Jaguarwind

Sharing Moments With Strangers

It has been my fortune and pleasure to be able to travel to almost every corner and in between in my country. My footsteps have connected with a variety of cultures, ethnicities, waters, and lands.

Though I have at times traveled with companions, I cherish the sacred solo journeys I have experienced during my life. Solo treks feed my soul for a multitude of reasons. First, I get to decide where to go, how to get there, and how long to stay. Secondly, I do not have to compassionately compromise with a fellow traveler. Please know I can compromise and have , and probably will again, but the lone wolf in me relishes the freedom solo journeys quench my ever so thirsty need to hit the road for unknown vistas!

Recently I visited an artsy Virginian town where in an afternoon discovered a metaphysical book store, a garden-gift shop, and an organic grocery-eatery business. Within the walls of each establishment I enjoyed heartfelt conversations with the shopkeepers. As with all connections I continue to make in my travels, each offered me their slant on the atmosphere of their charming city. None of the three offered any negative comments regarding this quaint and peaceful place. I felt as welcomed as I would had I been if visiting one of my long lost cousins. The Bookstore owner shared how he and his wife were about to take an Autumn trip to the mountains of North Carolina. He and I also had memorable discussions of Shakespeare, Ancient Egyptian Mystery Schools, and the advantages of living just an hour away from a bigger city. At the garden-gift store I enjoyed warm conversation with the owner about how she came to leave her long tenure of living in Washington, D.C. and her move to this smaller locale. Her story was filled with a mystical adventure colored with her inspirational willingness of listening to the messages delivered by friends and acquaintances , encouraging her to face her fears and move in a new life direction! My stop in the grocery-eatery included a wonderful cup of organic Sumatra coffee , breathing in the pleasures of aromatic soaps and lotions, and listening as the cashier described herbal and homeopathic cures for sale from local practitioners. Each of the exchanges between the strangers and myself granted me a sense of warm hospitality and a smile within my heart!

On the way back to my abode, I savored a brief journey on the Blue Ridge Parkway into the Shenandoah National Park. I had a passing thought that if I drove a few miles perhaps on my way back I would just make it in time for Sunset. Stopping at several pull offs, I shared breathtaking moments with a few fellow travelers in the beauty of Skyline Drive. Just before I encountered the wonderment of that spectacular sunset I was hoping to find, a pair of young deer crossed in front of me, pausing momentarily to offer their gentle gaze.

As I stood in awe of the orange and pink pastels the Creator Sky-artist designed , a couple of young women stopped and we shared nature’s moment . We all remarked on how timing is everything!

Once again I received validation from the Universe that connections and sharing with a stranger or with a familiar face prove I and you are never alone in this world that is not so big….when you travel and explore.

Reflections Offered By Autumn

It is mid October as I notice how the elements of nature are changing. The mornings have that crisp chill in the air. The green blades of grass are encapsulated with dewy coverings in a community of cobwebs as my naked feet connect with the Spirit of the Earth. I find myself reminiscing on Octobers of my youth with memories of hayrides and great journeys in search of the perfect pumpkin accompanied by my father. Each October has offered me new gifts, new opportunities to gather the Harvest of my Human Experience.

For me October is the time of year I reflect on the current state of my internal affairs, asking myself to acknowledge my accomplishments, assessing areas of my present life, identifying the flaws and strengths of who I have become.

As I place each aspect of myself into the cornucopia of this year’s harvest, I get to decide what could be discarded as spoiled pieces I have thus far been unwilling to release. I question if the rotted scraps of my ego can be salvaged or perhaps re-shaped for the greater good of any or all of my relationships. I honestly assess my integrity or lack of in my presence in social and professional circles I frequent. I gather those positive qualities that shine from my heart center onto those whose paths I am blessed to cross.

When I watch the lessons unfold before me that nature demonstrates, I am privy to so much heart knowledge. In this Autumn season I observe the changes as temperatures fluctuate from cool mornings to warm afternoons . I can see how Autumn is showing me I can adapt to the changes or I can refuse to modify my attitudes and behaviors as changes occur. When I allow myself to flow gently or resist fully with life situations presented , I can freely embrace how I have progressed or experience the stagnation of my refusal to awaken . Just as the leaves are colorized so beautifully by this season then fall to the ground in a symbolic letting go of one form to another, can I be willing to flow with my own transformations without trying so vehemently to hold on to those things and people over which I have absolutely no control? Autumn lessons abound to those paying attention.

