Baring our Souls...

When all is stripped away, we are all the same...

Quieting my Mind, Slowing my Pace...

I need to sit awhile and contemplate where I am going. I have been spinning about, moving my belongings from one house to the next and in the process, losing my sense of self, losing my sense of balance. Mind you, all of this spinning has brought me many riches and I love the community I have landed in. I just am not yet planted here. Inertia, a resting and thinking will bring that. I just need to slow down. Way down.

This morning, as my pup and I made our way to the park to meet up with some other dog owners, I stumbled upon a pocket park with a beautiful mosaic bench tucked into one corner. I love things with character- especially those that have the hand of the artist on them- and I immediately slowed down to take a longer look at the pictures created in the tiles. I was reminded that my art, what I want to create for myself in life, had been put away for too long and needs to be drawn back out and worked on.

I think I need to go on a personal retreat. To use solitude to find myself and collect my thoughts. So that I can begin again anew. To find my balance. To think, to breathe. To create something beautiful which speaks to me in much the same way this bench does.

Beauty in the Storm...

With no power at home, trees down across roads and flooding conditions as a result of Hurricane Irene, there really isn't much to appreciate about enduring a hurricane. But just a bit ago, when the sun peeked out for a few minutes, I saw the most massive rainbow I have ever seen. Serving up an important life lesson and reminder for myself that when life feels stormy, beauty endures.

Life is stormy. People don't do things the way you would like them to. They live life differently than you do. They don't follow through or are late or don't show up at all. They make different decisions for their family than you do yours. They don't treat others the way you feel they should. They don't understand you and sometimes say mean things to you. For these reasons and more, you feel certain people are not part of your tribe and deserve to be scorned, walked away from or ignored, bringing gray skies to your life and theirs.

But beauty endures. Shining sun upon rain clouds brings rainbows. Make yourself into a ray of sunshine when you encounter people that bring storms to your life. Many times things are not as they first appear. Switch things around by looking at the situation from many angles and attempt to put yourself in their shoes, to figure out where they are on their own personal journey. Maybe you were once where they are today. Light up with understanding and compassion rather than the cloud of judgement and scorn. We do not all have to be on the same page and different colors residing next to one another is what makes a rainbow so beautiful.

Bring beauty to this world. We have had enough storms.

Dark Damp Day

Waking up to the sound of rain upon the roof and distant rolls of thunder, I knew today would bring a slower pace than usual. No walk for the pup, no yard work to tackle. Just a slow ramble through the day reading and thinking and resting. I love the forced relaxation that rain filled days bring! Enjoy the day!

Reaching for the Sky...

A once read that the root system of a tree is as big underground as the growth you see above the ground. That the roots and branches are essentially a mirror of one another, roots spreading out underground and supporting all of the branches reaching skyward. I would imagine herbaceous plants such as the sunflower would need this same sort of support structure as well.

Just like plants, I understand that I need to have a strong support structure in order reach skyward myself. Every time I move to a new place, my roots severed, I find it takes me a bit to regain my footing. I falter and am not able to put much out into the world as I rebuild my roots and connections in a new place.

Such has been the case with my recent move but slowly, as my roots push deeper, I am beginning to put out some top growth. Recent connections with neighbors and fellow dog walkers have allowed me to branch out and discover that local dog owners meet each Saturday and Sunday morning in a park to let their dogs run free. A visit to that park this weekend will allow me to connect with new people and continue branching outward in new ways.

Other neighbors I have recently met have shared with me the history of my house and town, where the best coffee shops are, news about how the borough operates and what the loud horn blasting at various hours means (a call out to the volunteer fire department), allowing me to form a foundation and understanding of this new place I reside in. As I process all of this information, I find myself getting more and more comfortable, getting more rooted.

Part of me wants to rush this process of getting established here. To move straight to the glorious leafing out part, standing straight and tall and starting to put out blooms. I find myself frustrated that I have to go through this all again. I have moved so many damn times in my life, cut my connections so many times, I feel I should be entitled to just skip all the ground work. But when considering what nature requires, the need for foundation to support growth, I find my frustration easing, knowing that the groundwork I lay now with allow flowering down the road.

Meditative Woodland Walk at Longwood Gardens...

Many public gardens and arboretums across the country contain backcountry trails in addition to their more public offerings. These woodland trails offer up quiet and solitude and are a great way to get away from the bustle of the crowds.

A newly created and specially designed meditative woodland walk at Longwood Gardens in Chaddsford, PA. encourages you to temporarily leave the more groomed gardens behind and come into the forest. The idea being to walk or sit quietly and take in the woods and see what nature can offer you.

My husband and I recently recently took advantage of the woodland walk at Longwood Gardens and it didn't take long until the voices of people were replaced by birdsong, hot pavement replaced a dirt path, cool shade overhead. A welcome respite!

I thought the trailside banners, filled with contemplative quotes were a nice touch, reminding you to be quiet and listen, slow down and notice.

I especially loved the above quote. "What did the tree learn from the earth to be able to talk with the sky?" Makes me wonder what we humans could learn from the earth in order to be able to talk with the sky. That if we humans could become more in touch with the natural world, the sky could teach us many things about what really is important in life. I envision our rootedness in the natural world leading us to reach higher and higher, searching for a new way of living in the world.

From Within Outward, Homeschooling NYC

Yesterday the boys and I headed over to the Guggenheim to see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit called "From Within Outward". The exhibition is being held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the museum which was designed by Wright. Containing scale models and blueprints of his work, the exhibit showcases Wright's design philosophy of creating a building from within, then outward. Wright designed his buildings by first considering how the building was to be used and making sure the interior spaces blended function with aesthetics. He then worked outward to create the exterior space. Prior to this point in time, building design considered exteriors first and interiors last, resulting in unimaginative boxlike rooms within the building. Wright felt, "The solution of every problem is contained within itself." These words of his really struck me later that day as I gazed upon the many gaudy billboards of Times Square.

The hundreds of people filling the square were clearly captivated with the billboards of bright lights in every direction, caught up in a haze similar to what one feels when under the spell of an advertiser. "Be this, do this, buy this" the signs shouted with their lights, focusing on the external parts of ourselves, distracting us from what is within. Remembering Wright's words from earlier in the day, that the solution to every problem is found within, I felt that his wisdom could be useful in how we approach the environmental crisis that we face today. If we could look inside ourselves and see that life isn't about what is outside us, but what is inside. Looking within and focusing on our relationships with others or our love of this planet which provides for us could be part of the solution. Making external choices, and the drain it makes on our resources no longer matter. From within, outward.