Pondering Blog: exploring lessons from life’s teachers

Painting of the ironwood tree by Tracey Harris - a tree I first saw in a dream, 20 years before I met it - and where I was held safe for my vision quest in Kapaau, HI, Big Island - an amazing gift by Karen Smith Good

Writing is how I process and make sense of the life experience. I take time to carefully review, digest and find the poetry in my world. Writing helps me get the lesson - earn the wisdom - find the perfect piece of sea glass in the painful shards of glass. Without writing, the teacher may go by unnoticed and return in another form.

Do you have a writing habit? My pondering workbook offers writing prompts so you can scratch the surface of your life - dig deeper into relationships, past experiences, dreams, habits, animals and hobbies and find beautiful words and imagery to elevate your wisdom, understanding and peace.

Sat nam, for truth, Janet

Janet Howard 1/6/21 Janet Howard 1/6/21

Lessons from Serafina - a Scaredy Kat

Fear is her resting place - her baseline.

Janet Howard 11/22/20 Janet Howard 11/22/20

Lessons from KitKat - A Needy Cat

KitKat’s depth of need appears bottomless - perhaps that mirrors my own. As I take the time to love and comfort her - I take the time to love and comfort myself.

Janet Howard 6/29/20 Janet Howard 6/29/20

Clearing a Path to the Heart

With the cleansing of tears streaming and nose running, I was cutting, pulling, ripping, and dragging -- revealing a path that was easier to see, easier to navigate and easier to follow – now that the blocks were removed – a pathway to the heart – to home - to myself.

Janet Howard 12/24/19 Janet Howard 12/24/19

A Recurring Dream - A Gift with a Pretty Pink Ribbon

I like reoccurring dreams. I welcome them. Important information is delivered, like a present tied with a pretty pink ribbon. And if I don’t fully appreciate the gift, it’s given to me again and again.

Janet Howard 10/22/19 Janet Howard 10/22/19

You'll See

“You aren’t meant to be married in this lifetime.”

Janet Howard 8/30/19 Janet Howard 8/30/19

Solo at Dawn

What color is the world today?

Janet Howard 7/21/19 Janet Howard 7/21/19

If You Give a Moose a Mantra Or Early Chanter Gets the Moose*

The sound of splintering trees roused me from my pre-dawn mantra on the front porch. Twigs snapping from across the street– was a tree falling down?

Janet Howard 6/26/19 Janet Howard 6/26/19

Digging in Dirt

Two years into my daily Kundalini practice, I realized that fear isn’t an occasional emotion – it’s my resting state. Fear has been in my belly forever – it’s all I’ve ever known. It’s in my seed.

Janet Howard 3/22/19 Janet Howard 3/22/19

Part Time Warrior

This warrior’s armor is an aura.

With roots coming out of its feet.

Flowers and leaves in its hair.

A song floating from its lips.

Janet Howard 1/20/19 Janet Howard 1/20/19

Salty Rivulets

Letting things go is hard for me. I look to the tide for comfort. It knows what it’s doing. It comes in and brings us gifts. It goes out and takes things away. In life, things come and they go. Some things on the beach aren’t meant to be there for long. In they come and out they go and it’s perfect. Like a tide. Like a sadhana. Like a breath.

Janet Howard 12/5/17 Janet Howard 12/5/17

Welcome to Rosehip26

I used to feel burdened by my imperfections – my mistakes -- my pain -- my shoulders sore, my brow worried. I was weighted by stones in my pockets. But over time, I’ve dropped those stones one by one. They sit by streams, under a fern and on a window sill. I still have one or two in my pocket and in my palm - for comfort. To hold onto.