Treehouse Treasures: The Tree of Serendipity

Treehouse Treasures
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The Tree of Serendipity: A living collection of audio offerings gathered beneath the branches of quiet wonder. Each episode is a spontaneous encounter with grace: a page from a beloved book, sacred wisdom from timeless luminaries, a spark of reflection, or a whisper of insight. Sometimes guests arrive with treasures of their own. Always, the invitation is to pause, listen, and play with the mystery. I sense a deeper weaving taking place—threads of wisdom, reverence, and remembering coming together across books, voices, and hearts. Please Enjoy!

  1. Aug 12

    The Great Conversation: Bees, Trees, Sky Rivers, and the Art of Listening

    Welcome to the Tree of Serendipity... Where I share wisdom from great lumnaries through randomly selecting a book and passage. What if the world is not a collection of separate things, but a great conversation already underway? This morning, the Tree of Serendipity opened Jacqueline Freeman’s Song of Increase to a chapter called “The Song of the World: The Communion of Bees and Flowers.” And there I began. With bees. With flowers. With pollen and minerals, dandelions and soil. Freeman invites us into a world alive with relationship—a world in which the bee is not simply collecting nectar, the flower is not simply blooming, and even the humble dandelion may be participating in the restoration and rebalancing of the land. Her reflections carry forward some of the vision of Rudolf Steiner, whose pioneering work in biodynamic agriculture invited us to perceive a farm—and perhaps the Earth itself—as a living community of relationships. From there, my contemplation travels to the great sumaúma, the Mother Tree of the Amazon, and to the astonishing rivers in the sky created as forests draw water from the Earth and release it again into the atmosphere. Earth becomes tree. Tree becomes vapor. Vapor becomes cloud. Cloud becomes rain. And suddenly a wonderful question appears: Where does the tree end? At its bark?Its roots?Its leaves?The cloud forming overhead? And where, for that matter, do we end? This episode is an invitation into the magic that seems to reveal itself whenever we loosen our certainty and open our minds, eyes, and ears to listen. A book falls open. A bee visits a flower. A weed pushes through the earth. A tree sends a river into the sky. And perhaps we remember that we aren't standing outside any of this. We are participants. The great conversation was already happening. Come sit with me for a little while inside the Tree of Serendipity. Let’s listen. Perhaps the world has something to say. 🌳🐝🌼 Blessings and Much Love on your Journey! May All Beings Be Happy and Free! Continue the conversation: Visit the Treehouse Treasures Blog for the written reflection, references, and a little more to explore. 🌳. Treehouse Treasures Blog

    The Great Conversation: Bees, Trees, Sky Rivers, and the Art of Listening

  2. Aug 11

    Would You Bow? Recognizing the Friend

    Welcome to The Tree of Serendipity! Thank you for listening! What if the sacred isn't something we have to find—but something we learn to recognize? Today's Tree of Serendipity opens to a passage from Coleman Barks' book, Rumi: The Big Red Book: The Great Materpiece Celebrating Mystical Love and Friendship --- to a passage with the great saint, Ramana Maharshi asking, Who am I? and Rumi asking, Would you bow if the Friend rose inside you? Then I walk out the door. An emerging sun. A beloved mountain. A couple from Nottingham preparing to marry there at sunrise. A stranger whose tattoo tells the story of three brothers bound by faith. And back home, one little cat curled peacefully into the sofa. A morning meditation on attention, belonging, mystery, and the possibility that the Friend is appearing everywhere. Perhaps our only obligation is to walk slowly enough to notice. Would you bow? 🌅

