• clouds,  landscape,  mountains,  quotes,  sunsets

    The Truth

    Colorado sunset

    A teacher cannot give you the truth. The truth is already in you. You only need to open yourself – body, mind, and heart – so that his or her teachings will penetrate your own seeds of understanding and enlightenment. If you let the words enter you, the soil and the seeds will do the rest of the work.

    Thich Nhat Hanh

    Quotes have a way of sitting with me. I sometimes ponder the words, letting them sink in and take root. Sometimes I memorize them, because they truly are seeds for understanding and enlightenment. When I have been open to words of truth I can be changed by them! I am grateful for the teachers in my life who have shared words of wisdom. Have a wonderful Sunday !

  • Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  landscape,  natural areas,  poems,  poetry,  quotes,  sunrises,  writing/reading

    Whoever that may be

    In the late summer season of life, I found
    authors, guides, and teachers who have made me
    aware of the gift of my wandering soul and spirit
    within my own inner landscape.

    With no knowledge of an inner landscape
    I went seeking in the enticing outer landscape
    yet this wandering soul and spirit of mine
    was never satisfied, never fulfilled, always lost

    Now in my winter season of life
    my soul and spirit wander my inner landscape
    seeking the Unknowable,
    that source of life,
    Whatever and
    Whoever that may be.

    mws

    I’ll end this with a thought from C.G. Jung, suggesting that our wandering has and is the thirst of our being for wholeness, expressed in medieval language: the union with God.

  • Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  poems,  poetry,  reflections,  sunrises,  writing/reading

    The Power of Practice

    To live a life grounded in God
    you don’t need information;
    you need to be informed by
    the spark of divine presence
    you always carry within you.
    But you’ll have to practice
    this, with concentration,
    like you would if you were
    learning a skill or art.

    Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness & Light

    To grow in this craft of photography requires practice. At the present moment I have over 90,000 images in my archives. A rough guess would be that less than 5% of them are good images. I’ll define good as images I’d want to print, frame or sell. And, I post many images on this blog that I would not define as good but want to share them anyway. There is something about them I like. Which means I have a large number of keepers that are lessons and teachers. The lessons they teach may not be something I understand while looking at the image on my computer. Some lessons may be unconscious and only known or understood until I’m in the field and something intuitive, that spark within me, tells me to change my composition or some technical aspect of my equipment. And, that is the lesson practice offers!

    This morning’s clouds, predawn colors and reflections at Arapaho Bend Natural Area were a good way for me to start this day. My only hiccup was making an 8 ounce pour-over rather than a 12 ounce pour-over. 😂 I hope you also have a good day in whatever you do!

  • animals,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  quotes

    They Teach Us

    In the Western tradition there is a recognized hierarchy of beings, with, of course, the human being on top—the pinnacle of evolution, the darling of Creation—and the plants at the bottom. But in Native ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as “the younger brothers of Creation.” We say that humans have the least experience with how to live and thus the most to learn—we must look to our teachers among the other species for guidance. Their wisdom is apparent in the way that they live. They teach us by example. They’ve been on the earth far longer than we have been, and have had time to figure things out.

    Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

    What a beautiful morning we have here in Colorado. Blue skies and sunshine. I have not read her book but think it’s one I do want to absorb some of her words and spirit. I also noticed Krista Tippett has a podcast with her that I want to listen to. Hope everyone has a wonderful day, enjoy it!