How Long Do You Plan on Being a Hermit?

Some people have asked. It's not indefinite, this retreat into the wilderness. It's where I need to be for NOW. I can stay in the present moment, out here in Nature. Hmmm...almost sounds sort of Eckhart Tolle, don't you think? haha

But look where I'm living! The road I'm on is so BEAUTIFUL.

[BTW, this is where I saw my first bear!]

I was listening to John's Self Image CD last night and he has a line in there about going to a place where you feel peaceful. I used to imagine another place outside myself, like my labyrinth in WV or walking along a beach. I used to meditate A LOT just to get that sense of inner peace because I was in a much more stressful environment. And as celebrated cell-biologist Bruce Lipton says in Chapter 2 of his BRILLIANT book, The Biology of Belief: It's the Environment, Stupid. Your environment affects your health, your behaviour, your feelings. Change your environment, change your life. Which is what I've done.

And being out here in Nature...is nurturing.

[Science geek reference] haha

What I feel is that peace is where I am. Now. In this moment. And when I venture back out into the world, I trust that I will be able to keep that place of peace within me wherever I go.

Big City Wilderness

I got a call yesterday from my boss, John Morgan. He's in NYC to see Eckhart Tolle at the Beacon Theatre. John has an aversion to talking on his cell phone in public, so I was surprised he called me. One time I gabbed with him as I was navigating the aisles of Walmart. "How can you do that?" he asked me. I'm multi-tasking. So he says, "I'm joining the rest of the jackasses on their phones." When in Rome... It was so otherworldly to hear all the street noises of the city while standing out in my yard.

I'm not really in Eckhart Tolle's Fan Club--nothing against him, but I tried to listen to an audio series and it was such a Snooze Fest. I like him better when someone else is quoting him. Like John. [OMG, when I googled Eckhart Tolle, it seems he really does have a fan club!] So I'll leave you with some cool quotes:

"You may not yet be able to bring your unconscious mind activity into awareness as thoughts, but it will always be reflected in the body as an emotion, and of this you can become aware."

"Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath"

"Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to "die before you die" — and find that there is no death"

P.S. Something extraordinary happened to John yesterday, but it's not my story to tell. I told him he has to do a blog post for it. Altho, things like that happen to me all the time. Oooh, what could it be? Stay tuned.