The Art of answers and questions…

I cannot expect even my own art to provide the answers—only to hope it keeps asking the right questions. Grace Hartigan

That art is the art of being an example of how to be fully present in the world, even when fear and sadness which try to invade from every other direction. Yet it from within that the right questions are asked  so that hope can bring the answers forth to be shining beacons on the present, guiding us to a fuller better improved future, for it is in the now that the future is planted, it is the days that follow that the future is nurtured and tended lovingly, compassionately offering the best solutions during the evolution of the human population and the evolution of the planet for its continual growth.

gaggle of geese

Yes I was gifted with the art of photography, I was sent out to use that gift to acknowledge the land, the planet, even if is just my small little bit of it, the everyday moments, the daily life that is there for us to see, as well as admire, to bring a smile, a warm thought. Whether it is the sunlight shining through the leaves on a tree, or the shimmer the light makes across the water of the lake, did you notice, squirrel scurry up that tree, did he stop and chatter at you? Are there rabbits along the edges of the bushes, look there they are! What color is the sky today? Pale blue, azure blue, grey looking like rain or snow, are there clouds, what kind, what do they look like, are they still or swiftly moving across the landscape? Did you notice birds flying there in the blue of the sky, did you recognize one or another, where you captured by their flight, how they move, up and down, or flapping wings like crazy to get to the next place, maybe there was one that captured your attention because it seem to float and rotate around the sky seeking something? Amazing right? All of that life surrounds you as you walk even if it is just to your car to get to one place or another. Were there people who you went past as you headed out, your neighbor, the mailman, a stranger walking their dog, did you acknowledge them or they you? A smile, and good morning, hey what up? This life, this is the fullness of life, the everyday events, pay attention to them they are just as important as any other activity in your life. Who knows that glimpse of a squirrel or rabbit, the flash of a bird flying across the cloud filled sky, the person you greeted or greeted you may be just the event that can shift your life to a fuller awareness of the beauty the surrounds you.

Oneness

These are only small incidence that make up our daily lives, look around at the art of creation, look around at the creativity of evolution, and experience the grandest of a friendship with the planet and the other creatures that inhabit the same space each one contributing to its future.

I needed write something besides my daily activities from the day before, I need to shine light in my soul as well as out into the world. More and more I believe that my most pleasurable place is here writing even when the writing is not so good, but the fact that I get to create a world I wish to see, a world I wish to live in and do live in much of the time. There are moments that we have to stand outside of ourselves to see what surrounds and informs us of who we are, we tend to take the everyday for granted, while it continues to bless us with a powerful experience, Life!

in the details

Say thank you, remember to be grateful for it all, the good and the bad, the good we expect that bad not so much, but it is in the challenge that pulls us up, informs us of who we are, reflects back to us the person we have become. Is that person someone your admire, is that person who you thought you were, or are there more experiences that you must meet to continue on your journey? It is not about more things, and stuff that you have, it is about who you are and who you present to the world. Yes sometimes he or she may not so pretty to witness yet there are those moments when we shine with all the glory that we are at the moment. Hold them like jewels, to enrich the magic of your presence, let them shine, share those facets with the world around for there are more and plenty to share. The more you share the more there is.

Thank you for reading and viewing this blog, the photos will be released to my store front within a few hours. Please pop over and give them a view there.

Love Me

One of the first real poets who spoke to my heart, because he was speaking language I understood. I had not heard about him for a long time yet for some reason his name kept coming to mind, so I share Walter Rinder with you!

walter rinder

 

 

 

 

Love Me

Love me   because I try to touch life

within the framework of

uncertainty

love me    in the shadows

in decisions as I strive to gain

knowledge

love me    in the silence of my hurts

and the noise of my

confusions

love me    for the feeling of my heart

not the fears of my mind

emerge or submerged

love me    in my search for truth

though I may stumble upon

fallacy

love me    as I pursue my dreams

sometimes retarded by illusions

love me    as I grow to know myself

even during the times of

stagnation

love me    because I seek harmony

Brilliance abounds

not man’s discord

love me    for my body that I wish to

share with affection,

wrapping you in warmth

love me    because we are different

because we are the same

love me    that our time together will

be spent in growing, kindling

the world with understanding

love me    not with expectations

but with hope

I will love you the same.

Walter Rinder

 

 

External Opportunities

“Genuine beginnings begin within us, even when they are brought to our attention by external opportunities.” William Bridges

Festival of Color

I have been trying to get back in the swing of things yet my minds seem to be captured in some muck somewhere. I keep putting off writing because I think I have something else more important to do yet morning pages are some of the most creative, growth oriented opportunities I have to jog the mind, stir the spirit to shine, for creativity to spin into new creations, offer insightful ideas on getting thing accomplished or even just to see everyday chores in a more harmonious light. So here I am, and here we are beginning a new blob/pages.

A few days ago I mentioned/wrote that I thought it was time to move on to the next chapter in the Artist’s Way and I believe it is yet before we do that let’s go over the tasks as well as refresh what week 3 was all about. Week 3: Recovering a sense of power. The topic’s where Anger, Synchronicity, Shame, Dealing with Criticism, Detective work, and Growth. I believe I shared on all of these except for maybe Shame, and experience or emotion I am not aware that I experienced often, and I don’t think I experience with my art/photography at all. There may be some passive aggressive non-verbal behavior from family about my choosing or rather following my bliss to create beautiful works of art, yet I know from the center of my being that photographing is one of the most powerful,  pleasurable jobs I have ever had. Photography is a choice, choosing to be creative, choosing to step out of the everyday me to photograph the everyday  world around me, to paint with light is a source of balance, of peace, of spiritual enlightenment that shame can not penetrate . So Shame has to place here, maybe Fame does have a place with in the abundance of creativity yet Fame it is another topic for another time.

in its glory

Some of the activities for this week to inform,  to enlighten, to shine light on the past and move into the future where to Describe your childhood room, Describe five traits you like about yourself as a child, five childhood accomplishments, five favorite childhood foods… Now here are chest full of memories to dust off and share with myself.

