Solutions Come From Quiet Thoughts

When I give myself the gift of sitting still - being quiet and reflecting - allowing my mind to clear and just drift along with the clouds - it's funny how possibilities arise.  I don't question that I love to BE STILL and SEE and really explore the openness of everything...and nothing.  What happens is that I listen to others - listen to what society says we must do to be 'right' and hang with those thoughts that are definitely holdovers from a previous time in my very own lifetime - maybe even back through other lifetimes!!

So discoveries...thoughts...open to ideas...just because 'photographers' take their pictures and then frame them and put them in galleries for sale, and I feel a need to be 'like them'...is that the truth?  I am rich on compliments but as friend Bob says, "Photography doesn't sell!"  Well some does but it is in the eyes of the buyer and can't really be predicted.  I have hung pictures in a gallery show with 21 other artists.  Can I go into the comparison of me with them?!?  NO NO NO...doesn't society often put us there??  I love what I do and will do more for me...to learn and grow in my own creative expression...
   For years I have been training individuals to know that the PROCESS is way more important than the PRODUCT!!  Hey Photoschmoozer...listen to your own words and enjoy the process.  Isn't that what learning and discovery is really all about?  Going within and seeing what your heart sees.  Taking your own journey and laughing and dancing with every step along the way!!
It's a journey...my journey...not to be shared.  Each of us has our own...yeah team!!

Each of us t

Each of takes the steps on our journey one step at a time.  See the steps are crooked, straights, higher, lower, simpler, more difficult...in the end we arrive where we need to be in each moment of each day!!

FULL MOON /Blue Moon Power

Grandmother Moon is powerful!  Last night ten amazing women sat in a circle in our living room - the South Jersey Peer Group for the Transition Network.  We come together monthly to honor, celebrate and explore our creative selves.  A few months ago, I put out the request that we open to further exploration and share what mattered to each of us.  You know the expression - Be careful what you ask for.  One of the women said, "Martie, why don't you be first to host this?"  My bold, daring and wonderful self said "SURE!"  Then my other self - the one that is uncertain and doesn't think she knows enough said, "What have you done?  How will you make this happen?  The pressure is on!!"
   It happened and I did it!  We started with a Mindfulness exercise - visualizing that we are the flower opening and closing to discover our inner beauty.  After some lively sharing, this activity stilled us to move on.
   Acknowledging the Full Moon and her power as a time to let go of what no longer serves us so we can bring in the new or grow with our strengths, we each wrote something on a paper - set it aflame and quietly sat to watch it burn.  I did one...tonight I am going to do another - alone and reflective.  I am wishing for relationships built on looking for the best in one another - affirming who each of us is...acknowledging and recognizing how wonderful that is to knowing one another and building strengths.  As I wrote in the last blog - when that doesn't happen in your own life, it can be very sad.  When there are beautiful ways to acknowledge and you hear what is wrong - well, sadness came set in and one has to learn to let go of that.
    Life is short and tenuous - life is filled with wonderful people and insights - life is meant to be shared... people are meant to be acknowledged and celebrated with joy.
   For all who are important and valuable in my life, I celebrate you.  For all who cause challenges, I still celebrate your wonder and aliveness.  As we say in Mindfulness/Metta Meditation:  May you be safe; May you be happy; May you be healthy; May you have peace of mind and ease of wellbeing.  May you be at peace.

And may I add the same peaceful message to all in my world - may you go deep into your heart as I have gazed at the essence of this flower and found calm - and may it bring you stillness and peace - today and always

Addendum to this blog:  I wrote the whole thing and published it and forgot to mention that the DRUMS came out and we drummed!  What fun...what inspiration...and we indeed were what Christine Stevens calls in Drumming Diva a TOWER OF STRENGTH!!.

Awesome in Her Details

It's like a new lease on life - looking at what really matters to me - then going back to what I have loved and seeing it from a new perspective.  One very hot summer's day, we were at Grounds for Sculpture - taking pictures of the magnificent water lillies.  All of a sudden, she just came and landed on a rock and stayed to visit.  Then she was fascinating - up close and personal, she is more awesome.  Mother Nature gifts us with way more than the beauty of the flowers and we have to just BE STILL, awake and aware to stop and be present.  Nothing more to add - just bunches of gratitude for my newfound understanding of what makes my heart sing!!

Details - Patterns and Perceptions

Ever since the photography exhibit opening the other night and our visit to Meadowbrook gardens, I have been reflecting on what it is about my photography that makes the process special to me!  Well...there is one answer - the process - the being - the seeing - gong out and discovering.  Then there are the little things - I know there are folks who take pictures of magnificent landscapes.  I got for the little bits and pieces that make up the whole.  I talk about going 'into the heart' and listening to the plants and flowers.  I know in my own heart that each plant has her deva and she tells me how she wants/chooses to be seen.  Some of you may resonate with these thoughts...some of you might think otherwise.  For me, what matters is staying strong in my ways of being and doing.  For too long, it was always important what others would think.  Was I dressing correctly? ( Little Friend asked me about 'proper attire' for the photo opening.  My response - wear what expresses YOU and that you are comfortable with.)  Did my hair look ok - truth and honest, I love the way it is - me- curly and natural.  I have been told it is not 'age appropriate' - hey when am I going to let those words go?!?
    Anyhow - back to my own way of photography.  I went to the bookstore yesterday and found a new magazine/book about Macro Photography.  I subscribed again to Nature Photographer and ordered the back issue with the macro article.  And truth be told, I am succumbing - just a tad - to develop some UNDERSTANDING of how the camera works (Even thinking of looking for notes from Friend Bob's course years ago with the technical chart - hey a girl just has to understand right?!?!?)
   So for me - it's in the details - and the dance of Little Light

Breakfast Companion - with us for days!!

Pay Attention to Your Words: They Have Meaning!!

Yesterday I was talking with Conni-Joi and sharing the fun I am having weaving the web of collaboration in Delaware and New Jersey.  I can begin to see how many strands are  integrating for the good of infants, toddlers, families and staff.  She was fascinated by my words and asked, "Have you ever looked at the Spider as your Power Animal?"  No I had not but now I have and WOW are the messages I discovered ever so meaningful!!  Listen...The spider is a Weaver and she is creating a delicate, magical tapestry!  Weaving is joining separate strands of fabric into an integrated pattern and Spider (ME!!) is the master weaver!  She has the ability to see our lives as a whole  and live in a more integrated way.  Her web is not an entanglement but a network of roads to travel.  Spider is associated with the spiral, the symbol of Universal energy.  Through her we realize that we are all connected to life and all we have is the infinite NOW!  Can you imagine this wonderful message started with sharing a few simple words with a friend!  Who could say that life is not  meaningful!!  Stop, be still and pay attention.  There are always messages and lessons to be learned!!!  PS Now we are approaching May and my countdown is at 147 days!!!