The Universe at your Fingertips

This was a fun one...totally surprised me to see it. Any guesses? 

Scroll down for the info.

I-phone screen, fingerprints, reflection of kitchen overhead light. 

Kinda gross, kinda cool. Did make me think of the cosmos in every molecule, tho. 

Love in Motion

We love the Pacific coast so much, and since we live only an hour away, its like having a ginormous miracle in the backyard. This trip over I tried a new way to play with it. I asked it what it wanted to experience from me as I stood there in its awesome presence (thank you, Rikka, for this super-fun idea!). The energetic answer was "gratitude." So I let that come through. I could hear it shouting out its love in return. I could feel all of its billions of molecules having the biggest playdate of their lives with all of their friends in the swirl and swoop of the surf. Mine joined it. YES! Helllllllllllllooooooooooooo!!!! We are Love together, aren't we!? Let's play and be crazily magnificent and love this world out of its mind. I love you, Ocean!!!! You are me, I am you, and we are beyond-belief beautiful. Yes, you are. All of you. All of us. Aren't we amazing?

Breakthrough

 

 Summer twilight through trees

Love with a capital “L” is a truth teller. Love is always asking us to know and reveal the magnificence of who we are, saying, "You are brilliant and loving. You are divine. You are infinite. It's your nature! How can you be anything less that what you already are?" 

So Love disturbs us when we play small or hide behind what we are not.  If we are uncomfortable, it might be because we're trying to fit our infinite brilliance into a limitation box (which could be labeled "Unworthy" or "Right" or "Need Approval" or "Knows What's Best" or "Need to Understand Why" or even "I'm This and You're That..." and the list goes on). Too tiny! Too squished! I don't fit here! Nope, you don't. You are WAY bigger than that mind-play going on.

So Love challenges us, sometimes so vigorously it can feel ruthless. The fruit of this challenging revelation is the very core of our beings, our true brilliance. What challenge can you be thankful for today that is leading you to the light?

Holiday Hearts

 

 I-5 heart cloud on the road to Seattle

 At the park with grandson Caid, West Seattle

Walking home from the park with Caid and Ainslee - playdate!

 

Back home in Salem - boiling black beans for Choffy peppermint brownies

 

Dark Chocolate melted on Choffy peppermint brownies - recipe below!

 

Choffy Peppermint Black Bean Brownies

DiAnne Berry

Makes about 30 2” square servings

3 eggs (or 3 Tbsp. Chia seeds soaked in 5 Tbsp. Water)

¼ C chocolate powder

1/4 C raw walnuts

1 Tbsp. vanilla

½ tsp. baking soda

3 Tbsp. coconut oil

½ C agave

½ C dates chopped

2 C black beans (rinsed and drained, especially if canned)

¼ tsp.  Salt

5 drops peppermint essential oil

Optional but adds great flavor: ¼ tsp. Maple syrup extract.

Preheat oven to 325. Line a 11” X 13” baking pan with parchment paper (or spray w/cooking spray).

Put all ingredients in into a high-powered blender. Blend until ingredients make a smooth batter.

Fold in 1 C Choffy grounds (after making your Choffy drink from it - recycled Choffy!)

Pour mixture onto lined pan.

Sprinkle over top,

1 C chocolate chips (I used a dark chocolate bar put through the food processor)

½ C walnuts chopped

Let bake until middle has set, about 35-45 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.  These are great cold. Keep in the fridge.

Shining Through

Light through trees and waterfall, inverted, Silver Creek State Park, Oregon

Love shines through in the most unlikely moments. To perceive it, all that is needed is our attention, our willingness to see. It isn’t a question of whether or not Love is there (lots of times it's looks like it isn't). It is only a matter of our perception of its presence. I have learned this in my days of treasure heart hunting. I no longer wonder if there is a heart in my midst. I simply wonder if I will find it. Sometimes to see Love, all we need is a new perspective, to look in a different way.

The Pooping Field

We've learned to stop for sunshine when it comes in Oregon in the wintertime. So yesterday morning when the sun was shining brightly on the heavily frosted neighborhood, and the sidewalks and roads were still slippy and unpredictable, we took the dogs for their daily walk. Catching the sun is a gift at this time of year. Early along the way we stopped at the pooping field, a series of undeveloped lots where many neighborhood dogs drop their loads. Sasha did her business which gave me a chance to spot this cutie. I had my cell phone in my pocket, but quickly realized that framing a good shot (it really only looked like a heart from the angle you see here) meant squatting down pretty low right over her freshly steaming, very fragrant pile of poo. Is there a message here? :) Simply put, I guess sometimes love smells like poo! Poo poo pa choo.

Awakening

Awakening is the end of our perception of separation.