Ah, the passages of the events of this year seem to have opened my heart even more than I remember in prior days. The death of a dear friend, the surrendering of the need to tell a relative how to live their life, the decision to leave a familiar location of friends and memories, the willingness to embrace new adventures in uncharted places, the validation from the Universe that not only is change inevitable but also necessary to crack my soul wide open, and the endless possibilities of seeing that the best is yet to come…all these facets of perspectives of my reflections of this year fit together in the Autumn that is so unlike any other. Life is good, yes very good.

Connections

Journeying to a new location always feeds my soul! I have been in my current setting for three weeks, and the connections have been cosmically orchestrated, it seems by a mystical alignment , affirming central Virginia chose me to come here!

Though I am not musically gifted I joined a drumming circle that my housemate and I happened upon the first weekend I was here. The members of this group are an assortment of colorful characters who are attempting to encourage and teach me how to play the djembe drum! I love the camaraderie and the rhythmic energies provided by each person and the whole circle! Last weekend two drummers who had just arrived from Rwanda showed up and thrilled us with their talents of African fast paced drumming!

Yesterday I found a wonderful bookstore called Daedalus downtown. This shop has three floors of out of print books of every category one could imagine! The smell of old books permeates every inch of the place. Books are piled within every nook and cranny on dusty shelves. The creaky steps have to be navigated slowly as one hangs onto to the railing going up and down. The owner, Sandy, is quite the conversationalist in this mystical land of literary finds. I had an inspirational exchange of words also with a guy I met in the Historical Biography section as we discussed Winston Churchill and the assortment of biographies we each were discovering in Daedalus Bookshop.

The final connection I will tell you about is the Arura Medicine of Tibet located above a French restaurant in the Pedestrian Mall Downtown. On Sundays there is a 20 minute silent meditation facilitated by a volunteer staff person. One of the Tibetan Medicine Doctors joins in the meditation, and when we are finished, he offers each participant a wonderful hot cup of herbal tea! If there is availability the Doctor will assess and/or treat anyone in need following the meditation time.Otherwise appointments can be made. The price is minimal. The intention of Arura Medicine of Tibet is to encourage the continued “preservation of Tibetan culture” as a new opportunity and approach to options for healthcare in this location.

I learned many moons ago that when I am open to new experiences, cultures, and people , the Universe provides unique and positive opportunities! Releasing any apprehensions of unfamiliar situations and being willing to try new things continues to enable me to create new friendships, ideas, and assimilations of the customs and beliefs of those who would have been only strangers passing by me on the street. Truly life is magical!!!

(jaguarwind.wordpress.com)

jennye-in-charlottesville-91816

Listening

I know I have always had an inner voice that speaks to me. For many years I would hear the inner messages and doubt them. There were times I believed my brilliant mind could somehow come up with answers that would solve inner conflicts. Today I find humor in that illusion.

For the past three years I have tried to leave my hometown. I would travel temporarily and return home, wishing I was somewhere else. Each time I would think I just need to leave,but something else would present itself that would keep me there. Sometimes it was a wonderful yoga teacher, a political activist group, a great hiking location, wonderful art galleries…the list went on and on.

I cannot tell you a specific event occurred that was the push to leave except I amped up my inner listening when in a period of six weeks I repeatedly heard in various conversations with strangers and friends the name of a certain city. I thought hmmmm…what is this about? The Universe had my attention. I knew nothing much about the city that kept coming up except it was a location from a TV series I used to watch in the 1960’s. As so often in my mystical life, amazing turns of events propelled me to take action. I re-located, at least for the temporary time to this city. Really,I know all situations, places,people, jobs, challenges, or joys are temporary!

There have been times in my life that I have moved, made decisions, entered various new beginnings that it took months even years for me to see I truly was being led to said decision. Call it destiny, fate, or as my linear thinking friends call it “coincidence”, I have ended up exactly in the right place at the right time! This move and decision to come to the city where I am has been validated in an explosion of a multitude of confirmations in just 10 days! Actually the first three days confirmed it was one of the best decisions of my life!

