I only see a small sliver of sun above our roof now, but soon it will be rising in the south again and I will program myself with that luminous experience.
Happiest day, beloved Joy Train Rider! I love you. Bless you. I affirm we are doing well in the face of some very concerning challenges, including the President’s speech last night.
In content, tone and delivery it sounds to me like an anti-democracy manifesto, and I have enough faith in my country to believe the masses of us will not submit to that.
So how wonderful is it that as I prepared to start up the Joy Train and take us to a fairy garden national park less than 10 miles from our White House Park where such crudities were being hurled, my inspirational morning video was describing Epigenetics, the science of how our inner state “modifies our biology.”
What?! I was a little outraged to discover that there’s science behind it, as we have mostly been trained to distrust the mind-body connection. The video even gave a practical example of how to program our bodies most beneficially, with the feelings from gratitude having the greatest benefit on our cells:
“Rather than merely thinking about something you appreciate, feel it. Feel the warmth of gratitude in your chest, not the idea of it but the specific texture of it as it moves through your body. . . “
That’s helpful to me because sometimes when I’m trying to practice gratitude I realize I’m THINKING it instead of feeling it. Now I have a blueprint I can follow.
Hard to believe I’m only hearing about this the month before my 75th birthday, though I’m glad to know it at all.
The feelings spontaneously flowed through me as I thought, “ what a perfect match for where we are going today.”
Because the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, on the banks of the Anacostia River adjoining a struggling DC neighborhood, makes you feel like you’ve stumbled upon a unicorn peeping through the leaves of a forest on the edge of town. Really.
This weekend is the busiest and most exciting time of the whole year at the park, as it’s the Lotus and Water Lily Festival Saturday and Sunday, July 18 and 19. We’re invited to immerse ourselves “in a weekend of art, wellness, music, and cultural expression surrounded by the peak bloom of lotuses and water lilies.”
The National Park Service describes the unit thus:
Imagine thousands of these and multi color lotus blooms!
“Deep within Kenilworth lies an oasis, hidden behind trees and cattails. It's a place where beavers build their homes and turtles sleep on logs. Lotus blooms rise from the muck and lilies sit on the water. The wind dances with the dragonflies, rustling through the trees, carrying the song of the birds until it brushes across your face, fading to a whisper, saying ‘come join.’”
I’m getting my epigenetic modulation from the memories of this visit I described in 2013. The fact that this permanent display of living beauty was created by a one-armed Civil War veteran and his beloved daughter stands against every lie and destructive thing coming out of our Capitol. It gives me great encouragement. What is real lasts. I heartily recommend that you go this weekend if you’re able.
Our longtime friend and colleague Ranger Gonzalez invites you to stop by the Gardens this weekend and say hello.
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