Fall has arrived! Crisp, clear days and cool, mild nights. Visually, everything appears so vivid this time of year with less moisture and hovering dust in the air to blur the sharp contrast of edges. Our skin may cry out for hydration, but there is the reward of amazingly distinct images in nature. Yesterday morning as I ran through the canyon a buck with a huge rack and a petite doe moved away into the brush, but paused to look back. Rutting season, I pondered, and picked up my gait again.

            Each season brings change and a new opportunity to alter the lens we look through. The cooler temperatures bring death to deciduous leaves and a striking shift in colors. And then they fall off the trees, dead. The ensuing compost and soil this creates occurs during ‘the dead’ of winter so by spring the world appears new again and full of possibilities. What a beautiful, natural cycle. But if we only see a portion of this circle of life, and fail to allow ourselves to keep seeing and trying to understand, then we miss out on the richness of the whole. It feels to me like this is akin to what is happening all around the world right now, and even in our communities and families.

            Perhaps I’m missing something, and indeed I am. My heart sinks every time someone in conversation chimes in with phrases like, “You always…” or “I’ll never…” Immediately the discussion is no longer a conversation, but a diatribe of one’s opinion without taking the other’s feelings, or new ideas, into consideration. I miss heart-to-heart conversations where both individuals are honestly and openly interested in what the other has to say, without forging ahead with assumptions and putting up a wall because that other person feels and believes differently. How can we ever be productive in moving forward peacefully if we can’t try to meet on some common ground? I really hope this is possible. If both sides are waiting for the other side to do it first then it seems like we’re in a losing battle.

            There are too many shades of gray to lump everyone into either this group or that group. These labels, at least in my humble opinion, have to FALL to start with. I love connecting with individuals from all sides and finding our common ground in order to work together through our differences. I’ve had it with the arguing and the spewing of anger that is rampant on all fronts. Why not instead, strip things down to what we humans have in common? The rest is just beliefs and opinions. Let’s create togetherness.

            As winter approaches, and nature seems to stop or slow down, let’s not get stuck where each of us is right now. Everything evolves and changes, and new information which might alter our perceptions often comes along. I hope to be open to it so I can grow and make allowances for shifts in my perspective. With luck and serious diligence, I’d like to never say “never”— and to have open and cordial conversations with each of you. I’ll see you around, my friend.

Chi Varnado has four recently published books. The Old House in the Country, women’s fiction; and three YA novels in The Dance Centre Presents series. Her memoir, A CANYON TRILOGY: Life Before, During and After the Cedar Fire, and her children’s book, The Tale of Broken Tail, are also available on www.amazon.com. Her collection of essays, Quail Mutterings, can be found on www.chivarnado.com or www.dancecentrepresents.com.

          Black holes, baited traps, charisma… they all suck us in—hook, line and sinker. But it usually happens before we even realize what’s going on. And by then it’s too late. We’ve already swallowed the Kool-Aid and then continue to only ingest that which is now familiar—and therefore true. Our inquiring mind takes in a narrowing field of reference.

          This morning I went to check the mouse snap trap which I set periodically to attempt to keep the critters at bay. But I couldn’t find it! This was a quandary. I do sometimes go into a room and then not be able to remember why, so there was that to consider. I searched the other logical places to no avail. Upon closer inspection my eyes locked onto a trail of tiny mouse droppings. Perplexed, but determined, I pulled out the refrigerator part way and there it was—upside down with mouse attached.

          With Now mind you, I’m not proud of this activity, but I justify it to myself because of this being our living space. I tried live traps without much luck. Our property is overrun with squirrels, as well, however I can’t seem to bring the hammer down on them, and neither can my husband.

          This is kind of a confession on my part. When I un-sprang the trap to drop the mouse under a bush, its leg twitched slightly. Of course, I felt terrible. After a useless apology to the rodent’s spirit, I sadly went back inside to reset the trap. Some might see me as just another “bleeding heart,” or may firmly believe that these actions are necessary and our right. But things are usually not completely one way or another. We can often get in trouble by getting sucked into either/or thinking.

          In every area of study or profession it’s generally beneficial to glean ideas from other fields, not only access what’s said and done in our own realm of expertise or experience. Whether or not something directly relates to the topic at hand, it might provide some unexpected insight. Artists, writers, choreographers, teachers… take fodder from everything that crosses their path.

          Perhaps this is why integrative medicine has become so popular. Each medical discipline brings its own expertise, but often a patient’s symptoms don’t fit within one category. With our medical system becoming more and more fragmented, it’s easy to see why one would want to be seen as a whole person, not just a sum of their symptoms.

          And then there’s education. Would you prefer your child to be taught by a person or by a method? I’d pick a person. Integrative research and teaching are essential for the growth toward our full potential. I think we must continuously question our convictions (about literally everything) since new information, insights, and alternative ways of looking at things are constantly coming forward.