    Would You Bow? Recognizing the Friend

  3. Jul 5

    "Oops, Oh Well" — Statues, Striving, and the Peace In Between

    Welcome to Treehouse Treasures and The Tree of Serendipity! Climb into the Treehouse with me and discover a treasure that promises to be a gift you will cherish for ever!! This mornings book and sharing honestly feels like Christmas morning — it led me somewhere unexpected: to a painting of Michelangelo's David, a memory of a kundalini yoga class, and a very simple, very human phrase that might just save your day. In this episode: why I love statues more than I probably should, a Mother Teresa line that says everything about fame vs. peace in one breath, and the two words I now say to myself about a dozen times a day. Come sit with me for a few minutes and remember how to come home to yourself. Have a Namaste! A Beautiful Day! May All Beings Be Free. May All Beings Be Loved. May All Beings Be Safe. Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hahn Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo

    "Oops, Oh Well" — Statues, Striving, and the Peace In Between

  4. Jun 29

    Seeing with the Eyes of Love

    "Love is perfect kindness born in and from the eyes." — Joseph Campbell This morning brought one of those rare moments when the Tree of Serendipity offered not one book, but two. The first was Songs of Kabir. Tucked inside was a small card I had written years ago with a quote from Joseph Campbell: "Love is perfect kindness born in and from the eyes." When I opened the book, Kabir seemed to answer that very thought: "Oh brother, he who has seen that radiance of love is saved." As I sat with those words, another sentence quietly arose within me: The one who sees the radiance of love is healed. Perhaps salvation and healing begin in the same place—not by becoming someone different, but by learning to see differently. Kabir continues: "The river and its waves are one... When the wave rises it is the water, and when it falls it is the same water again." Then comes the image that made me smile. He writes that the worlds are strung together like beads on a rosary, inviting us to look upon that sacred mala with the eyes of wisdom. What a beautiful companion to Joseph Campbell's reminder that love itself is born through the eyes. Then the second book emerged. Mantak Chia's Taoist Ways to Transform Stress into Vitality opened to the chapter on the Inner Smile. He reminds us to smile first with our eyes, then allow that smile to fill the heart, and finally let it spread throughout the entire body. He writes that when we cultivate a peaceful, loving heart, "our troubles melt away." How extraordinary that these three teachers, separated by centuries and cultures, were all pointing toward the same quiet truth. See with loving eyes. Smile with the whole body. Remember the radiance that has never left. Chia says, "When a trying situation arises, no matter what it might be, you have to learn not to be drawn in by it." Reflecting on this, I realized that trying situations, anxiety, and unhealthy thoughts arise often throughout my day—especially sometimes when I'm hiking, running, or doing any kind of cardio. It's almost as though they were quietly waiting beneath the surface, ready to be released. I've learned that most of the time, I don't need to fix or resolve them. If I simply notice them with kindness and keep going, they often dissolve as naturally as a cloud passing through a wide blue sky. Awareness itself seems to know how to complete what no longer needs to be carried. Perhaps the Inner Smile is simply another way of meeting these visitors—with warmth instead of resistance. Today I'm grateful for Kabir, Joseph Campbell, and Mantak Chia—for reminding me that wisdom often arrives from many directions, all pointing toward the same living truth. May we see with the eyes of love. May our hearts become radiant. May our smiles bring healing wherever we go. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti! p.s. the photo presented here is from the very spot and moment I was finishing this podcast episode... I was amazed when I looked at it just now to add... I have never seen this before and I've taken many sunrise pictures... there is a sphere that unmistakably resembles an eye... and eye opening even! I embellished it very slightly for the viewer...

