The white patches of snow remained on the mountain side.
The snow on the lower levels melted away with the warming sun.
People were venturing out for the first time in a few days.
The steep roads and drives covered with ice and snow had made leaving home risky.

Driving the road to town, a hawk flew overhead with a small rodent in its beak.
A successful hunting, and food to survive another day, truly living off the land.
Of course, the flip side of that story is from the perspective of the rodent.
Is this the zen of life, balance, harmony, the continuation of one and the end of another?

Zen, to drop the illusion of the cycle of life and death,

…the path to enlightenment through direct observation,

…to look beyond the obvious by accepting what is,

…the experience, as a doorway to enlightenment.

Balance, equal parts, supporting each other,

…a point of equality in the here and now,

…real or ideal, or are both the same,

…unlearning what we were taught by finding our own truths.

Harmony, being in accord with (what?),

…all parts coming together,

…adding with non-destructiveness,

…many voices combined as one.

Is the continuation of one so different from the end of another?

The trip to town was prompted by the need to see a doctor.
It’s the fourth time in three months the lungs have struggled with air.
Ease of breathing seems to come and go like the snow and the sun, the night and the day.
The perspective of life has certainly changed over the years and with the years.

As one would imagine, living in the mountains is much different than living by the ocean.
And, living in a rural setting is quite different from living in a highly populated metro area.
There is much to be learned from both, but prerequisites are required for this to occur.
Open-mindedness, acceptance, tolerance for different viewpoints and courtesy top the list.

It would be easy to allow the differences to dominate and dictate the experience.
Doing so could easily lead to discouragement, frustration and a sense of alienation, if not anger.
Sometimes these attitudes are there, out of awareness, in the arena of denial.
The sense of discomfort that arises in the self, the sense of something being off is the red flag.

To look inward or outward for the solution is a question that can confuse.
If there is a zen to it, the balance and harmony will occur with the awareness of both.
But, to look for the fix, for the discomfort is to look for control rather than acceptance.
The solution is in surrender to the illusion of control and recognizing, without judgement, all conditions.

Internal control

…of external conditions

…the path to the soul

…bringing admissions.

To live without pain

…while reasonable to think

…the source of great bane

…we relieve in a blink.

Acceptance it seems

…while so hard to do

…provides us the means

…to make the break through.

Open the heart

…to allow for love

…the place to start

…no need to shove.

…Others aside

…there’s room for all

…no need to hide

…no place to fall.

This surrender and acceptance is not the same as saying the conditions are okay or acceptable.
However, each set of circumstances need to be recognized before a plan can be implemented.
No benefit received if the difficulty of the breathing or treatment are ignored or blamed.
Acceptance of the solution, while indeed temporary, leads to a reasonable path, the middle way.

To find the way

…open the heart

…live in the day

…don’t stand apart

…remember and know

…I’m one with you

…so let go and grow

…and enjoy the view.

To be accepted by the new community one needs to be accepting of the new community.
Just as the snow and the mountain side merge as one, so will the human relationships.
Each will retain its own form even though the form will change with time.
Resistance to acceptance and change will invite disharmony and unbalance in both self and community.

A trip to the doctor can be a chore, a burden or an opportunity for increasing awareness.
Being in the present, with heart and mind open, the wonder and joy of being alive will enter.
Understanding the form and function of being, opens the doorway to awareness.
And this awareness leads to the place that just is.