There are times when I find it most necessary to have no schedule, commune with nature, and do whatever it is I feel like doing. That time renews and refreshes me. It reminds me of the whole of heaven, the whole of life.
June is the month I take that break. Rest from a busy year! Last week, we drove to East Peoria and rested on the banks of the Illinois River in an airbnb with a porch that faced tall huge cottonwoods and the river.
The Illinois, that maps also call the Upper Peoria Lake, moves very slowly. It’s home to flocks of geese and white pelicans. I saw the pelicans one morning flying near the other shore in a line over the river. Exciting! The cottonwoods are also home to many birds. We saw a dazzling red-headed woodpecker and a red-bellied woodpecker with white markings on its black wings, two dark hummingbirds, blackbirds, and starlings. A couple of killdeers and their babies lived nearby. We even saw the resident muskrat, a dark furry mammal that looks like a cross between a beaver and a rodent.
Sitting on the back porch in silence watching, listening, and feeling was profound. There was generally a breeze and even a stiff wind on the hottest days making sitting outside quite bearable. The river’s different faces ranged from calm blue and glassy in bright sunshine to dark gray with small white caps in a fierce thunder and lightning storm.
I am spoiled being from Hawaii and very particular regarding where I go swimming. But my husband loved being in the river and could easily be in it for an hour. One hot day, I dipped in for maybe 10 minutes. The water was warm from the roasty 90 degree weather. I liked the warmth but I can’t say that I was relaxed floating in the murky greenness. It was waist deep shallow and the river’s floor was smooth and soft the way a fine chocolate pudding feels but filled with sharp rocks and clams and who knows what else that poked at my feet.
I could easily imagine monsters lurking there if I let my mind go. It wasn’t comfortable and after 10 minutes it was time to leave the murkiness. I paddled my way back then stepped gingerly to shore. Relieved! The next day I saw a gaggle of geese happily bathing and grooming themselves where I had entered and left the lake. Despite my unease with murkiness, it felt good to be one of the many beings that shared this river if even for 10 minutes.
My husband and I didn’t stay completely off the grid. We watched the Congressional hearings on the January 6th riots. I felt good being an American watching testimony from many of the witnesses like Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers. And then later in the week, the Supreme Court struck down Roe vs Wade declaring a woman’s constitutional right to abortion, upheld for nearly 50 years, no longer exists. This was an opportunity to practice patience! Abortion is never an easy decision to make for a woman. Yet it is her body and she has every right to make the decision!
We continue now with a road trip to South Dakota where we will go on the Zen Peacemakers’ Native American Bearing Witness Retreat. We’re taking our time. We’re reading up on the history that Native Americans have lived in the different towns we drive through along the way. It’s mostly a sad history of Euro-Americans taking these beautiful lands and pushing Native Americans out. It’s good to be aware of this history. I don’t know how it will impact the future, but I know it will for me.
We’ve raised half of our $3,500 goal for the retreat so would love your contribution if you can afford it! Click on this link for info on the bearing witness retreat. Any amount appreciated! https://conta.cc/3y3tPXF
Mahalo nui loa and malama pono (take good care of body, mind and heart),
June Kaililani Ryushin Tanoue
Kumu Hula, Sensei
“Wild geese pass
Revealing
The whole of heaven”