    Seeing with the Eyes of Love

  5. Jun 16

    How Available Are You? The Science of Being

    Welcome to Treehouse Treasures! I'm so happy you are here! This morning, the Tree of Serendipity delivered one of those moments that brought laughter, smiles, and a reverent bow. There was nothing else to do—I simply had to share. The random book selection for today is The Science of Being and Art of Living by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation and teacher to millions around the world, including the Beatles. Of all the books. Of all the pages. Of all the mornings. There it was. As though another beloved teacher had quietly walked into the Treehouse carrying a lantern. 💎 What struck me immediately was the language. Attunement. Health. The nervous system. Being. The very themes I have been exploring in my own practice and developing in my book, 1 Degree Up. Maharishi describes the mind as standing between Being and the body, much like a tree standing between earth and sky. The roots draw nourishment from the ground and distribute it throughout the tree. Likewise, the mind receives nourishment from Being and carries it into the relative world of activity. When that connection is clear, life flourishes. When it becomes obstructed, we suffer. What a beautiful image. The tree. The roots. The nourishment. The flow. The remembering. 💛 One passage particularly caught my attention. Maharishi describes a state reached through deep meditation in which the body becomes profoundly restful while remaining alert. Not asleep. Not dull. Not passive. Not striving. He writes of a condition in which the nervous system is neither active nor passive, but poised. Like an arrow drawn fully back upon a bow. Still. Ready. Alive. Alert. The moment I read those words, my heart leapt. Because they point so beautifully toward what I have been exploring through the lens of 1 Degree Up. So often we imagine well-being as either activity or rest. Doing or stopping. Pushing or collapsing. But perhaps there is another possibility. A state of effortless readiness. A relaxed availability. A nervous system that is not bracing against life and not withdrawing from life, but participating with life. Present. Open. Responsive. Alive. 💎 Another insight that caught my attention was Maharishi's discussion of desire. When we lose touch with that inner intelligence, we can find ourselves expending enormous energy pursuing what doesn't nourish us while overlooking what does. 💎 Guru ji also discusses how the breath naturally becomes quieter and more refined as the mind settles. Because the entire system is becoming more efficient. Not because we force it. Not because we control it. When the mind settles, the breath settles. When the breath settles, the body settles. When the body settles, our experience of life changes. Not because we become different. Because we become more available. And availability, I am beginning to suspect, may be one of the great hidden treasures of spiritual life. Availability to beauty. Availability to joy. Availability to intuition. Availability to connection. Availability to Grace. Perhaps this is what so many of us are truly seeking. Not more effort. Not more information. Not another self-improvement project. But a way of being that is alert, alive, and at ease. ✨ Grace often arrives disguised as coincidence. Yet when we slow down enough to notice, life begins to feel less like a collection of separate events and more like a conversation with the Infinite. The invitation is not to become something new. It is to remember what has always been here. Alert. Alive. Connected. Available. Ready to sing its song. 🎵🍓💎 Jai Guru Dev. 🙏✨ A Treasure for Today

    How Available Are You? The Science of Being

  6. Jun 9

    Benevolent Conspiracy: Part Two

    Welcome to Treehouse Treasures and the Tree of Serendipity! Today's topic is: Benevolent Conspiracy, Part Two - Breathing Together Yesterday, I shared a discovery that emerged while working on my book, 1 Degree Up. I had been exploring how modern life can sometimes pull us away from our natural state of presence, self-trust, and connection to our deeper knowing. At one point, I found myself considering the word conspiracy. Ultimately, I chose not to use it. The word carried a weight and charge that didn't quite match the spirit of what I was trying to express—a message rooted not in opposition, but in remembering. And then, our random book yesterday from the Tree of Serendipity appeared out of hundreds... Wayne Dyer's book, Wisdom of the Ages, and it fell open to page 125: reflections on Emerson's essay Self-Reliance. There on the page was Emerson's famous line: "Society everywhere is in conspiracy against every one of its members." I looked up the original meaning of the word, which was largely what yesterday's episode was about... Conspirare. To breathe together. The phrase stayed with me through the rest of yesterday and then this morning as I headed up the mountain, something unexpected happened. As I sat looking out across the landscape, I began to feel the reality of that idea in a very direct way. Not as a concept, but as an experience. The trees. The birds. The lizards. The clouds. The mountains. The people walking the trail. All of us sharing the same atmosphere. All of us participating in the same miracle. Not metaphorically. Literally. The same air moving through billions of unique forms. And suddenly I understood something I had never quite felt before. The feeling of being alive is the feeling of being part of something magnificent. There is a particular joy that arises when we feel ourselves participating in something greater than our individual story. We experience it when we sing together, create together, serve together, hike together, or work toward something meaningful alongside others. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. And somehow, we do too. This is not merely poetry. Modern neuroscience tells us that human nervous systems are relational. We influence one another constantly. A calm person enters a room and changes the room. A joyful person changes the room. A fearful person changes the room. We regulate together. We breathe together. We belong to one another far more than we often realize. Yet Emerson's insight remains just as relevant today. What happens when we enter a group and the atmosphere feels tense, fearful, judgmental, or contracted? What happens when it becomes difficult to breathe? Perhaps this is where self-reliance takes on a deeper meaning. Not separation. Not isolation. Not withdrawing from others. Rather, remaining connected to our own inner knowing while staying in relationship. Remembering our own breath while surrounded by a different rhythm. Staying rooted in kindness without abandoning ourselves. For me, this is the invitation. Not conformity. Not separation. Participation. Conscious participation. To recognize that we are not merely witnessing life. We are life. One of its expressions. One of its voices. One of its breaths. And perhaps the most beautiful realization of all is that we have never been outside this Benevolent Conspiracy. We have been breathing together from the very beginning. ✨🌳🕊️💛 May All Beings Be Free. May All Beings Be Loved. May All Beings Have a Home, Friends, and Be Safe.