Reflecting on this experience I began thinking how so many do not listen to their inner messages. Often I observe people struggling to meet their challenges and conflicts, wanting to change yet staying stuck in their proverbial ruts. If we each have inner guidance that comes to us in the forms of messages delivered to our brains, why do we not listen? Why do we continue to stay in situations that are not affording us happiness? Is it because we are afraid to make a change? Is it out of guilt and obligation that we do not follow our hearts’ desires? Is it because we are so sure we will make a mistake that we cannot live with? Is it because we place more value on listening more to the opinions of others that contradict our own inner guidance?

Based on my own experiences, I can 100% tell you that I would rather take the risk to listen to my gut and trust my inner instincts than to always wonder what could I have experienced if I had only listened not only to my inner voice but also to the messages of my body for they both work together in a holistic way offering truth.

What is the worst thing that can happen if you LISTEN?

Freedom Calling Me

NC Scene I know I must have Gypsy Blood somewhere in my lineage! I just cannot stay put in one place, and the older I get, the more freedom my Spirit screams it must have!

I put all that would not fit in my car in storage , headed about 5 1/2 hours away to hang out in a new town for a few months, then am planning a short excursion to sunny Florida for Christmas before heading back to my Happy Soul Location in New Mexico!

I will be able to see current friends, make new ones, experience new adventures, offer healing services, and write the novel that is really writing itself! The existence of social media and electronic mail allows me to take friends and family with me .

Feeling the Winds of Freedom blowing me onward and encouraging me to once again take a risk, while allowing the fears and apprehensions to be present in my gut, I still continue to follow the constant wanderlust of my Nomad-Heart all wrapped around the desire to avoid what feels like imprisonment of a routine life.

For many living day to day with the resistance to change because of internal fears is common place. Fears of making a mistake, of running out of money, a belief in lack, the need of a stable home, safe relationships , familiar environments, or any other self imposed beliefs create walls that often prevent people from jumping off the Proverbial Cliffs of Risk-Taking.

Long ago I made a commitment to my Creator that I would be willing to go anywhere I was needed to be of Service. With this focus I have been inspired by connecting and conversing with a variety of people and animals in my travels. Just today I met a young woman who was a clerk in a store. She is about to embark on her journey to enter Divinity School. We had a sweet conversation about forgiveness and the need to offer compassion instead of hate and fear to those inflicting their pain and suffering on others. Opening our hearts to as many people as possible by listening without judgment to the stories shared is an honor and privilege.

Connecting my Spirit to the various lands my feet and tires meet along the way as my inner Gypsy marches on does not seem courageous or strange. It is my passion and my soul’s yearning .

Embracing The Connections of SubCultures

As I have traveled from the East to the Southwest and back, I have met such a diverse group of subcultures of people from the conservatives to the liberals, and the in between! Some people freely state their opinions about food and drink, politics, religion, and nature. Some keep their feelings inside their brains and hearts!

Because I am an observer of people, I am always interested in the different ideas and attitudes I see, and often feel…even with the unspoken. I am blessed to be intuitive and perceptive …which affords me to pick up various aspects of people whose paths cross mine. I am equally blessed to be open to all cultures and ideas, always willing to learn and seize opportunities for connections.

I love the subcultures within cultures from the big cities to the rural towns to the desolate deserts to the backwoods. Though every place and all people, dependent upon age, gender, belief systems, and ethnicity has a separate makeup, one thing is a constant…..When a person (like I am) smiles at another person and says “How is your day going?” and says it with sincerity, the other person feels comfortable and free to share aspects of their lives. It is my honor to be able to travel and meet all types of people.

Just yesterday I was having lunch in Oklahoma City and I had an engaging conversation with a man who was lunching with his 91 year old Dad. An elderly woman joined them and as they spoke freely in front of me, I learned the woman had just lost her partner of many years, and was thinking she would like to travel but was afraid to venture out alone in the world. I jumped onto the opportunity to share with her that adventure can begin at any age, at any time. I could see a light of hope within this woman, and it made my heart smile. The group of them sat at a table and I sat at mine, enjoying my lunch. Before I left I walked over to their table and told them each it was my pleasure to meet them. The man with his Dad thanked me and said: “We are proud of you!”. I felt he was really an angel in disguise delivering this message to me for my own confirmation and validation that traveling alone has its benefits and gifts.

When we each release our biases and judgments about other cultures and subcultures we will find a connection and a common bond between people. When we are afraid of those different from us, we will stay encased in what we think is our safe shell of a life. However, living that way will only keep us disconnected from meeting others who just might be able to teach us a little about ourselves!

