My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.
Neil Gaiman
Hoping you surprise yourself in 2022!
Rather than pick a favorite image(s) from this past year I decided to post one that sums up what my year behind the camera has been like and what my inner eye saw. I spent a lot of mornings and evenings at local natural areas as a positive way to start my day. I also made sure to spend ample time on the eastern plains and those wide open space, embracing the experience and quiet of nature. For me this image encapsulates what my year in photography was like: clouds, sunrises, sunsets, nature, silence, solitude, bird songs mixed with the wind. It also reminds me how small a part I am in this universe but yet an integral part of it. Awesomeness!
The past year also included upheaval in our world. The pandemic continues to disrupt our lives. Climate change evidence abounds. Yet, I am not giving up hope for this world. I feel there is something each of us can do to bring about positive change in the world. Seems I pray with this creator of the universe more often, and that’s a good thing.
At home, I’ve made changes to my condo with new carpet and vinyl flooring and a splash of new paint. Well two coats. My parents moved into assisted living in May. Soon after mom went into hospice and died on August 19th. It’s been a tough year for my 92 year old father. He lost a spouse of 72 years, tested positive for Covid-19 a week later, then his whole facility went into lockdown for the next couple of weeks. Not to break a family tradition my sisters, brother-in-law and myself spent the week prior to Thanksgiving with dad. It was good for him and for us! My youngest granddaughter married in September so we officially welcomed Brandon to the family!
Not sure this is a New Years resolution but in this coming year I wish to cherish life, all of nature and respect it, love at greater depths my neighbor and all of creation, myself, God and hope in the healing of this broken world. For me that’s really not asking much, is doable and begins with me. I’m hoping, wishing, praying your coming year is full of good health, dark chocolate, laughter, joy, milk chocolate (if dark is not available), wonderful family time, the making of new experiences and whatever you can add to this list. Happy New Year!
If we look at the Path, we do not
Lakota Seer
see the Sky..
We are Earth People on a
Spiritual Journey through the Stars..
Our Quest, our Earth Walk..
is to look within,
to know who we are,
to see that we are connected
to all things, that there is no separation,
only in the mind!
As a young man I spent a lot of time in nature which included walking and riding a bicycle almost everywhere. I spent almost no time in front of a television. I am grateful for that childhood. At some point I attained the coveted drivers license and life took on a new direction. I did less walking and driving and less time in nature. I then began chasing a career that put me in front of a computer, within a cubicle and less time in nature. I began to spend less and less time in nature to the point where I lost a connection to nature. I viewed it as separate from me. More than 20 years ago there was a shift in seeing that we are connected to all things. Getting back into photography and practicing a spiritual life were key elements in that shift. There is a desire within me to have more of that connection and thus the reason this poem strikes a chord with me.
“Love allows understanding to dawn, and understanding is precious. Where you are understood, you are at home. Understanding nourishes belonging. When you really feel understood, you feel free to release yourself into the trust and shelter of the other person’s soul.”
John O’Donohue
When I first read this quote my mind pictured myself in relationship with another person. But, after reading it several times I believe that it also can be in the relationship we have with ourselves. It seems to me when we have a healthy love for ourselves we also will have a better understanding of ourselves. Actually all of creation. ❤️
“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
Christopher McCandless
You have seen many
Hanoochi
sunrises and sunsets
upon your branches and
your sacred roots
O’ Tree Spirit
I give thanks to you
for the singing birds that you shelter
for the music you sing in the breeze
for listening to the voices of the creatures
for echoing the ancestors strength
Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind, Whose breath gives life to all the world. Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people. Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others. Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me. I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy – Myself. Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands & straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.
Chief Yellow Lark– Oglala Lakota-1936
Happy Thanksgiving!!