Physically, the move from Fort Wayne to San Francisco has been very good for me. I’m renting space in a house, located in Haight-Ashbury, that used to function as an Ashram and is still referred to as the Ram Das Ashram. The couple who own the house are Sikhs, so sometimes when I come downstairs to get coffee and breakfast, I get to hear the very fine voice of Siri Datta singing Kirtan. My bedroom is on the third floor, kitchen is on the first floor, and laundry is in the basement. As you can imagine, I am up and down those flights of stairs all the time. My resting heart rate is below 60 for the first time in years. I am getting stronger. I am gaining in endurance. This is a vegetarian household, so I’m re-learning skills that I had when I was in my 30’s. I’m enjoying co-housing.
I am either walking or taking the Muni (bus/train) most everywhere I go. I want to tell you about the compassionate eyes I get to see on the bus. Almost always there is someone on the bus who doesn’t have a home to go to. When people get on the bus, their eyes are filled with compassion when they look at someone who is less fortunate than they are. Those compassionate eyes, direct from each person’s foundational core are an amazing gift to witness.
I’ve joined a co-working space, conceived as a “4th place,” called The San Francisco Commons. You can look them up online or on Instagram: @thecommons_sf. I am being asked internally to feel myself as Beloved or Precious at my own core and create life from that experience. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am called to teach—it’s simply part of the structure of my being. I would like to teach from within the vulnerable experience of not knowing the answer. This is the most important thing I’m working on right now. I hope this communicates—I don’t know enough to say it differently yet.
Last weekend I borrowed a car and drove to Los Gatos to spend the weekend with my sister, Denise. The painting hangs in her guest bedroom—one that I did so long ago, I’d forgotten about it. In case you can’t read it, it says: “Grace fills you always. Create what you love.” The picture is of the Delphinium Garden in Golden Gate Park, showing off all the shades of periwinkle blue. The prayer by Thomas Merton describes the focus of my life currently.
Next time I’ll tell you about the experience that instigated the move.
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