Feeling Adventure In My Skin

For many years I have known that I could not stay in one place without wanderlust pulling at my soul. For this reason I have changed jobs, moved from hither to yon, and traveled as often as I could fit wandering into my life. Often work interfered and even sometimes partners did not understand my need to go where the winds of change called me to follow. Moving from one place to another when I was younger seemed to satisfy my need for change….for a while. I can remember my parents telling me when I was younger that I put way too many miles on every car I owned, and my response always was: “I only have a car to take me to unknown places.” Always …a rebel with a cause….to go and experience adventure.

Change just resonates with me, and I resonate with change. Routine bores me. I have loved meeting people and communing with lands, waters, and stars of varied places. I know now it is because I crave new experiences because I feel adventure in my skin, on my face, in my heart, and mostly in my soul.

It has taken years of self discipline and committed inner work to finally embrace and accept the fact that I am not like all people…but I do have much in common with those who have the DNA of needing to wander to feel sane. It is the sitting with routine , mundane activities that create a lost, depressed, and confused aspect within me. In my last life-cycle one must question if I were a gypsy. In spite of the need for change, I can sit still and go into deep reflection and introspection for quite a long period of time. I can spend hours, days, and weeks creating projects involving art, writing, and reading . I can sit in total silence, which I frequently do, but I must have adventurous change along with it. Maybe it is all wrapped around the need to be free of any ties that I feel bind me!

As Old Man Winter had just begun his visitation to the East Coast, I traveled by car a little over 1600 miles to hang out in Southern New Mexico for a couple of months. If you think I just sat in the town where I have been residing , you would be dead wrong. I have gone to so many places while I have been here, met so many interesting people, and my feet have connected with so many inspiring woods, lands, businesses, coffee houses, and more! I have had uplifting and refreshing conversations all over Southern New Mexico from the beautiful Aguirre Spring Campground on the East Side of the Organ Mountains, to the unique and refreshing mineral baths along the Rio Grande River and the hippie residents of artsy Truth or Consequences, to the Cloudscroft mountain community outside of Alamogordo, to Dripping Springs’ rock formations and walking trails, to Fort Seiden State Park’s ruins of the old fort, to the Gila Cliff Dwellings’ natural caves and ancestral villages through the Gila National Forest, to the wonderful white sand dunes of the White Sands National Monument, to the large man made lake of Elephant Butte Park, to Old Mesilla at the edge of Las Cruces filled with unique shops and local artists, to Spaceport America , to Sunspot in the Sacramento Mountains and the National Solar Observatory, and many other local hikes!

When I was not busy seeing the enchantment of the lands, I worked a bit via my laptop computer delivering speech therapy services to schools in California from my temporary New Mexico residence. I really think the Universe decided to give this gypsy a break by creating telespeech so I can work from anywhere , as long as I have access to the internet!

To those resistant to change, I encourage you to face your fears, and dive head or feet first right over your Cliff of Doubt into the magical world of physical-emotional-mental- and spiritual exaltation that only leaving home and traveling can afford those who have the passion to wander! The only thing you have to give up is routine, and in my Gypsy-Mind, that cannot be a bad thing!

