Walk A While With Me Friend – The Women’s March Comes to Eastern Washington

March 5, 2017March 6, 2017 / ElizaBeth Coira / 2 Comments

Please enjoy my article & photos for the March/April 2017 edition of the
Loon Lake Times newspaper

Walk A While With Me Friend
The Women’s March Comes to Eastern Washington
Copyright ©2017, ElizaBeth Coira

In the brisk, early afternoon sunshine of Saturday, January 21, 2017 we gathered. We brought out our courage and homemade signs, we pinned on our hopes, and walked side-by-side. Some of us already knew one another as neighbors, co-workers, family, and friends. Some of us complete and utter strangers, were happy to share a moment in each other’s kind company. So many different, beautiful faces: women, men, children of all ages. It looked like America, the country I love, the country I’ve wandered… the country I’m proud to call my home.

We gathered in Chewelah, numbering 125 strong. We gathered in Spokane, 8-11,000 strong. We gathered across the United States. We gathered across planet Earth. We common people came together, for so many reasons, yet united… against the shadow of a tyranny, not fully revealed. But we know it, we hear it, we sense it, we feel it…the worrisome presence of a most unwelcome guest. So many of our ancestors have known it, have fought it; been used and abused, too as pawns. It is the game of the unscrupulous greedy lords, slithering charismatics, self-anointed kings. Can you feel the scraps being tossed at us…while the coffers of elite egos grow ever over-flowing?

Does that really feel like goodness? Does it make you feel at ease? Even at peace with a greater sense of order, justice, or higher being? Does the blame game found on early playgrounds, the bullying, belittling hold appeal in your heart? So many came out to march, to unite, because searching within, their answer is No.

Their answer is No to rule by fear. Their answer is No to control through chaos. Their answer is No to hateful rhetoric, designed to separate and subjugate us. Their answer is No to limiting our freedoms, based on the opinions of only a few. Their answer is No, we won’t forfeit our country, our great democracy of “we the people.”

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Celebrate! Life & Times at Loon Lake, WA – By ElizaBeth Coira – Jan/Feb 2017

January 4, 2017February 2, 2017 / ElizaBeth Coira / 1 Comment

~ Please enjoy my column for the Jan/Feb 2017 edition of the Loon Lake Times newspaper ~

As the great wintery blanket of white and gray envelopes existence here at Loon Lake, I find my days brightened by the parades of wild turkey, quail, and deer roaming the snowy streets. I am cheered by the bald eagles circling the lake, on the lookout for a critical meal and sturdy nesting materials. I am thrilled to celebrate with neighbors, sharing in the joy of the season. And I am awed at the sight of snow-covered pines, stretching as far as the eye can see.

I am thankful for the gifts life has issued in my first year residing at Loon Lake… Continue reading →

Celebrate! Life & Times at Loon Lake, WA – By ElizaBeth Coira – Nov/Dec2016

November 2, 2016 / ElizaBeth Coira / 1 Comment

~ Please enjoy my column for the Nov/Dec 2016 edition of the Loon Lake Times newspaper ~

Wonder Fall
Beauty beams
Through the trees
To signal Earth’s great changes

Reminds us to
Walk in wonder
Fall in Love
With Life again

I reflect on this poem penned a few years ago; as I wandered through the fiery reds, shimmering yellows, wilting greens, and burning browns of fall in southern Germany. As I scan the horizon, these words waft back to me; like the gleaming, heart-shaped leaf floating on the breeze before me, here on the misty shores of our beloved Loon Lake. It’s my first fall in eastern Washington, and I can’t help but stare in awe of the matchless, illuminating, golden glow; painting its way across our landscape, nestling between evergreens on the mountainside, tracing the waterline with every whispering gust of wind. Though our days grow darker, grayed by rain; and nights grow longer, as the Earth rotates; I still find myself walking out and wondering:

How did we get so lucky?

…Thanks in no small part to the trees. Their being simply allows us to breathe. Their corpses build our homes and firelight. Their changing leaves brighten our existence. Their ever-green needles remind us that these days shall pass on to greener ones; and that perhaps we too may stand strong in the face of storms. I am thankful for the trees; pillars of life, inspiration, love, strength, and beauty all around. Indeed they are among many of Mother Nature’s nurturing gifts…gifts that cost us absolutely nothing.

Kind of like the best sort of camaraderie enjoyed with family, friends, and neighbors. The holiday season is upon us, ushering forth opportunities to share a smile, meal, or moment in welcoming, warm environs. The Danes have a word for this, hygge, pronounced “hooga.” They’ve built an entire culture dedicated to cultivating a sort of “coziness of the soul,” not just in the dark and cold of fall and winter, but all year through. Hygge, which to me also sounds a bit like “hug,” can involve anything from candlelight to good food and drink; fuzzy socks to a lovely conversation. I think the Danes could be on to something, given the United Nations frequently ranks them among the happiest people in the world.

