I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Rita Simon’s reflection “This is My Home, and These are My People.” We are not two seagulls separated by 6 feet of water; we are two seagulls connected by 6 feet of water. – John Bell  There is no difference between healing your body, healing the Earth,or helping another to heal. It is all the same body. — Alla Renee Bozarth What do you see? Two seagulls are bobbing on a lake a few feet apart with the water surrounding them.

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Elaine Breckenridge’s reflection on the spirituality of the tides. Living on Camano Island, Washington, an island governed by the tides, has taught me about the reality of rhythm and change. I know that every six hours the land and waterscapes will look different and usually I am comfortable with that. But just when I think I know what to expect with the changing tide—surprise! One day, there will be new logs that have washed up and now block a popular

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Bart Brenner’s reflection on faith. You are the wine, / I am the cup.I can yield nothing till I am filled up. (O Sun, morning prayer, day six) The pandemic brought illness and death, and a strange way of living—lock down, masking, and social distancing. Living in a cloistered community was not welcomed by many. As an octogenarian, living alone since the death of my wife six years ago, the pandemic gave a new meaning to hermitage.

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Nancy Collins-Warner’s reflection, “Circling Stones.” On the hill behind our little cabin, perched in a river canyon, is a circle of stones I laid out a decade ago. As taught by an Elder, stones are placed in each of the directions with a larger one at the center. I enter from a particular direction on a given day; walk it clockwise (rarely widdershins); or simply be with the whole inscription on the earth, under an imminent sky.