My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
“The soul has been given its own ears to hear things the mind does not understand.”
Rumi
The biggest percentage of my images from October have been leaves. Evidence I’ve been walking with my head down. But they are the images I’ve enjoyed the most.
“Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.”
Rumi
“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you, don’t go back to sleep.”
Rumi
Rumi is not talking about rolling over and going back to sleep but about falling asleep to life. We can sleep through life by spending time in front of television, time on the computer, alcohol and drugs, overeating, gambling, etc. There is no need to make a list. We all can make our own list, as we are all susceptible to falling asleep. There are many tools and practices to help us with staying awake: mindfulness, meditation, contemplation, our breathing, prayer words, yoga, tai chi, daily walks. I’ve come to experience the practice of meditation and contemplation, helps me to stay awake to life. As Christine Valters Paintner says, “Most meditation practices are, at heart, about staying awake to life, being fully present to our experiences, and becoming aware of our own preconceived ideas and expectations that obscure our vision.”
Photography is another practice that keeps me from falling asleep to life. It’s taken me a few years to understand its impact in helping me stay present. I seldom take a walk without a camera around my neck which is combining more than one practice. When taking each walk my intent is to repeat a prayer word in rhythm with my breathes and steps, while the eyes of the heart and soul stay awake to what life is presenting. No preconceptions, just looking for secrets Rumi suggests we can find.
Nature is quite the artist. It creates continuously and always each new creations is unique. Oh, that I would look more often at the natural world and its beauty.
I’ve never considered myself a troublemaker. Yet, throughout my life I’ve found myself in trouble. The words I’ve said, or not said, the actions I’ve made, or not made, all have presented troublesome times in life for myself and others. Age has helped me learn to be a better student in life and see when I can be the troublemaker.
Life is always offering us situations where decisions we need to be make could cause trouble. I use the following scenario as a simple example. Lets say that while shooting some photographs of a dew covered spider web in wetlands we make the decision to step to the right for a different perspective. We are in trouble as soon the water and mud flow over the tops of our boots. We probably should not have done that. The fault was not the water, the mud, the dew covered spiderweb, the spider who made the web or the boot. That experience offers a lesson that hopefully will not be repeated. 🙂
Unfortunately, there is a tendency to look at others or life events as troublemakers but seldom ourselves. An honest look at broken relationships will show us the words or actions we are responsible for that became troublemakers. When such an approach is made healing can be made in that relationship. Working to make ourselves as peacemakers rather than troublemakers would slowly change much of the world around us and eventually all of the world.
I personally feel if we all looked at the choices we make from life’s experiences we will become more aware of who really caused the trouble. If not, then I promise you, we will step in the muddy water, again.
“The real troublemaker is within us. Our true enemies are our destructive tendencies.” Dali Lama
“How you see life, depends on your perspective, your angle of view, if something makes no sense, look again with new eyes.”
“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” -Joel Barker