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November 2020

Signs

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Om means different things to different people. Atman, the interior spirit, soul, ultimate reality, truth. No matter how you slice its meaning the uttering is holy. It touches on the sacred like a sunrise.

This sign was found in Missouri; a random encounter along a country road.

Are you on the lookout for a brush with the sacred in your life? During this season?

Reflection

We passed this sign during at night, during rainstorm. We zoomed right past it and the thought of taking a picture of it just would not let go. We had been talking about driving back through this backroad on the way home during the daylight so we could enjoy more of the landscape. So we planned the route back. I reflected on what such a picture meant to me. Om means different things to different people. For some it’s just a sound but I think it gets at something deeper; deeper soul, deeper spirit, deeper reality. It’s that simple thought and sound that opens the reality of the Universe wide open if you sit with it.

Mood

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If we could look through a crystal ball and everything were laid out plain to see im not sure we’d be that excited. Most times, we can set the mood of the day. We can set the tone to meet the task. Today, choose how to approach the day.

Reflection

What draws me most to this picture is the rich fall colors that show behind the lensball. We set the mood and tone of our life but I doubt we’d be so present with that action if we knew all the things that will happen and in their order. Each day we get to choose, a good tone or down tone. And I know we respond to that metacognition. If I believe and strive for the good day and set the tone so all can feel it then I cannot fail. All those external things have no effect.

Wonder

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My daughter and my wife tell me often that I wonder; with more questions than I really care to know the answer of. Curious minds create interesting thoughts. I wonder if this is true of you?

Today wonder often.

Reflection

This is one of my favorite image edits. And it reminded me of a conversation that we had about how I approach the world. With wonder. I ask that question so often. I think it’s my driving force. I may not care to know but just to wonder; the freedom of wondering. I said curious minds create curious thoughts. And I wonder if I’m alone. I would really like to know that it’s not the case. Thankfully, I’m surrounded with people who wonder more too.

Hidden or unused

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A lot is going on in this planetrails timelapse from last night. Planes taking off, landing, crossing here and there, a few satellites moving against the steady paths of the stars. And amongst it all are dim trails. Just traces. By smaller planes, traveling along a route to less visited places. Maybe it’s a leisurely flight.

Even though at first glance they look the same, there seems to be a huge difference beetween the hidden path and the unused. I think that’s by design.

In your journeys do you travel the well trodden paths? Do you look for the abandoned tread?Or do you seek the more mysterious hidden way?

Take a different path today. How did it make you feel? How did your feet find it?

Reflection

A lot is happening in this image and in it I have a little foreknowledge; I know how this scene unfolded. Near the beginning a couple planes take off together, maybe fighter planes. And they wander around together creating a faint trail. I’m fascinated while hiking with faint traces; old unused trails, faint animal paths. And I reflected on how some of these paths may be well used but just camouflaged, hidden from plain view. Where do these paths lead? What is there meaning? Will this trail evolve into a well used path or will the well-used paths fall into disuse and forgetfulness. What stories were told along these paths? and how can I add a few words to the journey?

Butterfly Sunrises

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I used to spend more time just making stuff. Putting ideas together, committing them to canvas. I thought it was time wasted. It wasn’t. I did this one for my mom.

Like words, visual ideas atrophy without use. If you find writing a centering activity, jot down some lines. Pick up your pencil and just doodle. Or play a tune.

Instead of checking your email, just once today commit any creative idea to paper.

Reflection

I used to spend more time making stuff. Just following an idea; putting it together in my mind and into my canvas. Creativity is hugely important to me. I love the action; I enjoy the flow state it induces, the mindfulness that usually comes with how things are put together. Also the metaphors we spin while creating. My wish for folks this day was to just engage in the act of creating.

Trends

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It’s so tempting to follow someone’s process aiming for their success. Every one has their own path, their own skills, their unique view of the world. Instead of going for sharper, supersaturated and brighter, I went the other way with this photo. A simpler view of the world.

Create something simple today.

Reflection

While coding my final project for Creative Coding class, I reflected on how easy it is with the internets and all the social media to copy someone else; trying for their success. But it seems that with unique skills and points of view, we have our own ideas to add to the universe. Unique ideas, wholly our own, a glimpse at an adjacent possible that no one else notices. How important is that? Hugely. For this piece of art, I took an amazing sunrise. It didn’t need any more saturation or boosting of color. It was as vibrant as it could be. And then I went simpler with it by using the low-poly generator that I built to bust it up into its tiny areas of color. And it’s spectacular still.

The Trails

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I can see why the ancients believed the stars guide destiny. Night after night the lights in the firmament of night follow their course, sure of their path. We are more like the wandering planets picking our way along a starry path sometimes so certain of our course; other times hopelessly lost.

It’s ok to be wandering.

Reflection

Night after night, the stars follow their paths but we don’t do that. With our metacognition and mindfulness, we can choose a more wandering path. I have a distinctly different style of gameplay than my son. His is fast and designed to win. I wander around the board looking to fulfill quests and find new treasures. I think it’s OK to choose to wander or play fast and furious. But we should do so without judgment.

Support

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This fence has seen some weather; high winds, hail, snow and countless sunny days. And it’s needed help from time to time. Times like these we should stand by for folks. Just be there for someone; just in case.

Reflection

When I took the picture of this fencepost being supported by another it seemed a good metaphor for the times. We should stand by folks. Maybe not to support but to offer a place to lean when needed. To just be there, just in case.

Joys of Sky

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Looking for meteors should never get old. It’s that rush of feeling being rewarded for waiting. And though your messages are important I’d rather wish in a shooting star any day.

Wish on a star this week?

Reflection

I’ve heard many folks complain about boredom while watching for shooting stars. And how exhilarating it was to see one. It reminded me of our addiction with social media, technology and email. We are willing to wait for those messages from our special friends and yet rarely do I hear of my friends sitting out in the grass waiting for the heavens to offer something amazing. We look to often to technology to fulfill us when the natural world almost never disappoints.

#embodiedcognition #patience #oxytocin #seratonin #wonder #awe

Throwback

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This picture puts me into the middle of this day. The warmth of the late afternoon sun, the way the clouds moved slowly across the landscape just like our progress. It had been a long day of hiking. Muscles sore. It was also the end of the trail for me. I look back at this picture not with sadness but with expectation of another day. It won’t ever be the same but it will be special.

What makes your days special?

Reflection

Another post on embodied cognition. The smell of the willows in a warm afternoon sun while we were moving through this landscape is so strong in my memory. This particular day was the end of a weeklong hike with my son. He continued on for several more weeks. But we both were chatting recently about how this particular day felt and how visually appealing it was. A near perfect “special” day.

#embodiedcognition #memory

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