What the Spring Peepers Whispered in My Ear for Y'all to Hear: It's Spring and Time to Sing (and Day dream about the Past, Present and Future Tomorrows)

Google some spring peeper or frog videos or photos of little critters enjoying this time of year and vernal pools. I have found tiny frogs on my car, on trees and of course on the ground. One toad was ready to hop in my house, staying on the slate patio.Some can be found on White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield CT.

Or see some books in the library and collect a few to have around the house for inspiration when it's hard to get outdoors, even a calendar can be a reminder of the great garden we share in nature. the great garden idea stems from my Acorns to Oaks Team Outreach effort started 20 years ago. Over the years I developed a growing network of ideas I have shared online, in papers and in person with groups.

Nature being "a great garden" dea came to me when taking a  country walk and learning about Rudolf Steiner's educational concepts for the care of the developing soul of children by nurturing caregivers, good food and a natural rhythm to the day without TV and media or forced learning too early. I was fortunate to have gtime to care for new people on the plan-it, my own children and worked with others in their homes, at play groups, library and faith groups, folk festivals, schools and more.

With a degree in psychology from Vassar (with lots of eduation, dance, and internships in the nursery school and local schools, teaching gym for a year, coaching soccer, and helping at a nature center) I was seeing the similarity between kids, plants, communities as living ecosystems that benefit from being nurtured by healthy time outdoors and friendships.

Now the idea that we people can care for the earth and each other is becoming a mantra of the masses to quell the depletion of resources by corporate or national take-overs of resources, power and finances..but back to the peepers..(The Woodstock Experience of a half a million people gathering in August 1969 to co-exist and experience empowerment through music, expressing their ideas and concerns of the 1960s all echo these sentiments today where people are being forced out of their comfort zones by bigger problems or needing to work harder to keep what they have.

.Teamwork can help everyone feel courageous about staying in the game and being part of solutions and understanding the array of problems--and opportunities--that may come from having a growth minset rather than a fixed mindset ( a TED talk or google on that may be the next cool thing to check if I can wind this post up and not keep inserting ideas...pace yourself and read more later if you like. I intend to number the sections to help folks and myself keep track!)

Nature centers such as Audubon Centers have programs and trails open as do many parks and rural areas in general can be a nice place to 'take a hike along the side of the road, slow down, look up, and record your feelings and what you see, maybe get a picture or two or sit and sketch or make up a song with kids or as you think about the morning magic or lovely day or evening sky you connected with...'what is nature reminding you of about your childhood, times in life when the outdoors or a special place was soothing, or the kind of place you can pretend to visit when times get tough, maybe sitting by an ocean beach in a cabana watching the waves come in and kiss the shore and return to there greater form..maybe not unlke us touching down into human form, fully landing and growing and then returning back to the spiritual realm (maybe like a wave destined or choosing to return again to the same shore or one to learn new lessons...).

 I like to think about the animal-people meanings and signs such as in Cie Simurro's www.wisdom-magazine.com Totem articles and people they bring to mind...Peeper songs were the sound I heard growing up in the country, and seeing frogs make their trill sounds with their big air bubble in their throat area was very cool.

The cue of the trilling makes me feel like one of the Waltons and ready to go hang out at the frog pond, look for eggs in clumps of jelly, see the darting black tadpoles on the edges of the tiny ponds (which are not filled in but still the frog chorus rings out from the wet areas near our country homes).

..Okay, back to being a growed-up (like a big frog from a polywog with at least my ideas leaping about to discover some more new-tree-ants of life..how we can work together like ants and yes, eat better to for our blood sugar regulation which mainly means go slow on the carbs and more toward healthy veggies and fats and maybe get brave with some sprouts--life-filled foods which can give our systems an energetic life force boost with less microwaving and more slowing down when eating, drinking watered down juices and plain water not from plastic bottles with a healthy mindset to make the molecules happy just by saying or thinking 'love, peace, harmony' or one such word before drinking).

If you've never had time to journal when you wake up, keep a notepad by your bed and remember things about your dreams and ideas before you open your eyes...(so much of this is sounding like frog wisdom so maybe they are are singing ideas into my finger tips hopping about these keys as though lily pads--the keys not my finger pads..but then again the reflecting nature of ponds can have us feeling we have heaven beneath our feet when we stand at a pond's edge and see the sky scape reflected on the water's surface...which I once put into another song I'll have to dig up soon and maybe share at a Hotchkiss Gospel Fest like the one I got to enjoy with hundreds of folks Sunday, April 26th, 2015 in the lovely hall that has a view of Lakeville Lake which I swam in as a tot.)

.I need to get some important paperwork done...and remember to write down a song that came to me thinking about those who crossed over in the avalanche..

"For a moment, the world stops turning, when our lives are filled with mourning..." yet it reminded me of the lines that came to me when celebrating the arrival of a baby whose now cleaning up nicely, taking top awards in science and wanting to do the world some good..as do many of his relatives and much of their generation..so from 20 years ago..the song began...

"For a moment the world stops turning, when you greet your very first morning. When you finally see the light, you feel that everything will be all right.

Welcome to the world little baby, so much bigger than when you began, as a bit of special love shared between a woman and a good man..."

Well, we don't have to define the exact way the love was shared whether in person or by donation (and being born could mean 'starting anew after a challenge, a change in relationshiop status--keep in mind the bigger wonders of every person being more of a wonder and mystery than what they may have said or done (promised or did not follow through with) to you and others, and maybe they don't really know 'why' (nor might we know our part of staying or believing ideas, others or not knowing laws or cultural norms and such) There's the important message shared and argued about 'being born again" to be more connected with the blessings of Jesus and the Holy Spirit--again, worth some reflection (and maybe a google) to see what speaks to someone.

The energy and chi contained in the physical DNA and form of an infant comes from not only the parents but grand parents and great-grands. See www.drsha.com for info about prenatal and postnatal qualities of  the genes and energy field (chi or qi) which we can do much to heal and nurture since we may represent a whole community of souls and energy even in our one body...but also in concert with those in our lives--family and close friends (they may be our physical soul companions, a yang relationship whereas those in spirit, our ancestors and loved ones no longer in physical form may be our yin soul companions who we are still energetically connected to--more of this on www.drsha.com).

Even though that may challenge our world views which are based on systems a couple thousand years old, Dr. Sha speaks of systems that are 5 thousand years old and has done decades of training body, mind and soul to help himself and now millions of others heal, forgive, strengthen and connect to the divine (sounds like a tall order but that's what he is freely offering on his site and through books and such). He honors all traditions, and sadly most traditions don't give much heed or respect to others even working for the same goals..but seem to argue over semantics and names..

We don't allow ourselves to think with an open heart and mind about the reality of the laws we have in place and encourage more people to follow them Voluntarily (yes, even with driving or caring for kids or oneself so that everyone would be in better shape to be 'contributing members' of a friendly, helpful, functional community and yes stay afloat economically but necessarily in terms of earning all their own money, living in their very own home and so on...')

With population doubling since 1950 I think and headed to 8-9 billion in the next few decades (mostly in Africa, 85% of the growth) we really need to be ready to think in new practical ways and with a sense of people joining together to share the load and share the road of how we think about these key issues such as PERmaculture offers--people care, earth care and resource share. Okay, that's all for this very minute...have a sparkling spring day, get out there in nature and listen and sing!