    Benevolent Conspiracy: Part Two

  7. Jun 8

    Conspiracy: The Truth of the Word

    Welcome to Treehouse Treasures and the Tree of Serendipity. Today, a book among hundreds fell open to a passage from Wayne Dyer's Wisdom of the Ages—specifically his reflections on Emerson's essay Self-Reliance. What happened next surprised me. Together, we'll explore the original meaning of the word conspiracy and what I'm calling a Benevolent Conspiracy—a discovery that completely changed the way I see this often misunderstood word. It all began yesterday while I was working on my new book, 1 Degree Up. I found myself considering whether to use the word conspiracy in a passage about modern life and the many forces that seem to pull us away from our natural state of presence, ease, and self-trust. I ultimately decided against it. Then, the very next morning, life had something to say. If you've ever wondered whether the extraordinary might be hiding in the ordinary, or whether life sometimes speaks through birdsong, synchronicity, intuition, and even the random page of a book, I think you'll enjoy this one. It's worth a listen—or a read. Wayne Dyer's reflections on Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay Self-Reliance. There, staring back at me from the page, was Emerson's famous line: "Society everywhere is in conspiracy against every one of its members." I laughed out loud. Not because I felt validated. Because life seemed to be winking at me and saying... "Look closer!" Curious, I looked up the origin of the word conspiracy. To my surprise, it comes from the Latin conspirare: To breathe together. How can this be so? Suddenly the whole word transformed. The same root gives us inspire, respire, expire, and even spirit. Long before conspiracy became associated with secret plots, it simply referred to people moving together toward a common purpose—breathing together, acting together, participating in a shared direction. And that got me wondering. What if there is another kind of conspiracy unfolding all around us? A benevolent one. The birdsong and bees outside the window. A dragonfly crossing our path. A friend calling at exactly the right moment. A phrase appearing three times in one day. A random page in a book. The mountains. The breath. The quiet intuition that arrives when we finally stop long enough to listen. What if life itself is constantly conspiring on behalf of our remembering? Not because the universe is sending coded messages, but because when we become available, we begin to notice what has been present all along. Emerson called us to trust the integrity of our own mind. Modern neuroscience reminds us that beneath all the noise, our nervous system is constantly orienting toward safety, connection, and wholeness. The sages point even deeper. They invite us to remember the simple truth beneath every story, role, and identity: Simply: I Am. Whole. Loved. Here. Perhaps the extraordinary isn't separate from the ordinary. Perhaps it is hiding within it. Perhaps wonder is not something we find. Perhaps it is something we notice. And perhaps the most beautiful conspiracy of all is life's gentle and persistent invitation to remember who we truly are. ✨🌳🧚🕊️💛 Be Love Now. May All Beings Be Free, Feel Loved and Safe, Have a Home and Amazing Friends! Om Shanti Shanti Shanti!

