To Honor Peter Matthiessen 1927-2014

“Soon the child’s clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions, and abstractions. Simple free being becomes encrusted with the burdensome armor of the ego. Not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been withdrawn. The sun glints through the pines and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty and strange pain, like a memory of paradise. After that day, we become seekers.” - Peter Matthiessen

After his wife's death, Peter Matthiessen launched a spiritual awakening while trekking into the Himalayas in search of a snow leopard. He never discovered a leopard during the journey but felt a presence as he experienced the dimensions of his mourning. 

Following the Zen practice of living life in the moment, Matthiessen learned about the process of experiencing the moments along the way.

When we take life minutes at a time and become present, our awareness increases. We can remove ourselves from living in the rear view mirror and anticipating the red light ahead by concentrating on insights provided in "now" time. 

When this moment-to-moment living occurs, we affect aspects of life we can alter. Learning this discipline leads to personal growth.  Writing takes on a deeper dimension.

"And only the enlightened can recall their former lives; for the rest of us, the memories of past existences are but glints of light, twinges of longing, passing shadows, disturbingly familiar, that are gone before they can be grasped, like the passage of that silver bird on Dhaulagiri.” - Peter Matthiessen from the Snow Leopard.


Forever is composed of nows. - Emily Dickinson

Take a walk for ten minutes to revel in the moments without expectation or destination. 

Let your child's mind out to play.

Look up into the sky. Gaze into patterns of leaves. Find sounds  as clouds plunk in puddles.

Make notes of connections and revelations during the process.

Engage with the wonder of moments with scents and textures. 

Write into longing and remorse with renewed perspective.