Bittercress as a Model for Survival

     Bittercress is the springtime weed which defies all efforts against it. As I pull hundreds from my yard and garden every year, I feel a relationship with this tenacious plant. I feel it telling me what it knows. It knows how to survive cold, lack of water, heat, bad soil, other agressive plants, being ripped up, being smashed, it seems almost indestructable. The only way to make certain it is stopped is to compost it before it goes to seed, or burn it.

As a metaphor for life, here is what I can learn from bittercress:

It begins growing in the winter, so it can flower as soon as the sun warms..... :)
It knows to hide between other similar plants, wrapping it's roots in such a way as to create more security against being extracted.
It's roots are like elastic, they grip the soil for dear life.
If uprooted, it has reserves in it's stems and roots which allow it to attach into concrete if necessary, seeking out any iota of water or soil to sustain any small part of it's ability to produce seeds.
It produces seed which flies out from the plant stem like trajectories when the plant is barely touched. 
It grows small and tough when conditions are harsh, and big and bushy when conditions are ideal.
It doesn't care if it is not liked.

For My Peeps

Welcome to Heaven Now.

One of the hardest parts of starting a blog is creating a title which acts as a signpost to adequately portray the nuance of the subject matter. The title must also have the right search words to attract the searcher. (Having the word 'search' in the title seemed good) All humor aside, or even including all humor, I am glad you are here, and hope you are searching too, like me.

The heaven reference was inspired by a conversation with my Dad. He is a very fine, intelligent man, and a seriously good father. He is also a devout Catholic and puts a great deal of stock in 'eternal life'. As I think of eternal life, and what that means, I have come to realize it is a metaphor as are the positive and negative aspects of its loudly marketed options - heaven and hell.

If metaphor is your vehicle, let's ride this life story and find... heaven now. The option of waiting to die first is not a gamble that would appeal to an actuary, or to a lover of this life, here and now.

As to the order of the sustenance words in the title, love should, of course, come first. Yet love is sadly a broad, hackneyed word, utilized to a point of functionless verbage co-opted by Madison Avenue. ( I was just walking down Madison Avenue lately, I suspect they are hurting like many of the proletariat).
If we discuss reaching love through our practice, and the food which we offer the body, we can work our way toward love.. love of self, love of feeling good, and love in our work and our relationships.

So, we will explore how our practice, the food we consume, our thoughts and the way we spend our energies can help us follow our way to love.. to heaven now.

If you have an insight which fits this paradigm, you may write it here. I offer to you all the most unique information I can find, all the inspiration I can muster, all the encouragement you will accept, and my inimitable love.

A rising tide floats all boats... so lets search out heaven now!