    Conspiracy: The Truth of the Word

  8. Jun 6

    The Song of the World: Permission to Express

    The Song of the World: Morning Reflections on Expression, AI, and Humility. This morning, I found myself sitting at the top of my staircase, looking east toward the Four Peaks mountain range. The birds were just beginning to wake. The horizon glowed with that soft light that belongs only to the first moments of day. Everything seemed to be singing. And perhaps that is what this reflection is about. Song. Expression. The simple miracle of being alive. Recently, I heard a beautiful definition of humility from Swami Sarvapriyananda of the Vedanta Society of New York. He described humility as seeing the greatness in others. I love that. And I would add this: Humility is seeing the greatness in others, celebrating that greatness, and encouraging one another to express it more fully. When we truly recognize the beauty, gifts, and uniqueness of another being, something remarkable happens. We create space. We create welcome. We create safety. And safety matters. Much of my recent work has centered around the nervous system and the question: How do we create a greater sense of safety in our lives? Not by controlling the world, but by tending to what is within our sphere of influence. Prayer. Gratitude. Yoga. Presence. Posture. Breath. Even something as simple as lifting the chin slightly and gazing toward the horizon can communicate a powerful message to the body: You are here. Aware. Safe. From that place, expression becomes more natural. More authentic -- Joyful. The older I get, the more I recognize that creativity is not something we own. It is something we participate in. The words I speak were given to me. The songs I sing arrive from somewhere beyond my individual self. The ideas, poems, stories, paintings, and conversations that move through our lives feel less like possessions and more like gifts. Expressions of a much larger intelligence. A much larger whole. This is why I find myself celebrating creative expression wherever I encounter it. A song shared around a campfire. A first-time painter. A grandmother writing her memories. A teenager creating videos. A friend recording a podcast. Someone finally publishing the book that has been living in their heart for years. I want more of this in the world. Not less. I want people to feel safe enough to share what they love. Safe enough to participate. Recently, I've heard concerns about artificial intelligence and creativity. While thoughtful discussion is important, I find myself looking at AI through a slightly different lens. What if it is another form of collective creative intelligence? What if it helps someone find words they couldn't quite access before? What if it helps create an image that expresses something deeply felt? What if it opens doors for people who may not have had access to teachers, mentors, books, or educational opportunities? If a tool helps another human being express what is in their heart, I find myself saying: Wonderful. Create. Share. Sing your song. This morning's random book opening brought me to a chapter called The Song of the World from Jacqueline Freeman's beautiful book Song of Increase. In it, she describes bees not merely collecting nectar and pollen, but participating in a vast web of relationships involving flowers, minerals, soil, insects, plants, and the living intelligence of the Earth. Have a Listen! Enjoy! My wish is that we create more circles of trust. Places where people feel welcomed. Places where people feel seen. Places where creativity is encouraged rather than measured. Places where we celebrate the greatness we discover in one another. May we create lives that support authentic expression. May we listen deeply. May we encourage generously. May we sing our songs freely. And may we remember that we are all participating in the Song of the World. May all beings know safety, belonging, and love. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.

    The Song of the World: Permission to Express
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About

The Tree of Serendipity: A living collection of audio offerings gathered beneath the branches of quiet wonder. Each episode is a spontaneous encounter with grace: a page from a beloved book, sacred wisdom from timeless luminaries, a spark of reflection, or a whisper of insight. Sometimes guests arrive with treasures of their own. Always, the invitation is to pause, listen, and play with the mystery. I sense a deeper weaving taking place—threads of wisdom, reverence, and remembering coming together across books, voices, and hearts. Please Enjoy!

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