Taking Time - A Note on Presence from Sparrow and Me

I don't know why I was surprised to find a dead bird early Monday morning when I came outside. The thought that I was about to find one had crossed my mind the day prior. It was the where that surprised me. A sparrow lay in the tray of the bird feeder. I gasped, my heart leapt and I immediately lifted the wire surroundings in order to lift her out. I had just read a reference to sparrow written by someone I met in Chartres, France.

I cleared a place under the ferns where I lay animals to rest then placed a fern frond on the ground. As I laid the sparrow on the fern I clearly heard, "Don't rush saying good-bye. It isn't time."

In Monday morning's quiet, I had nowhere to go and nothing to do in that moment so I took time. I took the time to hold this sweet soul cupped in my hands up to my heart and to my breast. I felt that little bird say, "Dawn, I could rest here forever."

I sang to it and as I did its eyes shifted from open to closed. Though it might say I gifted it, to be with this bird soul as it left was a gift for me.

At some point in this brief journey that seemed expansive and deep "have to" became "get to." My having to or needing to lay this bird to rest out of obligation and my initial rush to do so out of not wanting to feel turned into getting to and wanting to. I was reminded of the memorable quote in Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" when Emily says, "Oh Earth, you're too wonderful for people to realize you."

Tears of joy trickled down my cheeks as I felt the wonderfulness of Earth.

Since this experience, the phrase 'taking time' has stayed with me. I think of "time takers" - social media and getting sucked into tv programming or the black hole of the internet world. Taking suggests the lessening of time. Yet in this situation with the sparrow, taking time alongside presence, I was gifted with expanded time. The joy of "getting to" transported me outside the bounds of clock time.

As I sat with the sparrow I thought of another aspect of 'taking time' - those who take time. You know who you are. You take time to make eye contact and see, really see, the person in the grocery, coffee shop or on the corner. You take time to ask a neighbor or colleague how they are without expecting the obligatory "fine." You take time to stop and see the flower, cloud or tree. You take time to notice, really notice, what you're about to eat and honor the myriad of people connected to the sustenance before you.

I knew as the sparrow and I sat together that if it had died on the ground, an opossum would have taken it overnight. It had laid itself down exactly where it was suppose to be in the tray of the feeder, the place where it had fed so I could find it. So I could find it and be fed then pass its wisdom along as food for others.

Imagine the Shift of taking time to be, to practice presence, to hear and see.

-Dawn, The Good News Muse, 30 July 2015

dawn@imaginetheshift.com

Into the Canyon Came Love - Message from Sirius

It is that time of year when our brightest star Sirius is with the Sun and I am mindful of the vision given me in 2009 while lying by Havasu Canyon's beautiful blue waterfall. I had been invited by an aqaintance to hike this more remote western end of the Grand Canyon home of the Havasupai. Traditionally the Havasupai were considered the Guardians of the Grand Canyon. The tribe in 1919 was restricted to the area into which we hiked when the national park was designated.

Each afternoon we'd make our way through the campground to the cool blue water, the gathering place of many campers in the mid-day heat. To the Havasupai these waters were healing and sacred.  Knowing this created tension for me as hikers often climbed the rocks and jumped turning these sacred grounds into a water park. Yet I would lie on my towel immersed in the sounds of the falls and the people around me. The second day I was given this vision.

At first I was shown a five-pointed star. Then a ramp like someone would walk down rolled from the star's center.  The star's edges then took a cloud-like shape and the star became a heart.  Slowly the heart separated into pieces and vanished.

I turned this over and over in my mind so as to not forget the symbols amidst the surrounding noise and distractions. I intuitively sensed I had been shown Sirius but didn't know why nor did I really know anything about Sirius.

As I recorded what I had seen in my journal, I was joined by a dog. I called to his owners as they played cards on their nearby blanket and asked his name.

"Moses," they shared.

As soon as I heard "Moses" I knew I had seen Sirius for I remembered Sirius has been called the  "Dog Star" by many cultures.* This four-legged, friendly confirmation affirmed my inner knowing.

I kept this vision pondering its message and realized:

Into the canyon, Love came. 

From the void where all appeared dark, Love came from the stars 

and Love on Earth was born. 

Love came from the Stars to dwell in our bodies, minds, spirits and hearts. 

And now I know Sirius bathes us with Love especially this time of year when joined by the Sun. 

The heavens engage with Earth and us. Is it accidental the Founding Fathers chose this time of year when the Sun is with Sirius for the signing of the Declaration of Independence? They knew the stars, planets, moon and sun dance with Earth and affect all of us. 

Today as I've reflected on this vision I've thought more about the canyon into which Love comes. The canyon at times is internal when we are so very distant from parts of ourselves and neglect who we can become. At times the canyon is between people, loved ones, family members, and friends. At times the canyon is between those who on the outside appear so different from us. A canyon filled with suspicion, fear and mistrust is born of those differences and yet internally we are so much more alike than different.

The canyon whether within or between holds the energy of Love. 

I imagine a shift in which Earth's people remember every living thing is Love, Love come from the Stars. 

*Today in July's Celestial Timings from Cayelin Castell I read: "The Taoists see the Sun as a gateway, so in this case the Sun is opening the door to the Sirius mysteries. The ancient Chinese saw Sirius as a heavenly wolf. In Sumeria, Babylonia, and Chaldea (present day Iraq) Sirius was known as the "Dog Star that Leads." 

-Dawn! The Good News Muse July 3, 2015

dawn@imaginetheshift.com

A reminder of Love along the trail on the edge of Havasupai. 

"God Is Love" - Synchronicity

A couple of days ago, the inscription on the backs of notes my mother mailed me crossed my mind. For a period, she always wrote on the outside of the envelope: "God is love." I save many things so I didn't go looking for the envelope but did wonder where it was. I had kept the one that birthed the epiphany for me. A few years ago, I saw those simple words as I took it from the mailbox and I got it.

God IS Love. 

In that moment, I knew in my being it was so simple yet profound.

Last night before bed my August 2009 journal got my attention. I've two wooden crates in which I keep journals. This particular one with its pages falling out and called to me. The cover holds the Eiffel Tower and two other towering structures I don't recognize. I read the first page then went to bed but noted I wanted to read more this morning.

As I sat outside with downy and red belly woodpeckers at the feeder at 5:30am I opened the journal and there it was...

The three towers on the cover remind me of how we create structures, steeples on church and city skyscrapers, trying to be gods, trying to reach God yet God is. God is Love.

God is Love and where love is there is God.

-Dawn, The Good News Muse 1 July 2015

dawn@imaginetheshift.com