Growth Before Our Eyes

I've got some corn growing in my earthboxes and I'm enjoying watching it as well as my other vegetable plants as they grow each day. Sometimes it seems like they change and shoot up overnight while I'm asleep and not looking.

It amazes me how quickly this process unfolds. While it seems like it was yesterday when I planted the cracked little seeds into the soil, I know that it has been several days now. The plants seem to continue to replicate and grow with each passing ray of sunlight and nourishment of water.

Yet, as I'm looking for the actual ears on the corn plants to emerge, I was beginning to wonder if they would arrive. Yesterday, I saw two places which just appeared to be leaves sprouting from the side of the corn stalk. I knew that those had to be the ears of corn forming. Today, when I went out and looked at the corn plants, I saw that there was much more showing up. Now, I see some silk and the resemblance of what looks like an ear of corn forming. Most of this happened in the overnight hours.

I can't help but wonder about how things grow. It fascinates me. Even though we cannot see a blade of grass growing inch by inch, we can see after several days that it does grow. In some parts of the world, you can see this growth much quicker than in other parts. The vegetable plants are the same way in that they grow a little each day but until there are big changes, it is hard sometimes to notice.

Life is like the growth of a plant in many respects. Often we don't see the changes that take place every day. We don't really feel like we are growing and evolving or moving along. Yet, when we look back and we see how far we traveled or grew, it is then that we realize just how much we've been growing.

If we didn't stop every now and then and take note of it, we would probably just try to harvest the fruit, without realizing the beauty of creation. The beauty of growth from creation is what helps us continue to move through life, learning, discovering and offering all that there is available to us.


Blog Post & Images (c) 4/11/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

Finding Silence In Our World

The other day I was at the park trying to record some nature sounds with my new H2 Zoom Digital Recorder. Right now, I'm loving that recorder but I've still got much to learn in getting exactly what it is that I want to record. I am amazed though at the quality of the recordings that I am able to capture.

Anyway, as I was sitting there in the park and quieting myself, I realized a couple of things. There was much more noise around me than I realized. Yes, I heard the occasional airplane go overhead and for some reason, it seemed like there were many that day. The interesting thing though is I really didn't hear these noises that distinctly until I went back and played the recording on my computer.

In the recording, I found there were various people noises around me that maybe I picked up but I did not hear plainly until I listened to the recording. The planes that I heard overhead seemed to be far off in the distant but on the recording, they were much more distinct than what I thought they were.

There are many projects going on where people are seeking completely silence. In fact, some of the people who record nature sounds will state that they struggle to find truly silent places with no noise. The areas in our world that offer this are becoming much more difficult to find.

Most of us go through our day and we fail to hear all the noises that surround us. From the hum of the florescent light and buzz of a computer fan all the way to the noises of cars, engines, motors and airplanes, we are surrounded. There is so much of these things that we have grown accustomed to, that we do not truly hear them. They exist in the distance to us.

Yet, I can't help but wonder just how much they impact the body and mind. They are noise clutter in our day an they crowd out things that are truly around us which are beautiful to hear. The nervous system has to react to these stimuli in one way or another.

At one time, we lived in a major city and there was constant noise all around us. Even if you lived a distance from one of the main roads, there was hardly a time where things really seemed quiet. Distant noises traveled for miles. Even though it seemed quiet at night or in the back yard, there was noise all around us.

As we find those quiet places in life, we will discover just how many birds and other nature sounds are around us. There is much more there than we can usually pick up on. I still think back to the day we were sitting out in the front of our house and the spring time birds were chirping wildly with joy. Yet, people who were out for a walk failed to notice the loudness of the birds.

Our body does need time for stillness and silence in order to reflect, ponder and create our tomorrows. If we constantly surround our life with noise, than we are robbing ourselves of one of the greatest parts of being human.


Blog Post & Images (c) 4/11/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

White Light, Healing And Truth

Often, I'm around people who speak of the "white light" and it gets applied to everything from healing, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, fear, protection, life's difficulties and situations and probably more things than I can even list here. While all of this is well and good, I have my doubts as to a majority of these people who speak about the "white light" really and truly know what it is all about. They say they do and they claim they do but there is evidence to the contrary.

In fact, I would offer up that most people really don't experience the white light around them. They visualize it and believe it is there but they truly don't see it. I'm sure that some reading this will vehemently disagree with me but I believe, the following statement applies, to thine own self be true. Many people who so quickly talk about the white light, do so in a way that seems to be more of a crutch than a personal relationship.

When I was in the hospital in 1991 for paralysis, I was undergoing tests that took me to the point of exiting this world. While I cannot remember and recount all that happened, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I saw the "white light" that so many see when they are slipping away into the next world.

It took me many years later to realize what I had seen and witnessed because I had no idea that an experience like this could even be real. When I made the connection one day in a healing session (without the therapist even realizing to this day that I had made that connection), the puzzle pieces began to fall in place.

The "white light" that I saw, experienced, felt and became part of , is so much different than that which I hear people talk about. People talk about it as if it is something they have personally witnessed and yet, what they talk about does not add up in my mind to what I have seen. I'm not going to go into details in this post because I don't want my experiences to be regurgitated facts for others to display at will. Maybe in the future I will speak more about this but for now, I'm not ready to do that.

I personally feel people need to be very careful in what they describe and share as fact, if they have not had the actual experience. I see people in churches do this all the time, and the new age, enlightened people do this as well. It is easy to tell others something that we seem to know and believe but if were not careful, we soon find out were all headed over the cliff and there is nothing but a drop off below us.

At times, I listen to people describe some of the things like the "white light" and I think, wow, they know a lot. As I dissect what they are saying, questions start to arise in my mind. The one thing I have learned in life is that you do not have something to share because you heard it from someone else that passed it down from some long line of people. The truth that you have to share is because of your eyes being opened and your direct experiences to that piece of truth.

Of course, it is important to note as well that if we believe something, than it is true in our world. However, if we teach this to others, is it really true for their world? Or are we forcing it to be truth for someone else?



Blog Post & Images (c) 4/9/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com