especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am so distant from the hope of myself, Around me the trees stir in their leaves And they call again, \u201cIt\u2019s simple,\u201d they say, Mary Oliver<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday, we met outdoors in Florence, and had a wonderful practice. The varied songs of the birds, the feel of the wind on our faces, and the people going by on the bike path were all reminders of the momentary nature of our experience. There was a deep feeling of being connected to nature and each other. It is also easier for some people to experience expansive awareness when practicing outdoors. Just look from the ground up to the sky with an open gaze, and see what happens. If you have not had a chance to practice in this way, come give it a try next Sunday morning!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kim Weeber<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Time in nature invites us back to a simple and natural presence we often forget as we grow older. By slowing down and opening to the world around us, we reconnect with a quiet sense of ease and belonging. As reflected in Mary Oliver\u2019s poetry, nature gently reminds us that being present, receptive, and at peace is not something we must achieve\u2014but something we can return to, again and again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-for-today"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":933,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions\/933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
and call out, \u201cStay awhile.\u201d
The light flows from their branches.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cand you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/rivervalleyinsight.emergestudio.dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Meditate-by-RelaxingMusic-is-licensed-under-CC-BY-NC-SA-2.0-lighterned.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n