My Childhood room I shared with my brother Ken, who is 18 months older than I, we had he master bed room once we got big enough to undo the bunk beds, so we had our on side of the room, with matching faux colonial style dressers, desks, with wagon wheel foot and head boards on our bed with a foot locker with cowboy sence painted on the top, and Hop Along Cassidy lanolin on the floor which I think is still under the capture.

On my side I had religious statues on a self, some of them had been my mom’s, some I collected through the years, as I became aware of Saints I wished to honor and or pray with. The statue  of Mary, Immaculate Conception and St Theresa where my Mom’s. I was attracted to Mary because I was born on August 15th the Feast day of the Assumption and was my first recollection of honor the Goddess Mother which as evolved through the years. Of course there was St Joseph, Michael the Arch Angel, and the center figure of the Infant of Prague which I had a change of vestments according to season of the church year. These figures in religious life informed my early years.

Later the statues stayed but the wall behind my bed became a collage of photos from Life and Look magazine of famous people, cool shots of Woodstock, in which people where free and frolicking in the mud and lakes, hugging and dancing, just way different then my life had been up until then.

hidden beauty

As a child I was religious, I was caring, I thought I was musical, piano, I was sensitive and Loving. I don’t really recall accomplishments, I wasn’t involved in things, I did not do scouts for long, I did not join sports, I prayed and went church until I was teenager… I also began to go to High School dances when I was in 8th grade, dances at the high school that were held by the local radio station.

I don’t recall childhood favorite foods either, I must of like to eat because I was overweight for awhile until I set my mind to losing weight in 7 or 8 grade. I suppose that was an accomplishment?

Well that was a trip down memory lane: I not sure how it informs me of my power but I am sure those memories will stir some sense of who I was to become and who I am now.

Growth Question: How does your childhood inform your present being?

I am Love, Jeff

What are you agreements with self?

True Life is lived when tiny changes occur. Leo Tolstoy

tiny changes

At 2 am I was awakened by something, I thought it was thunder, and then I heard Riley’s little bark of wanting, he has different barks for different needs or wants. Really! So I came down to check on him, and both the dogs were awake, not anxious but awake. So I got the sense they wanted to go for a walk, so dressed and went out into the 79 degree humid heat of the night, not a breeze to stir the dusty leaves, it was almost silent, a few late night birds, I thought I heard the owl in the deeper part of the wood. The whoosh of traffic on the turnpike, less than a mile away, was the sound of life on the move in the darkness of the night. Nothing eventful during our sojourn around the edge of the wood in the field where you could feel the coolness in some area’s rather than in others. Back to the house, the dogs tucked in once again. I went to my room, and found a copy of The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, it has been on my mind to re-read because a Faerie friend is having a book discussion circle in which I would like to attend and having knowledge of the book once again would be helpful. I am aware of the Four Agreements

1. Be Impeccable with Your Word.
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally.
3. Don’t Make Assumptions.
4. Always Do Your Best.

holding on or letting go

Very similar to the Buddhist Noble Eight Fold Path : And the Five Precepts of Reiki:

1. Today, feel no anger.
2. Have no worries.
3. Feel Gratitude.
4. Show diligence in your undertakings.
5. Treat others with Kindness .

Or  stated as affirmations, Just for today I release all anger. Just for today I release all worry. I show gratitude for my blessing. I earn my living with integrity. I honor every living thing.

These are great agreements or precepts or affirmations to live by, to guide one through their day and living rightly as the buddhist would say. Yet here I was in the middle of the night or early morning reading The Four Agreements being confronted by the language, the words that I was not finding impeccable, without sin, is what impeccable means. What I was experiencing with reading first 46 pages was darkness, the pain, the sadness of the worlds situation as Don Miguel was explaining the Domestication and the Dream of the Planet in chapter 1 as well as continued well into the explanation of Be Impeccable with your word in chapter two. I even begun to look for the light that was supposed to shine in this book, within these so-called impeccable words, and it was difficult for me to find. I went to the later part of the book and chapter 6 The Toltec Path to Freedom Breaking Old Agreements to find some relief and still found no peacefulness within this book!

just

It seems to be fighting the shadows, it seems to be breaking the behavior and even mass rebellion out of our darkness, out of our dream state that was not our own dream but the dream of those who came before us, family, friends, teachers, etc. It is so unlike, Conversations with God, so unlike The Artist’s Way and so many other more positive, humorous, Love expressed paths to finding our way along our journey of healing, of re-covery, of discovery of who we are. Spiritual Beings have a human experience, God experiencing creation through the mind of man, God experiencing creation through creating.

I awoke with this denseness in my solar plexus which I felt as we walk our first walk of the day, really our second, in the mugginess of the still dry dusty wood. I had to conscious move into that place to breathe, to heal, to honor who I am now. Through this process and a thought that I remember having earlier as I was reading, you are no longer in that place,  you know longer believe the “dream” of the collective unconsciousness of the planet. That the light shine for you and from you. You are not whole but your healing has taken your closer to your presence, closer to who you really are! The Creative being, the loving being that you are is evident in your life and in your being, through your art and through your presence.

Thank you! I Love you!

Growth Question: Is your word impeccable? Is your life a shinning example of who your are being? Please share your experience.

I am Love, Jeff