          So, what do you say—is it time to unspring those traps that control our views? It may not be fun, but who knows? It just might be.

Chi Varnado has four recently published books. The Old House in the Country, women’s fiction; and three YA novels in The Dance Centre Presents series. Her memoir, A CANYON TRILOGY: Life Before, During and After the Cedar Fire, and her children’s book, The Tale of Broken Tail, are also available on www.amazon.com. Her collection of essays, Quail Mutterings, can be found on www.chivarnado.com or www.dancecentrepresents.com. You can follow her on Instagram or on www.Facebook.com/dancecentrepresents.  

           Newton’s law of inertia states that an object in motion stays in motion while an object at rest stays at rest—that is, without gravity factored in. He basically restated Galileo’s idea that a force is not needed to keep an object in motion. This is true unless acted on by an unbalanced force.

          These days, it feels to me like there are more “unbalanced forces” out there than ever. Maybe there are and maybe there aren’t, but still. We have to be prepared to turn on a dime, at any time, be willing to wing it sometimes, and seek balance as quickly as possible without letting our emotions get the best of us.

          With the pandemic ebbing and flowing and constantly changing, we try to figure out our daily lives the best we can. Conflicting information can toss us one way or pull us in another direction. Things are rarely black and white. Well-established stores and cafes up and vanish. Do we send the kids back to school or deal with remote learning? Which vaccine, when, or not? Is the website for the restaurant we want to go to even up to date with current hours, offerings and prices? Who would have thought that women’s rights would take such a major backslide? It’s nice when the stock market performs in our favor, however what goes up must come down. We just don’t know when. And then there are the gas prices. When should we travel? Will it be less expensive later or is now a better time? And so on, ad infinitum.

          Companies around the world employ “planned obsolescence”. It’s all about more dollars for the corporations. We are at their mercy as we all need some of these devices and machines in order to function in the modern world. There are frequent changes in design, termination of parts, and use of subpar materials in our phones, computers, solar panels, appliances both large and small, even in the tools we use to fix things… This is not sustainable for our planet.
After the Cedar Fire I insisted that we rebuild a house that made use of optimum “passive solar” so as not to rely on unnecessary electricity. We decided on thick log walls which provided substantial thermal mass and plenty of double-paned, low-e windows for cross-ventilation. Appliances were energy-saving units… When I applied for the ‘Green Building Rebate’ they turned us down because we didn’t put in air conditioning!

          I like to think that I’m trying to do my part by NOT going out and buying the latest iPhone or laptop, replacing functioning appliances, performing ongoing remodeling of one’s living spaces… Honestly! Our world’s toxic heap of trash is too massive already. Do we really need to keep adding to it unnecessarily? I understand that everything really is impermanent. My gut tells me that one of the biggest contributions we can make to the earth’s health is to consume less and not give in to getting newer, faster…

          I just reread the book, Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice, by Mark J. Plotkin, Ph. D. This ethnobotanist wrote about his many trips deep into the Amazon rainforests, working with medicine men and villagers, to document as many plants and their medicinal uses as possible before modern civilization wiped them out. He also passed along many of the stories that went with them. He then worked on getting this knowledge written down in their own language before it would be lost forever.

           Many years ago, I bought a donkey from a mule trainer/horse & donkey breeder. He basically just wanted to get rid of her since the preferred breeding uses a mother horse (mare) and a father donkey (jack). She had given birth to a baby donkey and they took him away to bottle feed him formula. When I asked why they didn’t want to keep her until the foal was weaned, their answer shocked me. “Because we can do better than nature.” I kid you not, these were their words. I felt so bad for this beautiful burro mama that I took her home. I heard her cry every night for months. It was heart-breaking. It seems to me that working with nature would have been so much less painful, at least for the donkey, her baby, and me, as well as being healthier and more balanced for all involved.

          These thoughts carry my mind down tangents. Rusty hinges need oiling to get them to move. Too much rust and the metal completely breaks down. Yet—a bronze sculpture buried in a manure pile and well-weathered copper can both take on amazingly stunning hues. Rust and patina. Patina and rust. Two sides of the same coin. I’ve always tried to maintain a certain balance in my life, but I’m finding it to be more challenging these days as outside forces arrive from various directions and impel me to change course. And again—to seek balance. Sometimes it can be quite a creative journey. Perhaps we might choose to look at our own roles in these circumstances as if in a movie where we all try to be “the good guy”. I think it’s worth the effort.

Chi Varnado has four recently published books. The Old House in the Country, women’s fiction; and three YA novels in The Dance Centre Presents series. Her memoir, A CANYON TRILOGY: Life Before, During and After the Cedar Fire, and her children’s book, The Tale of Broken Tail, are also available on www.amazon.com. Her collection of essays, Quail Mutterings, can be found on www.chivarnado.com or www.dancecentrepresents.com. You can follow her on Instagram or on www.Facebook.com/dancecentrepresents.