snow. s n o w.

i'm in brooklyn and the blizzard has shut this work horse city down. it's lovely. it snowed 20" over night and the snow was up to my knees this morning. i love being influenced by nature, accepting what she provides and working harmoniously with it. our human nature is so influx, so ruled by the mind and emotions. mother nature has her own agenda and it behooves us to be in tune with her. the effective but challenging issue is that the more we're in tune with ourselves, the more we're in tune with mother nature. but sitting still with ourselves in order to know ourselves is...so...challenging.

when i started a regular meditation practice, i had huge energy bursts, shivers, freak outs - all terribly uncomfortable. i wanted to pull my hair out and rip out my heart. i made myself sit through it and with proper guidance, that energy, prana, finally worked it's way out of my body and mind after being contained within so tightly for so long. elizabeth gilbert talks about this experience in her book, "eat. pray. love". she also had shakes and uncontrollable movements when she sat to meditate, to go deeper inside herself.

knowing ourselves and mother nature is not easy, not for those unwilling to evolve, not truly productive if tried once or twice. knowing ourselves and mother nature takes building an intimate, strong relationship with our inner spirit (not mind) and is rewarding beyond description. truly, freedom only comes when we are able to face our inner demons, embrace every layer of thought and feeling, and love ourselves. and consciousness rises. in drips. and with every drip, our hearts become lighter, we have more humor and love in our hearts and the glorious nyc snow storm in december of 2010 becomes the most wondrous thing you've ever walked into.

what a great way to end 2010 and welcome the new year!