Sunday, May 18, 2008

How to be rich without having a lot of money



This morning, I am writing from the big, bustling Whole Foods market in Pasadena, where I'm spending the next week with my mom while my dad travels to Canton, Ohio, to visit his older sister.

It's hot here... feels like it's been hot everywhere in California. Drove from Monterey down to here yesterday on Hwy 101... and the temperature felt like it matched the highway number for most of the day. But there were some blissful breaks when the highway bent toward the ocean. I stopped in Morro Bay (one of my favorite California coastal towns) for a great lunch of halibut tacos and 1 absolutely brilliant barbecued oyster at the Tognazzini's Dockside Restaurant (don't let the cheezy mermaid scare you away from this great place!). Ate outside on a dock and watched the fishing boats coming back in from the ocean.

One realization I've had over the last week of this sabbatical is that I am rich -- rich in time. So often I've defined 'rich' by the amount of money I have in the bank (which is never much), and too often I've carried around a 'mind of poverty' (from the Zen Peacemaker Order's precepts -- see #8). But this week, it hit me that time is incredibly valuable... and now I'm rolling in it. This week I had enough time to make a scrumptious dinner of risotto (first time I've ever made it!) and chicken and bok choy for my friend Kristi and me, enough time to take a leisurely drive to Southern California, and enough time to give my parents a hand when they need it. It's so good to feel rich.

Since gold and yellow are good colors for richness, I'm posting a photo shot this past week... some more beautiful Monterey flowers, nasturtiums this time.

May you find the richness in your life as well...how does it show up for you?

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