Magnolias

The scent of gardenias, honeysuckle lingers in the morning air. The spring season is melting into early summer. Any day now, I will hear crickets and frogs and maybe the cicadas too. I relate to BobDylan’s “The Times They Are A Changing”, in fact, it echoes in my mind as I listen to it. https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/times-they-are-changin/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90WD_ats6eE

The Times They Are A-Changin’

WRITTEN BY: BOB DYLAN 

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’

The lyrics are compelling and persuasive ringing in my ears when I hear or read the news. How does one navigate these turbulent times? Bob Dylan’s lyrics say, “better start swimming”. For many years I taught children and adults swimming. learning to swim could save your life. Nowadays, I don’t teach swimming, in fact I rarely swim anymore, the time are a changing, I am older and perhaps wiser. I learned a way to navigate the turmoil of our times, the long commutes, rising cost of living and the restlessness I often feel. I learned to “swim”, in turbulent murky water and it is saving my life. I meditate daily and lead meditation, spirituality, grief and loss groups. I think of it as lifesaving practice and a habit much like swimming. Teaching of these groups has deepened my meditation practice. I am privileged to witness many people experience mediation as a practice renewing their life even in difficult times. 

I am offering meditation online and in person beginning in June. I enjoy sharing how meditation can be a way to “swim” in changing times. As a last word, we are all experiencing change and it is not life affirming, it is painful and often traumatizing. 

Beginning in June I will offer meditation by appointment on Thursdays and Fridays.