Looking and Seeing

Look.
See.
Within the Flower
sits the Bee.

My mind races from thought to thought like the flashing of the pixels on a computer screen. I think everything is still and silent ~ until I am focused on the Bee. Then I recognize that I've been in that strange outer world of technology and light. It's the world I've created, the world in which I operate most of the time. The world of busyness and speed.

There's a difference between looking at something and truly seeing it. While striding past a patch of flowers, heading toward my car, I noticed the bright tones of gold and orange blossoms and the subtle dark green leaves. The stunning contrast caught me up short and I turned to look more closely while grabbing my camera in my bag. This was the first step ~ I looked at the composition of the patch of flowers.

When I stopped to regard the patch more closely, the movement of the bees in flight above it caught my attention. I stood still for the space of a few purposeful breaths, slow and deep, allowing my eyes to travel the bee's dance. That's when I saw a number of the bees landing on blooms, strolling through and collecting pollen.

Seeing the bees land and dance on the blooms, I raised my camera, focused and snapped the picture. The entire process didn't take long, yet it required that I pause my perpetual motion long enough to slide from noticing to looking to seeing. Each step brought me closer to the bright dance of flower, pollen and bee.

I am grateful for the flash of color, for my eyes that saw it, for my mind that recognized its beauty, for the deceleration it brought. My world is full of moments like this.

What do you allow to slow you down? What catches your eye? How do your traverse that chasm from looking to seeing? How often do you notice whatever is in the natural world around you? How diverse are the feelings you have when you slow down?

Magic of Beginnings

Do you remember the first day of a new school year? Maybe your senior year in high school? Or the first day you met your best friend? Those days reach deep into our memories because they hold the magic of beginnings.

I recall not the first day of meeting my best friend in high school, but the first day of our friendship. We were freshmen, working in the library, shelving books. We were teasing each other ~ about what, I'm not sure exactly ~ just banter. As she shelved a book titled The Ugly American, she said to me, This is what you are. I retorted, You too. And she replied, Oh, no. I am not an American. I was born in Germany. Somehow, that precise moment began something deeper. The joking around stopped ~ at least temporarily ~ while we began a new conversation about the more intimate features of our individual lives.

Then there was the day I went to visit a particular college campus. Applying to that university was linked to that high school friend. She was planning to go there. I hadn't even considered it. Then I did. When I set foot on the quad and walked under the trees, across the grassy spaciousness, it felt like home. The irony was that I completed my undergraduate degree there; my friend never attended a single day.

Beginnings. As 2016 begins, I look back at those quixotic moments that led me to turn a corner or a page or .... whatever diverse object or subject set before me .... and my entire world shifted accordingly. Though I have no set resolutions, I have a practice of watching for changes bubbling the surface and creating patterns. If I pay close attention and trust the process, the magic will show itself.

What beginning moments do you most vividly recall? Can you describe them in detail? Where did each of those moments lead you? What magic occurred for you? What are you watching happen as 2016 begins?

Listening Power, part 2

Besides taking the time and focus to listen to others, we need to learn to take time to pay attention to that quiet voice within.

I don't mean the voice that scolds you or diminishes you. That one usually resides in your mind, often sounding like someone from your past. The voice that gives you directions, encourages you, reassures you is the one that should be heard.

This quote is from Steve Jobs, one of the most creative voices and forces in the technology arena to date. His life was an amazing combination of influence and intuition.

Listening to your inner voice, to my inner voice, is not always a simple task. Quieting the mind enough to pay attention, taking the time to breathe and relax, trusting what is heard ~~ all of these are part of the process of listening. Why do we find it easier to listen to others? What is it about the voice inside our minds that we hear it more clearly than the intuitive voice that comes from our gut or our heart?

If we are lucky enough, dedicated enough, accountable enough, we open ourselves to the inner voice and act on the directions and advice it provides. That kind of listening requires us to take time to listen.

My own listening fluctuates from intense to la-di-la not paying attention. I identify with things pulling me inward and outward. I know that when I listen, when I put down the media, that quiet intuitive voice directs me to a place of greater connection ~ and onward to greater joy as well.

How do you listen to your inner voice? Is it important to you that you do? How do the two types of listening (to others and to self) work in your life? What happens when you don't listen?

Condor in my Life...

As I was waiting for a massage, I opened a book I had recently purchased, Pocket Guide to Spirit Animals by Dr. Steven Farmer. Being a new book, it didn't exactly fall open. When I grabbed some pages and opened the book, the Spirit Animal I found was the Condor. This is what the book had to say:

Andean Condor (from Wikipedia)

In spite of the dire circumstances you find yourself in or the losses you've sustained, you'll eventually find the gifts in this experience that may not be immediately apparent. It's time to clean up the clutter or messes that you find around you. Develop new and creative solutions to those problems that you or others would prefer to ignore. You'll find that your tastes, cravings, and possibly your entire diet will soon change, so pay close attention to your body's response when you eat certain foods. You need to take all those material items that no longer serve a purpose and either recycle them or get rid of them.

I hadn't been thinking anything in particular, no question in my consciousness. My intention was to check the book out, to look for specific Spirit Animals. When I saw the page, I paused and began reading. What I read reminded me that everything happens for a reason. The Condor speaks to me. Dire circumstances? There's been stress floating through my life... sometimes taking up residence for a while. I need creative solutions to my problems ~~ and how did the book know I'd been ignoring them? What a wild synchronicity.

What better time than Lent to pay attention to food and diet! I noticed that certain things were leaving me ever so slightly uncomfortable (like one of my favorites: Trader Joe's Inner Peas!). Not overwhelmingly so or intestinal distress, simply a bit bloated. Something I wouldn't have noticed ~ except that it was Lent and I was paying attention to details I often ignore.

What new things are you noticing in your life? What changes are happening in your life right now? What animal draws you? calls to you?