Visiting Ruins

The Southwest United States is filled with ruins left by ancient
civilizations. I have long been fascinated with cave dwellings,petroglyphs,
and cliff dwellings.
There is something about walking through ancient ruins that brings mypresent moments connecting with the past as each footstep re-traces
over what feels like Sacred Land. I know that as I walk and journey where
prior animals and past cultures have trekked I am connecting to those
incredible beings.
I can almost hear and smell the campfires and ritualistic dances of
times gone by as I climb over stone artifacts across ancient plots of soil.
It is my Sacred Honor to walk through ruins of the Ancient Ones without
speaking for in doing so I am taken back to the knowledge of past human
species who knew connecting to the elements and the wilderness contained
wisdom unlike any book or internet available to our world today. The storytelling and history of those civilizations that lived long before us is reflected in observing the pottery, baskets, and tools that were left behind.
I visited the Gila Cliff Dwellings which is accessible through the
Gila National Forest, a wonderful adventure in itself! The National Forest is a terrain of unspoiled beauty ranging from deep canyons to forest
covered hills and rugged mountains. The wilderness called me through
mesquite, Apache pines, cottonwoods, and willow trees. I had to keep
pausing by the roadside to breathe in their majestic towering callings
taking me back to times long forgotten.
On the way to the Cliff Dwellings I was invited by the awe-inspiring scenic banks of the Gila River that literally took my breath away! As I
stood hanging on the railing of a bridge overlooking the glorious waters, a
young woman and her child were equally mesmerized by the beauty as they
stood below me at the riverbank. I called out to her and we shared a momentas we all three smiled at this serene view!
Once I arrived at the Cliff Dwellings I crossed a bridge and hiked
the well traveled path across several footbridges up wooden ladders into
natural caves of the Mogollon Culture who lived here in the 1280's. The
openness of the ancient dwellings felt like a comfortable arena of safety
as I imagined what their life must have been. The Mogollons as well as the
Anasazi's disappeared from these areas so long ago. Yet my connection with
their existence as I reflected during my visit upon their lands was a
reverent piece of my New Mexico travels. I could feel their presence within
my grateful heart and soul for having the opportunity to know them on some
intangible level.

Transformations

The skies of the desert have inspired and mesmerized me for over forty years. As I observe the incredible sunsets cascading a palette of breathtaking hues over the magnificent Organ Mountains, I feel my inner transformation accelerating.

Something about being in the wide open spaces of New Mexico cracks open my heart even more to the freedom of my true being. With each passing day I am given a new opportunity to release those ideas, attitudes, people, and limitations I have so frequently in my life held tightly onto, attached to the illusion which was feeding my ego. As I release and surrender to each joyous and different moment, I realize how suffocating any attachments really have been. I see how much energy it takes in the refusal of releasing all that is really so unimportant and irrelevant!

It is only in the midst of transformative breaths that I become aware of how it is I who have always blocked my own serenity and contentment. Though my ego wants so badly to be successful in blaming situations and others for my inadequacies and insecurities, for perceived mistakes, and for misguided detours of my pathway in life, the responsibility for my inner peace only belongs to me.

I thank the desert skies for being the catalyst in showing me my personal truth. As we each become and experience a deeper willingness to let go , often one piece at a time or in massive chunks at other times, we are granted more freedom to simply breathe and to live the life we were created to live!

During the times of my awakenings that come at various cycles of my life, I have to wonder why I feel a need to wait so long to experience the depth and richness of being so free! It is so simple but how we humans choose to make it complicated! Finding humor in my humanness has definitely become an asset!

Going Into Silence

I live alone . I have been a frequent visitor into the world of meditation and quiet reflection for the past 35 years. In 2014 I stopped watching television and just recently began adding a few minutes of selective entertainment back into my weekly routine. Even living alone I am surrounded by noises of my environment.

I have friends and relatives who have a need to talk-talk-talk for whatever their motive and reason . Go to any restaurant in any town and observe the high number of dining partners on cell phones and/or electronic devices instead of communicating with each other. Watch in parking lots, streets, and businesses and you will see people glued to their devices, oblivious to vehicles and others around them.

Sadly, as a culture and a society, both adult and children’s experiences in our world today are so entrenched with stress, emotional dysfunction, electronic toys, and media bombardment that so many have become alienated and disconnected from the wilderness and nature that surrounds the very existence of each of us.

Mother Nature is the cure we each need! Leaving the walls of our homes and offices , as we step into the seclusion of a forest, a beach, a mountain, or any body of water we almost immediately know on a soul level we have entered into a miraculous realm of a healing sanctuary.

Communing in silence with the land will bring about a peaceful comfort that washes away the disconnect we have created. Silence in nature has always been waiting for each of us to re-connect, healing us mentally, emotionally, and spiritually!

When I travel and when I am at home, I have designed my life to walk, to wander, and to embrace with all my senses the simplicity of being outside with the oldest Friend and Silence of each footstep as it touches the Sacred Earth. Each and every time I grant myself the pleasure and opportunity of smelling, viewing, and touching the silence that Mother Nature so freely and unconditionally offers , I always question why I waited so long!

During my current journey visiting the Southwest I have become my own physician by prescribing 3-4 days weekly of Mother Nature visitations. Ahhhh breathing in the Silence of the land is the best medicine!

Why are you waiting ? Get out of that home or office and let it all go!!!