Daybreak on a cold mid December Morning! And how I love the opportunity to begin a new day--I rarely wonder what it will bring, but rest in knowing that it will surely be mysteriously Itself!

There is the day that just Is, and then the day that we manufacture. When I am calm enough to stand out of the way, then the day just Is, existing beyond anything I can possibly add. It's already there, it's already complete. I've sensed that before, and I've rested there as well, just a few breaths, until I was back to the self-created day. But oh, that little mysterious moment of Is-ness, of Suchness, it's a deeply softening thing.

December has two full moons. It's a Blue Moon month, which really only happens about every 2 years and 3 months, so this December is mysterious!

The Winter Solstice on the 21st is mysterious! The shortest day of the year, a sun that struggles to rise and so quickly disappears, almost aching to leave us. And then to rise once again, 60 seconds earlier, setting 60 seconds later, stretching, stretching, stretching into greater light, as if into Shunyata!

Do we humans wax and wane in a similar manner? I think we do, though perhaps not so reliably, or not so that we can base a calendar on our ebb and flow. But maybe we can, I don't know.

In one cold month, we celebrate Satori, the event of Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment. We celebrate 2 full moons, the Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, all celebrations of faith, holding the promise that even in the darkest evening, the sun will rise again, we have yet one more opportunity to begin a new day, to inhale and exhale, to be reborn, to be enlightened.

What a mysterious opportunity! What a mysterious life!

Namu Amida Butsu!

for Sensei Al Bloom, my gratitude