tracy at prana light writes a series titled “being here now”. it’s in list format and it provides such a beautiful glimpse into her daily life. when i read the last one: “being here now: days of abundance”, i was inspired to fill out the list for myself.

taste — my latest dinner addiction: a rich meat sauce on roasted spaghetti squash; ginger molasses cookies; steel-cut oatmeal with bananas & brown sugar & butter

scent — eucalyptus + vinegar (my homemade bathroom cleaner); lemon + vinegar (my homemade kitchen cleaner); wet dog

sound — “set fire to the rain” by adele

touch — soft fleece blankets

sight — my latest series addiction: leverage (which i stumbled upon at the library and grabbed, thinking it looked like a decent movie, only to find that it was actually a series and i liked it so much that i watched all four dvds in a row and ordered season two)

delight — the anticipation of a proposal from a web designer for a beautiful new home for retinal perspectives

intuition — my focus now needs to be on wholeness

comfort — sleeping later in the mornings; heading outside when the sun appears; working during the cold and dark evenings

making — homemade granola to bring to my sister’s

doing — looking for the perfect images for the november/december collection

dreaming — about the day when my business sustains me

reading — addiction to perfection (marion woodman), clash of kings (george r r martin), the untethered soul (michael singer), what i talk about when i talk about running (haruki murakami), and sailing home (norman fischer)

gratitude — for this moment, right here, right now

happiness — surrounds me, inside and out

love — this month, this season, so very much

i’d love to hear what’s in your now.

p.s. in case you missed monday’s post, there’s a celebration going on through saturday!

i will be in the midwest later this week. (i have a niece! yay! i am trying to decide on a niece/nephew name since elizabeth is sort of a mouthful. i am thinking auntie e, or auntie beth, or just auntie. i heard a little girl say "auntie" this summer and it was so sweet. i wanted to be an auntie too. pronounced a as in ahhhh, by the way, not a as in ant. not that i get any say in this at all, i suspect, but i still like thinking about it.)

since i intend to be the best auntie ever, and i have fond memories of growing up in the midwest, and i can't mail any etsy shop orders until next monday, i thought i'd have an extra-special celebration.

enter auntie as the coupon code at checkout to receive 20% off anything in my etsy shop. the coupon will be good through saturday the 22nd. i'll mail the orders on monday the 24th.

plus, anyone who signs up for a reiki session this week will receive a gift of the {happy surprises} postcard set.

and since this seems to be a day for announcements ..

guess what? there are new images in the image grab bag!

guess what? i made calendars! there are now two retinal perspectives calendars: {in the land of enchantment} and {a year with atlas}. i hope you love them as much as i do. (some day, i will have to tell you the story of april & september & calendars.)

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

trust without words.

i went for a photo walk yesterday.

i know. it doesn't sound newsworthy. it was to me, though; i had only used my camera once since the end of august.

at first, i thought i must be in resistance, and i wondered what on earth was blocking me from one of my favorite things. eventually, i realized that it was just time for a break. it was time to see and be and wander without the weight of a camera, instead of always looking at the world from behind my lens.

it was a lovely break and it feels good to be home.

you know your dog is an angel when you leave him alone in the car with a hamburger and sweet potato fries while you run into the post office and then wait in line to mail your packages and you come back to find the food where you left it – completely untouched.

yes. that was atlas yesterday. i was so impressed with his cuteness and angelic-ness. as we drove home, i told him how angelic he was and fed him most of my sweet potato fries as a reward.

except that all of a sudden, it occurred to me that if i had come back to find that he had eaten the hamburger and sweet potato fries, i would have been impressed with his cuteness and cleverness.

either he eats the hamburger and sweet potato fries on his own, or i feed most of them to him as a reward for good behavior. either he is cute and angelic, or cute and clever.

clearly he wins no matter what he does.

(it is at this moment that i realize – yet again – how very well trained i am.)

almost every sunday morning, the pup and i visit the farmers' market at orenco station and then go for a walk behind the library. last sunday, we went for a walk around the orenco station neighborhood instead. i love all the greenery.

do you know that i have done a reiki session for myself every single day for over three years?

i've been thinking about this lately because i've been thinking about my reiki offer (a way to help you pause and refill your well using reiki).

occasionally, i feel moved to mention the offer. otherwise, i trust that the right people for the offer will find their way there when the time is right. that is how i found my way to everything that has been helpful to me, including reiki, and it is the way that feels right for my offer.

at the same time, i often shy away from mentioning the offer even when i feel moved to do so. it turns out that there are reasons for this.

one reason is that i very much do not want to try to convince anyone to try reiki. i went through my dark night of the soul, as it were, as part of my experience with reiki. while it was worth it to be here in this place, i would not wish the hard of that on anyone.

that's why i've been thinking about my daily reiki sessions. it occurred to me that my experience was different; it did not involve the occasional session. i tried reiki and then took the first class and then the second class and then the master class. i have done a reiki session for myself every single day since that first class, over three years ago now. some days, i give myself more than one. i can no more imagine not doing it than i can imagine not brushing my teeth.

i cannot even believe that i have done this for three years. i generally think of myself as undisciplined and uncommitted and yet somehow, i committed to this without even thinking about it.

(there are other reasons why i don't want to try to convince people to try reiki. reasons like, people vary. or, i believe that we all have our own path and i will never try to tell you that my path is right for you. or, all roads lead to rome – as in, i'm pretty sure i could have found my way to this place any number of ways; reiki just happened to be the way i stumbled upon.)

another reason is that i don't know how to talk about my experience. well, other than in bits and pieces: i don't chew my nails, i don't hate myself, i don't need steroids to be around cats, i can sing higher notes again.

i was hoping to finally talk about my experience a little but it turns out that i still cannot find the words, even if i give myself permission to talk about it awkwardly and inadequately.

still, maybe this is enough for now. i guess doing something every day for three years says something about my experience, even without saying anything else. (then again, i have brushed my teeth at least twice a day every single day for what feels like a million years, and yet i still have a cavity.)

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

i've always loved ivy. since i started my trust project, i appreciate it even more. i love how the vines wrap themselves around something and climb (up or down or sideways). it seems so very trusting in nature.

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."

– John Muir

p.s. there's still a little time to enter the giveaway. i'll draw the names later this evening.

i love my imac (old and new) and my iphone in a way that i cannot imagine loving any other computer or technological gadget. they feel like part of my family. for that, and for many other things, i am so thankful for steve job's brilliance. my life holds more beauty and delight and ease because he was in our world.