Quantum Limitation Leap

Quiet time this morning illustrated the truth of the infinite possibility theory. The players? The meditation tree and the moth. Yesterday I questioned why I should ever entertain limiting thoughts about how many amazing and beautiful hearts might show up in the world. Let's just take "hearts showing up" as a metaphor for living in the infinite possibility of now, living in a world of constant, live-stream miracles - divine grace, synchronicities, flow, play, joy, love, amazement, adventure, whatever you want to call it. Living the miracle that is Us/Creation/God instead of the illusion of this merry-go-round.  So, another one of those limiting thoughts (though it did come with a, "Well, I will just have to wait and see!) went like this: "I guess I won't be seeing hearts in the meditation tree for a while now that all of the leaves are gone." The answer to that thought came in a surprise appearance by... the moth! From my seated vantage point it looked like a heart nesting in the branches. There it stayed, in full support of the truth of how open-ended being opens the world to us.  No leaves to make hearts? No problem! No "normal" way to construct your miracle? No worries! I recently read, "If you don't get the miracle you ask for, become it." (Trinity Bourne, openhandweb.org) So sweet! And true. And yes, let's keep going! More miracles. More amazement. The only thing limiting us is our cognitive brain, that pesky little filter of infinite knowing. Once we put it in the back seat, we're signed up for the ride of our lives. Or, we can choose to skip the ride altogether and stay in the limitation box. It's always up to us. Isn't that amazing? Where shall we go? :)

This World is Ridiculously Beautiful!

Today we woke to a winter wonderland. Millions of frosty spikes grew on branches and bushes over night, turning everything we could see into a world full of frozen muppet fur. It was surreal, the shimmering, spiky white everywhere. As I passed by the frozen chicken fountain just after 8 AM on my way to give a final, I saw our university photographer out capturing the moment. What a funny phrase, capturing the moment, as if it could ever be held or revisited! I told him I had my camera in my bag but had to go give a final, and that it was painful to pass by the photo playground without stopping!

But after the final, after serving my students some Choffy and laughing with them and getting through the tedious nitty-gritty of musical dictation, I had a few minutes before my next appointment. The sweet frost heart above was the first stunning bit of presence to find my lens. Sometimes I think I can't possibly find any more ridiculously beautiful and interesting hearts, but they just keep showing up. Then I think, why limit my experience with such a thought? Why not just be, and see? There is waaaaaaaaay more ridiculous beauty and magic in our universe than I've seen thus far. I'm game for opening up the lens. You?

The Story of the Winter Bird

 

Once there was a little bird that made its home in a nest of love. 

It was winter, and everything was frozen, but even in the midst of the cold and ice, 

the bird saw love everywhere. 

 

Old man winter's hair spiked icicles, and frost dripped from his shaggy beard, but even his worst 

 blustering and blowing simply begat a heart at the end of his icy chin. 

The bird was wise, and knew that even if the world around her looked cold and spoke of lack (for there was very little food to be found), creation truly was a horn of plenty that could never be diminished. 

She knew her abundance grew from the inside out.

She consulted the ice-brain-man who lived just next door to the heart-beyond-logic. He in turn tuned in to the deep waves of love shimmering through the beautiful heart. Fluid knowing poured out his head as he resonated with the glistening vibration. Just then the heart-beyond-logic manifested a bubble-thought (heart shaped, of course!) above its self and to the right. The ice-brain-man understood, and told the bird that her friend was looking for her, and needed her.

She flew in search of him and found him, her dear friend, the tiniest ice bird, snuggled into his wintry nest. 

She joined him, and there the two sang together of love and plenty and trust and warmth, 

all nestled into their crystal palace heart home of light. 

All photos taken on 12-9-13 on the Willamette University campus. Bird with nest taken next to the University Center. All others taken at the frozen chicken fountain.

The Tipping Point

 

 

 

  

It's reached that point, the tipping point, where the momentum has been building and finally spills over the edge and there is no going back. I've been finding hearts for a few years, watching my awareness and discovery move from occasional to frequent to now constant. I saw so many on our dog walk yesterday that, after my phone died half way through, I decided to go back out with my regular camera. These above were all from about 30 minutes of noticing.

I see a parallel between the tipping of the hearts and the expansion of our hearts into knowing. We go along for a while getting flashes of the truth of who we are and the infinite perspective on this earthly zoo, glimpsing that truth like posts we zip past on a train, as Fred Buechner said. Sometimes our train stops and the truth comes into supreme focus for an infinitely clear moment or two. But there comes a point where the glimpses are no longer the exception, and they aren't just glimpses. They are one eternal and constant view into the heart of God, through our hearts, which are all one and the same. And we realize we have no f-ing idea what any of it is, but we know that it goes on forever. And then we are there forever (wherever there is!). 

Snow Love

I snapped this cutie in the lamp-glow light of Jackson Plaza on the way home from the Christmas in Hudson concert last night. It was such a fun and playful day on campus with the snowfall. I often tell my choir that rehearsals and performances consist of work hard/play hard. In the flow, they feel like the same thing. Love and play and childlike joy to you today.

Hawt Topics

                   

What if all the news was Love? Rob, my assistant heart scout, was the investigative journalist who noticed this little tear in his morning paper. On one side it was in the middle of a feature about toxic chemicals in toys, and on the other it left a hole in how "connectivity" (i.e. electronic distraction) is reducing productivity among employees. 

