For those who celebrate the Chinese New Year, one of the traditions is to give the house a thorough cleaning, to sweep away any ill-fortune and make room for good luck to seep into all the corners.
What will you do to put your literal or figurative house in order this Chinese New Year?
Dandelions are a noxious weed, quick to spread and difficult to eradicate. Dandelions are also edible and nutritious, flower brightly, and delight children who love to blow on their puffy seed heads.
What do you appreciate that other people find obnoxious?
“That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.”
—Albert Einstein
What forms your idea of God?
A fence can be a way to keep a child safe or a way to keep a child out. It can be a line that demarcates your personal space or a barrier between you and where you want to go. Sometimes we don’t even know when a necessary boundary has become a barricade.
Is there some part of your life that you have fenced off? How might you open a gate?
The smallest connection with a wild creature feels like a blessing: a butterfly that lands on our sleeve, a deer who meets our gaze in the wood, the hummingbird that circles us before flying away. Just that tiny acknowledgment feels like a gift, re-binding some thread of a cord that was severed long before we were born.
What moment of connection with a wild animal do you cherish?
