me?

She told me - you may find your Mother in a tree or in a place...not trivially - like a lame substitute....but for real.  The real Mom who holds and says OK...you're here...and you are mine.

Shortly after that - I found her in a grove of trees.

I found her in the White Place:

Nurturing is a real thing.

I am a Techno Quaker!

Do you ever wonder about what attracts you and why? I personally have a rather schizophrenic combination of attractions and luckily even the oddness of my pairings is one of the things I'm attracted to. I love pairing things that don't "belong" and seeing what happens!

My parents are both Mennonites and we come from a stream of inter-marrying Mennonites heading back to the 14th century when Menno Simons formed the group. My great-Grandma spent all of her early life moving around Russia and even deeper into the East in a wagon train - trying to find a place where the community could settle and practice Pacifism. Promises from leaders like Catherine the Great allowed temporary settlements where - in exchange for civil services like dike building - my ancestors did not have to fight in wars. Those promises were eventually always broken and finally my great-Grandma ended up in Canada where eventually my Grandma and my Mom were born.

The Perfect Day

Things have been trying in every way for the last month. Murphy's law at every bend...... But today was the perfect day!

First I got to sleep in - my back appears to be healed and I slept ALL NIGHT - I've been lying awake half the night for a few weeks.

I've been trying to negotiate some support at work. I have some radically high maintenance clients and my team is not backing me up. I wrote a desperate email on Friday night arguing my case and several higher ups came through with real game plans that should make next week maybe something like normal.

Alex makes the BEST breakfast burritos - and he put those together while I ran around the house rounding up rain gear for our trip to Santa Fe. The weather forecast this morning was 70% precipitation but we really needed to get out of town. And sometimes a walk in the rain is a very good thing.

The ride up to Santa Fe was just gorgeous. The clouds! The Light! As we came closer there was a thick white wall of rain.

We headed up Old Pecos Trail to meet our friend Sally at Peyote Bird's Tent Sale. Sally and I worked together at PB 16 years ago - but I've been long since gone while Sally's still hanging in there. I got a bag full of amazing bling for ridiculous prices. If you have nothing to do tomorrow and need some new jewels and you live in Northern NM then the sales on tomorrow too- 414 Old Taos Highway - you'll see the tents.

I love books - lots and lots of books!

and I love hearing about what books other people are reading...

Carl Jung - the psychologist noticed and heavily documented two broad categories of human beings: Extroverts (those who feel revived and fueled by spending time with other people) and Introverts (those who need to be alone with their own thoughts to recharge their batteries.) I am definitely of the latter type and reading is one of my favorite solo, rejuvenating activities.

I've gotten more and more comfortable over the years having a stack of books going - depending on my mood - I have a choice - and that means more reading (rejuvenating) time. Here's my current stack - and I am enjoying every one of them. And now that I look at the photo - I see I left a few books out of the stack. Journeys though Inner Space by Hue Walker (local Albuquerquean FullDome Artist) - thought provoking poetry and paintings and The Beginner's Guide to Quantum Psychology by Stephen Wolinsky which I've just barely started to dabble in.

I've spent most of the hours of the last couple of days - couchant (lying down on the couch) - reading "Seven Types of Ambiguity" by Elliot Perlman. It's been AGES since I've managed to burrow into a book I love like this for hours on end with no guilt, occasional snacks, the swamp cooler purring away - it feels so darn good!

I try to read every night and for 2 or 3 hours during my weekly Friday jaunt to Cafe Giuseppe but sometimes my reading time is cut woefully short by the tiredness of the day. In the evening, I wake up with me glasses on and the light burning and begrudgingly, groggily admit my reading for the night is done. Still - I manage to get through alot of great books every year and I'm always looking to expand my horizons.

I love hearing what books other people are reading...

So if you are reading something you are really enjoying these days, let me know and I'll add it to the potential reading list!

Mood Enhancers - Heads Up to your favorite EO!

I've written about Essential Oils before but I have a feeling I'll be writing about them many more times before I kick the bucket. AROMATHERAPY!

If you have a hectic life - then dropping a few drops of EO (essential oil) on a cotton puff or just opening the bottle and taking a whiff - can quickly bring grounding and calmness, energy and goodness without alot of time out.

I'm loving my local herb store's mixes. I stop by often and check out the dozens of test bottles they have. Most don't excite me much and it takes a bit of time to find scents that I get a lift from.

Clary Sage is an example of an EO that doesn't always thrill me but I love the Herb Store's version and I have used it in my office alot lately. It DOES reduce stress.


Today I walked out of the Herb Store with a bottle Juniperus Communis (Juniper Berry). It's an itsy bitsy bottle so tiny it has an air of preciousness based on size. I've checked out Juniper Berry many times and it's been overwhelming but the Herb Stores rendition is just right. I've been checking in with this scent all afternoon and this little bottle will be on my desk through the coming weeks for sure!










My office mainstays are Eucalyptus and White Texas Cedarwood. I have a small oyster shell on my desk and a another by my bedside with cotton puffs that I douse daily or several times daily with 5-10 drops of EO. I've had people really curl up their nose at my choices which tend towards tree scents so if you are interested - enjoy the fact that smell is an idiosyncratic choice - most good things in life are. Eucalyptus and White Texas Cedarwood are two of my true BFF. They always always always give me a lift.