And here you are reading my electronic blog! Oops. :) 

How much of the news you digest is negative? I don't advocate being naively uninformed about hazards or injustice in the world, but I do enthusiastically encourage turning our attention to loveworthy events (gee, that must come as a big surprise to you Heart of the Matter snarfers...hee hee). What we water and feed grows, guys. Let's feed the Love story! Imagine it taking over the world like a giant beanstalk, reaching into the stratosphere, out into the playground of stars -  a wonderland of joy grown wild! Doesn't that sound like more fun? Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

 

The Daily Grind Grounds

 

 

A couple of sweet scenes from my walk into work this morning at 7:30 AM... a tree in the parking lot and a steam heart by the University Center. Oh my GOD love is everywhere! Today I experienced it in playful learning with my 8:30 class, in the beautiful artistry of a voice student and her student accompanist during her lesson, in the performance of a scene from a student composed opera, in conversation with husband and another friend over lunch, in making music with that colleague and friend, in being moved to tears by the singing and playing of all the wonderful choirs and orchestra for Thursday and Friday's concert, in a phone conversation on the way home from work about the immensity of love that so surpasses what we can articulate, and in the goofy shenanigans of our dogs. And now more in the light-hearted perusing of the day's photos! So much love, beauty, joy, creation and life. LOVE it. Doesn't that top one just look like a little heart ornament hung right in the heart of that tree? Love says "HERE I AM! BE ME!" Okay. I think we just will. Love you!

Meditation Tree

                    

 

Each morning I go downstairs to my daughter Natalie's old room to what I affectionately call "cutie," or QT. Quiet Time. It's my daily centering ritual where I drop into the stillness. I usually meditate, and sometimes do yoga or Qi Gong, or energy work with myself or others not physically present. This maple tree is just outside the window. It isn't on our property, but on a deep, vacant lot behind us that stretches to the street below. It is immense - several stories tall, and I love it. Throughout this past year it repeatedly met my gaze with an offering of hearts, from spring when the leaves were just coming on to fall when they were dropping. The two main ones here were in slightly different locations (the leaves are all gone now), but both easily visible from my usual vantage point as you can see by the grainy i-phone photo in the middle (that's a salt lamp glow in the corner). I loved the repeated clarity of the message as I would sit down for the day's contemplation, as if saying, "This is what it is about, Christine. Nothing else. Remember." Or was it there because I remembered? :) Both.

Come and Play

All we ever have is this moment. Why not play? :) 

Welcome Home

 

Tulip across the street from home

Communion

This flower, with an exquisite and

delicate heart tucked inside its folds, 

looks like a an upside down wine glass 

to me, which reminded me of beautiful

words by a jazz musician and friend, 

Bill Carter, set in his song,

"Welcome Home."

The table is set,

the bread smells delicious. 

The wine is poured out

for the world.

And I know that I can’t

ever outrun such mercy...

God says right here, welcome home.

God says right now, welcome home." 

 Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Point of Infinity

I wrote this song a couple of years ago. Each time I listen to it, it settles me into peace. So today I decided to add heart photography and created a little video. We are all infinite, but here in this finite and very dense dimension, it is often a struggle to remember the truth of who we are. I hope this helps you remember, too. :)  Love from my infinite heart to yours - you are beautiful!

Let me be still and clear

A transparency for your light and love

That my heart would be the point

Through which your infinity moves - 

Infinite harmony, infinite grace,

Infinite power, infinite wisdom, infinite love.

Alleluia.

Constant

Rocks in surf, Cape Disappointment, Washington

Love is a constant in our lives, no matter our experience of the moment.  Waves of emotion, challenge or crisis may wash over us, but Love holds steady and strong, an ever-present anchor and support. These rocks just offshore from the north head lighthouse on Cape Disappointment (the longest continuously functioning lighthouse on the west coast), were 

buried over and over by pounding surf.  But they kept showing up. Just as the strength of Love keeps showing up, no matter our circumstance. We can trust the constant support of Love that is within and around us. It is always there.

Heart Walk

                

These hearts all found me on a couple of heart walks I took on campus this week. Heart walks are one of my favorite things to do, but really they feel more like one of my favorite ways to be - open and in constant discovery, where the entire world seems brand new in every moment. This week someone challenged me to live every moment as if I were an angel or alien who had just plopped into this physical body and everything, every single experience or sensation was brand new, for the first time. Let's just say it's been a very fun and interesting week! Two things I noticed: incredible presence in the moment, and a feeling of being saturated in play. Want to try it? :)

The pictures are: 1. decaying foliage, 2.back of duck in the Mill stream, 3. pussy willows at the end of a long stalk next to the Rogers building, 4. lattice and wire fencing reflected in the Mill stream along the Matthews parking lot, and 5. bark of an unknown variety of tree on the 12th street edge of the memorial garden.