Uploaded June 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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How do we tend ourselves, how do we tend this world? Can we pause, be present, take a step back and be the loving awareness that witnesses it all? We are consciousness itself having a human experience.

This is an invitation to pause, to walk among the trees, to take time, to remember the sense of mystery. With mindfulness you may discover a peace that allows you to be present, compassionate and open.

Mary Oliver writes:
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It's simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤:
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This dharma talk was originally livestreamed by Spirit Rock on 3/22/21.