Here in the US, the holidays and days of cold can each be stressful in their own right; but the Danes certainly aren’t basking in sunshine at this time of year either. As you gather together with family and friends, perhaps by candle or firelight; some of you may dance around a tree; some of you may gobble a pumpkin pie or two. Let’s give thanks for the gifts all around…and I’m not necessarily talking about the ones found in a shopping mall; but rather the incredible existence we’ve been born into, here on Earth. Just look to the trees, should you forget; and give yourself a hug. Take a moment to marvel at the golden glow sweeping our Loon Lake landscape…and I hope you’ll join me too in wondering:

How did we get so lucky?

ElizaBeth Coira is a writer, poet, consultant, facilitator, and new Loon Lake neighbor. The poem “Wonder Fall” is featured in her gift book, Sending You My Love~ Little Thoughts on Life and Love. It’s available for purchase on Amazon.com, or to checkout at our very own Loon Lake Library! Part of the profits from book sales support women, children, and neglected animals through international aid organization, Project COLORS. To learn more, visit ElizaBethCoira.com or HomeGrownSojourner.com today!

Celebrate! Life & Times at Loon Lake, WA — An Otter Story

May 11, 2016May 11, 2016 / ElizaBeth Coira / 2 Comments

Friends ~ I’m excited to announce a collaboration with the Loon Lake Times, the local newspaper of my new hometown, here in Eastern Washington! My letter to the editor just appeared in the May/June 2016 edition, to launch my upcoming column, Celebrate! Life & Times at Loon Lake.

I am SO enraptured with this beautiful piece of paradise that we’ve stumbled upon, that I just have to share a longer version of my letter here with you! I hope you’ll enjoy the story of my first otter sighting on the lake this spring; as well as my reflections on embracing this new sense of a wild childhood, that I hardly knew I needed. I truly hope you’ll delight in the stories of my adventures here around Loon Lake…and perhaps they’ll even inspire you to head out, roll around in, and marvel at the great, wild, beautiful gifts of Mother Nature in your neck of the woods! I’m wishing you great love, light, joy, and peace always!

CELEBRATING LIFE AT LOON LAKE!
A Newcomer’s Perspective
By ElizaBeth Coira – ©2016

Dear Neighbors,

The Common Loon

I write to you today; not with a concern, frustration, protest, or fight. No…

Instead I write to you today with joy…admiration…and wonder.

Indeed, I write to you today in celebration… of the unfathomable, natural beauty that is Loon Lake… this incredible piece of the planet that we are lucky enough to call our home.

I write to you today in sheer awe… of the open, kind hearts; warm, welcoming neighbors; and committed, caring community that make life at Loon Lake a truly unique, special sort of treasured existence.

I write to you today to say thank you… Continue reading →

Are You Ready to Spread Some Love?

February 4, 2016March 2, 2016 / ElizaBeth Coira / Leave a comment

As we all know here in the US, Valentine’s Day is coming! And while our focus for this holiday is typically on the celebration of romantic Love; I’m reminded that Love nourishes our lives in so many different, other ways too…and thank goodness for that!

Just think about all the ways we experience Love. Isn’t it great to give and receive unconditional Love from parents, family and friends? There’s also nothing better than a loving snuggle from a sweet dog or cat to set the world a-right…Am I right?! Do you remember when you helped that random person, how great that felt? And what about when you took yourself out for a date, just because…

For me, there’s nothing like a walk in the woods, beside a stream, or into a vast untamed space to remind me that Love is in and all around me. Do you know what I mean? Have you ever given yourself permission to acknowledge that amazing energy flow that animates Life, in all its glorious forms? Have you ever felt that beautiful sense of interconnection streaming through your veins, roots, stems and systems? Have you ever had a chance to stretch out in the grass, suspended in the lovely smell of green all around; while feeling positively energized, embraced and serene alongside a joyous sunny sky?

As you can tell, I Love a good walk around Mother Earth…especially because it is in her presence that I feel a greater Love; a spiritual sense of Love and interconnection that has nothing to do with social institutions, belief systems, or governance structures…All it has to do with is simply being, existing, in the present moment.

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5 Tips To Unlock Your Inner Poet – By ElizaBeth Coira

August 25, 2014March 30, 2015 / ElizaBeth Coira / Leave a comment

We all are creators, in one way or another. Creativity–the act of creating–is a gift we all possess. But sometimes in the throws of life, spiraling task lists, information overload, and competing screaming needs, we lose sight of this golden life raft floating through all of us. How many times have you heard a friend say, “I feel like I’ve lost myself.” How many times have you felt this way too?

The Good News:

As a poet, writer, communications consultant, and human that craves overall balance; connecting in to my creativity—and the core of my very being– is essential. My creativity has been a constant companion, guide, and compass through it all. You know what I’m talking about– the ups and downs, wrongs and rights, mundane and exciting, smiles and fights. From traversing cancer, to cultivating meaningful relationships with my 3 stepsons, tapping into my creativity has been the key to keeping me afloat.

Check out the rest of my article and Personal Creativity Connection Checklist at: http://challenges.mommikin.com/blog/five-tips-to-unlock-your-inner-poet/

I’d love to hear all that awaits you!

ElizaBeth Coira – The Home Grown Sojourner

Poetry for People, Planet, Peace

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