Join Julie Potiker as she leads you through this loving kindness meditation. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Mountain Forest: Early Summer", by Joan Koerper.

Mountain Forest: Early Summer

Raven caws

Ladybug lands on my finger

two California Quail mosey by

Band-Tailed Pigeons coo

breeze tickles leaves and pollinated blossoms

of the hundred-year-old Apple trees

as Buddha, seashells in folded hands, offers thanks.

Sap from Jeffrey Pines glistens

Mistletoe grows lustily, greedy to overcome

all other plants nearby.

Wild Miner's Lettuce thrives to nourish.

Robin lands in the Flowering Plum

Finches, Steller's Jay, Black-Capped Chickadees

join travelers visiting feeders on shepherd's hooks

and sip water in planter drainage saucers.

Perfume from late-blooming Lilacs

drifts over my shoulder

as Periwinkles on the vine claim a garden.

Squirrel arrives for her peanuts.

Lizard says hello, then scurries for boulder.

Raven makes a line drive

for the Band-Tailed Pigeons

who burst upward in flight escaping

to the north side of the mountain valley.

Saraswati, standing four-feet tall,

buried under seven feet of snow

only ten weeks ago, is once again

dancing her eternal circle of protection

by the front door.

Strawberry Full Moon

steadily travels her course

to illuminate

the multitudinous miracles of startdust

The Forest of Cloudless Night.

-Joan/MJ Koerper

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.

Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com

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