Spicy Dragons & Dinosaurs

Morning with the experts at the Waisman Center reporting on mindfulness and education as part of the Center for the Investigating Healthy Minds. How fortunate I am to be here. It is good for me to realize that and say it every once in a while. Working and living in the present is not always easy. I want to be back at a time when I was with David, when I had a strong, vital partner, when everything did seem possible. I want to spring ahead to the time when home will again be the place where I have a heart hold and deep roots, when I will working, and when I am fit in body, spirit, and mind. But I have now, and it is here where I must/want to be full. And, so . . .

Yesterday, I planted after a buying spree -- planting for hours. A neighborhood plant sale plus a visit to a new garden center -- much like pasta in a rich sauce followed by terimi su. It was heavenly. As I wrote the last time, I am feeling at home in my Madison garden for the first time. And truly, as I bought and planted new bushes and perennials each one blended into the existing plantings as if the new plants were there from some beginning. Yes, it is a communication between the garden and the gardener, the garden asks and comments, and the gardener does the same.

And today, this conference. The same awe producing experience. Mindfulness and caring practice. Preliminary results so promising in children and adolescents. Someone, not at Waisman, is doing this with kids who experience trauma. No results yet. I wonder where. Such a leap of faith to believe that these practices might help. Something feels, very gut, that this is a path to explore.