The Tao Te Ching... Please Join Us

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The Tao Te Ching is one of the first connections we (David and Jennifer) bonded over when we were young lovers a little more than ten years ago. David began studying the Tao as a teenager and Jennifer became deeply inspired by the sacred text in her mid-twenties. It has been a dream for quite a long time for us to share our love of the Tao with the greater community, and we cannot think of a better time.

You are invited to join us for 81 weeks starting today. Every Saturday, we will post a verse from the Tao along with an inspired photo of ours on our business page through Facebook and Instagram, and our journal here on our website. The mission of this project is to celebrate the invitation for each of us to bring peace, understanding, and gentle connection forward. We invite you to come along with us on this journey through this ancient text. Witness in silence, hold space, or comment as you feel called to share your own reflection of the verse.

As for translations, David is most familiar with Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English’s work, while Jennifer is most familiar with Stephen Mitchell’s (both are displayed in this photograph). For this project, we will feature Stephen Mitchell’s translation.

We understand there may be many in our circles who are not familiar with the Tao, so as we have dreamt this project forward, here are a few themes from the text that came forward for us…

Reflection and contemplation… peace-centered living… balance… unity… effective leadership… mindful and conscious action… power, not force… balance of the masculine and the feminine… focus and discipline… healing… gentleness… environmental stewardship… community… simple elegance… living with integrity… equality and inclusivity…

P.S. We are still young lovers and are thrilled to create a peaceful connection with you :)

Here's to the bridge-builders ...

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Here's to the bridge-builders, the hand-holders, the light-bringers, those extraordinary souls wrapped in ordinary lives who quietly weave threads of humanity into an inhumane world. They are the unsung heroes in a world at war with itself. They are the whisperers of hope that peace is possible. Look for them in this present darkness. Light your candle with their flame. And then go. Build bridges. Hold hands. Bring light to a dark and desperate world. Be the hero you are looking for. Peace is possible. It begins with us.

~L.R. Knost
Photograph captured last week where I find peace.

Until next time I offer these words of wisdom for better or for worse. Please take them with a grain of salt for we each live our own individual truths. Our mission while we are here is to understand, accept, and celebrate that one very simple, but incredibly significant fact. For all this, I am grateful.

What will remain is the truth. What will remain is our love.

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At the beginning of each day, I light my candle with prayers, questions, hopes, and dreams. At a very early hour this morning, I was connecting with one of my closest friends and allies as I lit my candle.

My heart is clear today. Please realize the majority of us in the U.S. are not in favor of policies that are already being brought to the table. The showmanship, the rhetoric, and the ridiculous nature plastered over yesterday's circus will pass. This is not Christ-like. We all understand this, right? Pitting one another against "the other" is not what Christ would have condoned. If you believe that, please sit quietly with that for as long as it takes.

What will remain is the truth. What will remain is our love. What will remain is our steadfast nature to look out for each other. Politics will not define us, nor will it save us either. To put our faith and focus solely on politics is dangerous ground, as it is ever-shifting like quicksand.

Breathe. Remain grounded. Remain in your center. Remain in your truth. Remain in your love. Remain in your resilience. Remain in your creative potential. Breathe.

For those of you who are feeling fear and despair, I see you. We got this. We've got you. I just shared this on another dear friend's post as they wrestle with what the future looks like. This is for everyone this morning:

Your fear is absolutely real and we hold you where you are so that you know we see you (I see you). What do we do? We do our best. We put our hearts forward. We stay awake and stay informed. We hold fast and remain resilient. We stay connected because isolation is not an option. We continue to understand this is the breakdown of huge systems that have been dysfunctional for a very long time. And, we will make it past this phase of breakdown so that we can begin to create again. We wake up and do it again tomorrow. We remember to breathe. We hold love at the center. I love you.


The Question
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
for Jude Jordan Kalush, who asked me the question

All day, I replay these words:
Is this the path of love?
I think of them as I rise, as
I wake my children, as I wash dishes,
as I drive too close behind the slow
blue Subaru, Is this the path of love?
Think of these words as I stand in line
at the grocery store,
think of them as I sit on the couch
with my daughter. Amazing how
quickly six words become compass,
the new lens through which to see myself
in the world. I notice what the question is not.
Not, “Is this right?” Not,
“Is this wrong?” It just longs to know
how the action of existence
links us to the path to love.
And is it this? Is it this? All day,
I let myself be led by the question.
All day I let myself not be too certain
of the answer. Is it this?
Is this the path of love? I ask
as I wait for the next word to come.

Published in The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection & Joy, edited by James Crews (Storey Publishing, 2022)

Until next time I offer these words of wisdom for better or for worse. Please take them with a grain of salt for we each live our own individual truths. Our mission while we are here is to understand, accept, and celebrate that one very simple, but incredibly significant fact. For all this, I am grateful.