Lately I've found a few new additions that are very welcome and I encourage anyone to check them out.


The first is Wild Chammomile. This is a tiny bit costly....compared to your average EO. It's $30 for a .5 fl oz. bottle and I seek out the Health Dept in Whole Foods every week on shopping day to sniff and enjoy but I have not been able to bring my practical self to buy it. Watching from the sidelines - my partner Alex surprised me with a bottle for my birthday last week and I was/am smiling from ear to ear.

My other new favs are the above mentioned Juniper Berry and Clary Sage.

I'm pretty sure not everyone reacts to smell the same way I do because if they did - they'd be pulling out an Essential Oil bottle and taking a big whiff the same way people light up cigarettes or check their phones for messages.

I am transported by certain scents - and I don't mean the chemically stuff - I mean distilled plant and tree essences.

Plants and Trees are here to help us! That's my take anyway. And I'd encourage anyone to try it out at any local store that has testers - it can't hurt to try!

Truce and Tea

We were zonked this morning - too tired to hike or go on an adventure but definitely needing a break from home which is also where we work. We decided to start the day by going to Annapurna Chai House for tea and a little hang out time.

When you work at home - you have to get out for a bit each day - but your get-away needs to be many things: close to home, worth the effort, and a true break from your home office; that place where you live out so, so many hours of your life.

Work's been stressful with deadlines - and Annapurna's Chai House is relaxing. The walls are each painted in several deep jewel tones - gold, red, mauve ... there are richly embroidered and textured curtains blocking off an enticing sitting area in the corner ... wood carved screens allow the light in but block the view of the traffic from 4th Ave outside - this place has very good feng shui. There are beautiful fabric saris draped over exposed ducts on the ceilings. I love this juxtaposing of no nonsense utility with whimsical and ancient beauty.

Robust and healthy plants hang here and there from the ceiling. The place is well lit and soft bhajans are playing in the background.

Although the place is often packed, the people who work here are consistently and reassuringly mellow, friendly and on top of it. It's my new favorite place. They have kick ass Chai and double layer, spelt flour, vegan carrot cake that is the best carrot cake of any persuasion that I have ever had. Folks - please believe that food can enhance your well being - and your taste buds too! It's really true.

We usually have a quick sit down and then it's back to work we go...but today is Saturday and we had nothing on the agenda. We didn't want to talk about work (god forbid!) but that's so easy to do when you are coming down from a heavy dose of it. To prevent that we drew a Tarot card before leaving and decided we'd spend our tea time talking about the card we drew.


The card we drew was Truce (the query was what card should Alex and I talk about at Annapurnas!)

Truce, the Four of Swords, was the perfect card for today. Truce is a kind of a crazy concept....so important in the larger order of things and also a bit paradoxical. It requires the effort and strength to back off - which is harder and requires more conscious honing than the strength to charge forward does.

To slow down, to remember that responsibility might involve giving ourselves some breathing space....that's the hard part in this world.

***

Working at home - making Truce with the work vs. home is an ongoing need for the self employed - and it often helps to create a little ritual around the down time part.

Tea - for some reason seems to work for us. In addition to Annapurna's as a get away, we have several made-up versions of the venerable tea ceremony. Albeit they are more off the cuff and don't require formal attire.

Here are some of my favorites:

My sister gave me a glass tea pot and a few dozen flowering tea buds for Christmas. The whole act of making this tea forces you to slow down and enjoy the roses. I'm hooked.

Another favorite tea ceremony of ours is making Matcha Tea.

Matcha is the creme de la creme of teas - pampered and indulged all along it's planting, growing and processing cycle - it ends up as a fine green powder. It's the tea that's used in authentic Japanese tea ceremonies.

The very act of preparing Matcha requires slowing down and getting into the moment...calling a truce with time.

Baby Steps

My FB friend Bharati has been writing alot lately about good deeds and walking our talk. Her daily reminders have gotten me to spend a bit of serious time thinking about what I want to do and what I actually do and the difference between the two.

I love spring water and go through about 6 liters a week....Trader Joe's spring water...the kind that comes in plastic disposable bottles. My partner drinks about the same so that's 12 plastic liter bottles/week in our recycling bin. It's not headed towards landfill because I am a religious recycler. But it is wasteful, IMO, when I consider all the effort and energy that goes into this bottle that I will drink from for a day and then toss only to repeat those effort and energy requirements. This weekend I went out and got a drinking water jug that I can use and reuse. I admit I wanted glass just couldn't find it so I got a BPA-free plastic jug. And that's going to replace my TJoes water. No more plastic drinking bottles in the recycling.

Another - most likely harder one - is all the to-go cups I run through. My partner and I duck out for coffees or teas every other day and bring them back to the office. Our office trash bins have quite a collection of to-go cups in them by the end of the week. So part two of cleaning up my drinking act was to order a Nissan drinking cup which I hope, pray and demand of myself to remember when I'm heading to Annapurna's for tea or Guiseppe's for my Americano. To me these two little acts represent a bit more sanity taking over areas of my life where my actions don't yet jive with my ideals.