This Day

The light has not come up and the morning is cool - 45 degrees farenheit is cool for this part of the world.  And the rains have stopped, bringing a most beautiful gift that comes with quenching the thirst of the earth.

Things to do on this day include sitting with people who are working to resolve a conflict that will possibly destroy a person's ability to make a living in their chosen field.  This will be a day to practice all the skills that it takes to keep communications clear, and support the narratives that are at odds.  It will be a day to support adverse stories to be better understood by each side, and then even without having to change their own story, get to a place of peace, resolution, settlement with whatever terms can be deemed acceptable to end the conflict.  This dispute, unlike others, will mean leaving a career.  There will be strong emotions that will need space to be expressed.  

Other things that will happen on this day will include traversing a city that has been soaked by the atmospheric river flow of the past weeks.  There has been huge damage causing roads to collapse and flood waters to overtake streets that have been gifted with debris of all kinds - trees fallen, cars carried from the curbside, garbage cans contents strewn about.  The clean up will require enormous amounts of energy and money as the process will reveal the infrastructure needs that must be attended to in order to face what may come next year.  The scientists who follow things like climate, have concluded that we are beyond preventing such disasters in the future - it is now a matter of fact that summers will be more intense and winters will bring more severe cold weather storms.  The decisions we make today, on this day, will matter far into the future.

Finally, that which cannot be known will be part of this day.  What events and occurences will emerge?  Who might one encounter as the day opens and what experiences will make for a moment in this week that could shift everything?  This is the part of living that invites attention, and skill of a different kind.  Taking care of things that are planned and understood as part of the things that require attention is one thing.  Taking care of things that are unplanned, confusing, and difficult even to imagine requires one to draw on a lifetime of learning.  The mental and emotional and practical reaction to things unknown, will create the invitation to call upon life experiences and knowledge that one may forget exists.  The accumulation of all that is part of one's being will be the resource needed in that moment.

This day is a new adventure - one that could turn out to be quite uneventful and seemingly without purpose.  It could also be a day that is full of adventure, whether joyful or disastrous - one cannot know.  But for sure, this day - like every single day that has been until now - is a rich source of opportunity to grow, learn, and practice the skill of living fully. This day is one that will never repeat itself so whatever comes, let it be a day of realizations that will lead to breakthroughs, both sought and unexpected.