My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
The practice of looking at the world through grateful eyes and with a grateful heart is an exquisite end in itself.
Kristi Nelson
A rather lovely day until late this afternoon when clouds moved in and the wind picked up. It is 52 degrees but it looks like 32 degrees. It’s been a quiet day filled with writing and journaling. Eating leftover soup and chocolates. Not at the same time!!!
Springtime in Colorado includes snow in May in case you didn’t know that. This was taken at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area about an hour ago. Rain began about midnight and is slowly turning to snow. Snow is already on the foothills at probably 6500 feet and the higher elevations are shrouded in clouds and snow. Forecast this morning says 4-12 inches of snow will accumulate throughout the day and end tomorrow by noon. My weather app says it’s 37 degrees. The meadowlarks were singing as I took this image. Seems each day is a day to be grateful to them. We can learn from them. I’m now having a bowl of hot Irish Oats with blueberries. Seemed appropriate. Turned the furnace on, too. Meanwhile Phoenix and Charlotte will be in the 90’s.
“The acceptance of oneself is the essence of the whole moral problem and the epitome of a whole outlook on life. That I feed the hungry, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of Christ — all these are undoubtedly great virtues. What I do unto the least of my brethren, that I do unto Christ. But what if I should discover that the least among them all, the poorest of all the beggars, the most impudent of all the offenders, the very enemy himself — that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness — that I myself am the enemy who must be loved — what then? As a rule, the Christian’s attitude is then reversed; there is no longer any question of love or long-suffering; we say to the brother within us “Raca,” and condemn and rage against ourselves. We hide it from the world; we refuse to admit ever having met this least among the lowly in ourselves.”
C.G. Jung
Philosophy has had my interest for the past 25 years but reading some of it can be daunting for me. Yet I have this desire to know myself at a deep level, to gain some enlightenment of the struggles all humans face and more. I have read small bits and pieces of Carl Gustav Jung and know he has impacted many authors I read. I am currently reading my first of his books, The Undiscovered Self. With my thinker this may be a paragraph at a time. Wish me luck.😂
It was three years ago today that I had my open heart surgery where they replaced my aortic valve. Emotional. Grateful.
What lies before us today is an unpainted picture.
Touchstones
Stopped at the Cobb Lake State Wildlife Area while driving around the other evening. It was quiet and calm so I listened and took a few photos. I have never hiked these trails but will need to explore them soon.
It’s a brisk 33 degrees this morning and a beautiful full moon. Hope you have a great day!
Solitude has its own special work: a deepening awareness that the world needs. A struggle against alienation. True solitude is deeply aware of the world’s needs. It does not hold the world at arm’s length.
Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
I consider myself a man of solitude, even more-so over the past few years. Some of that is due to a practice of prayer, silence, meditation, photography, a need for connection to nature and maturity through life experiences. One grandson calls me a hermit but mostly because I have a simple life, less attachment to things than he does.
My solitude does not alienate me from some of the brokenness within the world. There are ways to keep abreast of world situations without sitting in front of a television or having our face glued to the news feed on our phones. Admittedly, I’ve been guilty of all the above. I’m finding ways to stay actively connected to the world, find solitude and not be alienated from the world.
We are a part of all creation, not apart from. Wayne Teasdale says to experience solitude as a mystic or monk in the world and not be alienated from it is to be “… engaged in the world and with others but not attached to the world’s greed, indifference, insensitivity, noise, confusion, pettiness, unease, tension and irreverence.” I may be more aware of the worlds needs than I have ever been and always a part of it.
You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.
Galen Rowell
“On the deepest level, problems such as war and starvation are not solved by economics and politics alone. Their source is prejudice and fear in the human heart; and their solution also lies in the human heart.”
Jack Kornfield