{"id":3433,"date":"2015-04-08T23:06:31","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T03:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=3433"},"modified":"2015-04-08T23:08:04","modified_gmt":"2015-04-09T03:08:04","slug":"and-the-thunder-rolls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=3433","title":{"rendered":"And the thunder rolls…."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"francelightning\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our dog Frances is really afraid of storms.\u00a0 Ollie is too.\u00a0 I wonder why some dogs are afraid of the big storms, and others go completely unfazed.\u00a0\u00a0 I guess that is true of humans too.<\/p>\n

But it worries her.\u00a0 That is for sure.\u00a0 It makes that fierce, strong dog\u2026 stand and quiver.<\/p>\n

I used to be deathly afraid of storms.\u00a0 Now, I sort of like them.\u00a0 I do.\u00a0 Not the kind where they have the potential of becoming severe.\u00a0 THAT exposes the shear power of nature\u2026. right before our little eyes.<\/p>\n

The power of nature is apparent every day though.\u00a0 If we look.\u00a0 That power takes shape in many different ways.\u00a0 It manifests itself through life and death\u2026 of animals and plants.\u00a0 It stirs in the wind, and beats down with the hot sun.\u00a0 Or suspends the world in frigid cold.<\/p>\n

We certainly always take notice of the lightning strikes, the big winds, and the events which take the form of severity.\u00a0 But there is just as much power in the calm of nature.\u00a0 It connects us to something much deeper.<\/p>\n

I am\u2026 just now in my life\u2026 learning this.<\/p>\n

I had felt it, at times before, mostly in magnificence and awe.\u00a0 Like walking through a Redwood Forest, or seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time\u2026 or finding stunning waterfalls\u2026 or viewing expanse of the ocean.\u00a0 Those feelings were brief and fleeting though.<\/p>\n

But that same exact power can be felt by laying your body down against the earth\u2026 or giving a morning salutation to the rising of the sun.\u00a0 It can be found by sitting with the quiet stillness of rocks.\u00a0 Or listening to the sweet music of the Spring\u2019s breeze.<\/p>\n

We are in this place.\u00a0 And it is in us.\u00a0 But our being and all those beings around us\u2026 have a deepest self.\u00a0 It lies within us\u2026. at the level of an invisible essence.\u00a0 Our heart.\u00a0 Our spirit.\u00a0 Our soul.\u00a0\u00a0 I think it is indestructible.\u00a0 Our true nature.<\/p>\n

I am not sure we can ever truly know it with our minds. I keep trying\u00a0 to understand it\u2026. unsuccessfully.\u00a0 I think we only know it when we aren\u2019t thinking at all.\u00a0 We come to know it when our minds are still.\u00a0 Still in our world, and still with nature.\u00a0\u00a0 It happens when we TRULY find the present\u2026. when we are COMPLETELY in the NOW.<\/p>\n

And here we are.\u00a0 Standing with the lightning and the thunder.\u00a0 Feeling, and noticing that power\u2026 which simply flows from one place to the next\u2026<\/p>\n

Listen to roar.\u00a0 Listen to the quiet.\u00a0 And listen to the within.<\/p>\n

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.\u00a0 —\u00a0 Swami Vivekananda<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.\u00a0 —\u00a0 Mahatma Gandhi<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes. —\u00a0 Walt Whitman<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our dog Frances is really afraid of storms.\u00a0 Ollie is too.\u00a0 I wonder why some dogs are afraid of the big storms, and others go completely unfazed.\u00a0\u00a0 I guess that is true of humans too. But it worries her.\u00a0 That is for sure.\u00a0 It makes that fierce, strong dog\u2026 stand and quiver. I used to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nowyouseeit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3433"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3437,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433\/revisions\/3437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}