New Stories... and seeking wisdom

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Friends, I am sinking into new stories this year and am looking for some ideas and your wisdom...

I need creative outlets and writing is at the top of my list, next to photography, watercolors, gardening, and moving my body.

For my fellow writers out there, how do you feel about Substack? I started sharing some writing back on Blogger back in 2010, then moved pieces to my website. I am now looking for another solid way to share in a user-friendly format - both for myself and for those who are curious to tap in. Any other platforms out there nowadays you recommend? Also, what has drawn you to what I have shared through writing? I'm curious and open to where the energies move us.

Thank you from the top of my head to the bottom of my tippy toes for those of you who have have joined me on the creative path through the years. The Energy Experience is one part of this. I have met many of you through energy and consciousness work through the last two decades. What an incredible blessing!

Life truly is energy: how it comes together, how it is expressed, how we heal, grow, connect, worship, transition... this all is a deeply creative act. This takes a village too, and I have to say the village and circles I am blessed to be a part of are magnificent. Let's create more, shall we? Let's make this year truly one to remember in all the right ways

*Photo taken by David last spring while we were engaged in sacred community work in Glastonbury, England. In this particular moment, David, our friend Brad, and I were practically getting blown off of the Tor by the gale force winds. The ancient tower held us a bit more intact before venturing back out. What a day to be alive and creative!

Until next time I offer these words of wisdom for better or for worse. Please take them with a grain of salt for we each live our own individual truths. Our mission while we are here is to understand, accept, and celebrate that one very simple, but incredibly significant fact. For all this, I am grateful.

Sacred Winter

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For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, we are reminded of the dark days of winter and the promise of the return of the light. I cherish this dark time of year and the winter season yet to come. This is when I get very quiet, rest, reflect, and breathe forward new possibilities into the spring season.

This time of the year holds more than 20 different sacred holidays and observances around the world between December and January. The path my heart follows is rooted in a dedication to honoring the rhythms of the Earth, and the Divine Feminine and Masculine as spiritual and grounding practice. For as long as I can recall, I have been deeply inspired by the traditional weavings of the ancient people who I come from and honor the homelands of what we now refer to as Germany, Scotland, England, and Northwestern Europe. Following the seasons helps me feel close to them. Embodying my own sacred Feminine and Masculine qualities helps me embody the contrast of polarity and nonduality. This solstice season will be set aside with new understandings as I am now our eldest still embodied within our immediate lineage, with both of my parents now sitting with our ancient people. I envision this to be a special time.

As we each lean into our own practices of faith and spirit and remembrance, may we all be reminded of the one common thread that runs through us all: connection. May you feel warmed by the fire of your heart and hearth and honor the connection we all share to the greater mystery of what it means to be an eternal being held within a temporal shell on this magnificent planet of ours.

(Image above of the black ebony statue of Madonna and Child, from when I visited Truro Cathedral in Cornwall in 2022)

Until next time I offer these words of wisdom for better or for worse. Please take them with a grain of salt for we each live our own individual truths. Our mission while we are here is to understand, accept, and celebrate that one very simple, but incredibly significant fact. For all this, I am grateful.

My Daughter

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There is a lot I can say about my daughter.

What comes to mind this very moment is how resilient and determined she is. This time last week she started working with an orthopedic surgeon who was evaluating her for a stress fracture in the neck of her left femur. She was scheduled for an MRI Wednesday and, depending on the results, she’d either go into surgery as soon as possible and/or remain on crutches for the next six to eight weeks. Either way, she was going to need to look at the next two months very differently. I witnessed her making immediate adjustments moment by moment as this very new information was coming forward, understanding this last semester of school suddenly looked very different.

It was determined that she would in fact go into surgery so that two screws could be utilized to help reinforce her femur. Remarkably this was her first surgery and she did great. Deep breaths and now to invite the healing process to begin!

She is still required to be on crutches for six to eight weeks and is adjusting in stellar ways. Fast forward to this week and she has exceeded all expectations, making her way around town and campus like a champ. Her dad and granddad were due last weekend for a visit and lo and behold, this image of her was taken by her dad when they went out Friday night for a drink and a piece of pizza. I am finding despite the frustrations she faces at times, her spirit rises to the occasion and she creates a new pathway forward.

On this day celebrating daughters, I honor mine in more ways than I can count. Here’s to you, Emily. May you continue to shine your light even during the darkest of moments.

I love you ❤️

Until next time I offer these words of wisdom for better or for worse. Please take them with a grain of salt for we each live our own individual truths. Our mission while we are here is to understand, accept, and celebrate that one very simple, but incredibly significant fact. For all this, I am grateful.