winter is here! well, hawaiian winter anyway. this gives us a chance to wear our jeans, drink cocoa with hot coconut milk (yum!), and snuggle up with cats while reading a good book on an overcast day with wind and rain. so what if it ain't so sunny as in summer. it's all good.

for a twist

for a twist, lumahai

the last couple of days have been pretty cool, and the accompanying north swell have reminded us that the season's have changed. while we don't really have fall, we do have a distinct winter. it's primarily seen in the ocean-- with waves returning to our north shore, the triple crown going down on oahu and yes, the occasional grey days that sometimes seem to run together for longer than we would like. 

but really what's not to like? it's all present. change. rain is just rain. grey is just grey. sun is just sun. preference is just in our mind. in a way, so are sensations on the body because although the body feels the warmth or the coolness it is registered in the mind. and in the mind those feelings are organized, and of course, judged, valued, liked, and disliked. 

rainbow wave breaking, lumahai

recently i have been re-reading one of my favorite book Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mine. It is edited by yogi and psychologist Michael Stone. this morning's essay was on mindfulness of the body. at first it seemed strange to me that a spiritual thought, much less such a huge spiritual endeavor  as liberation or moksa, would even consider the body! but the buddha is wiser then me and once that i realized the body is just a metaphor the physical or the here and the now-- the world and life in the world-- it began to make sense. it's brilliant. the spiritual is in the physical. actually there is only one. there is really no separation nor distinction. it's just all there is. so i guess there is really no winter nor summer. it's just the physical. it's just the spiritual. it's just experience of what is now. without terms, without judgement and without preference. it's all the same, just different. 

morning in hanalei hanalei on a day (there is no winter, there is no summer), princeville