Inspired

A Door To My New Life

This is the door to my future.

The door to my new home…the door to a new chapter in my life.

When I step through this door I’m stepping into “yes”.

With this house I’ve embraced more…bright colours, new ideas, new materials and openness.

With this house I’ve embraced less…less space, less gardening, less to care for.

This house is the outer reflection of the inner changes in me.

Bright, bold, free, and open.

(this door is so new that the stickers are still on it…but soon, very soon we’ll be moving in!)

This post is this weeks contribution to the Lens Us Together project.  The theme is Windows and Doors: Portals of Transition and was suggested by Donna at A Life in Focus.

Everyday Peace – Peace Everyday: Compassion

 

Last week during a very quick and hectic trip to the mainland, I stopped at a serene and beautiful Buddhist Temple for an hour of peace and reflection.  I was intrigued with a very large carved statue of the Avalokitesvara Bodisattiva …the Bodisattiva (enlightened being) of compassion. 

The “aura” surrounding this figure had ten thousand hands and ten thousand eyes and the tiniest of the hands appeared like feathers from a distance.  In each small hand, an eye was placed in the middle of the palm. In each of the larger hands the Bodisattiva holds an object such as a lotus blossom or a weapon.  The eyes, the hands and the objects he holds are symbolic of watching over humanity and protecting us from harm.  

I love the idea of a “thousand eyes and and a thousand hands” watching over and caring for me with loving compassion!

" Each of us in our own way can try to spread compassion into people’s hearts. Western civilizations these days place great importance on filling the human “brain” with knowledge, but no one seems to care about filling the human “heart” with compassion.  This is the real role of religion." 

Dalai Lama

It’s easy to be compassionate with the loveable of the world but it’s the unloveable who truly need our compassion…those who are acting out of emotional pain…the prickly ones who seem to want to push us away or even worse, push our buttons!   It’s not always easy but always worth the effort.

I was once given (by a very wise friend) a quick and easy  phrase that has helped me to deal with people who bring up feelings of hurt or anger.  When I find myself reacting internally in a negative way, I say to myself:

Thank  you (name) for showing me a part of myself that needs healing.

When I say this, I find myself feeling sincerely grateful for the experience rather than hurt or angry.  I see it as a gift and an opportunity to look within and disengage my own issues that want to react. It dissolves the emotions of victimization and puts the situation in a new and more compassionate perspective.

Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves.

Mason Cooley

May compassion be with you, holding you close when you are hurt or alone -- when there is rain in your heart. And may you be the warm hands and the warm eyes of compassion for your friends when they reach out to you in need.

Thanks so much for visiting,

Play well and be kind to one another.

Orange You Happy?

Have you had your fill of fall colour yet?  As I type this I’m listening to Louis Armstrong sing “It’s a Wonderful World” and yes, it truly is a wonderful world of orange this year in my part of the world.  This photograph was taken at a local roadside farm market laden with bins of colourful squash, gourds and apples.

Martie and I have an juicy orange offering this week at Shared Focus.  Did you know that orange is the new black this fall?

Thanks for visiting!

Play well and be kind to one another.

Everyday Peace

We still have yellow daisies bravely greeting us every day in a pot on the steps.  I’ve always loved the daisy for it’s cheerful simplicity. 

Everyday Peace.

This phrase has been rolling around in my head for awhile now. 

Everyday peace…peace every day…every day…peace. 

It’s like a mantra that repeats over and over, gently reminding me to choose peace.  Every moment of every day…choose peace.  I’ve been insanely busy for the past month or so, with the final running around for the house and having Shingles on top of not one, but two sore throats has all taken a toll.  It’s been important for me to stay balanced and in a place of peace and I’ve been breathing, deep breathing, a lot.  It brings everything back to center so quickly.  I’m currently doing an online energy course and deep breathing is a huge part of it. 

Did you know that:

…It’s impossible to be stressed while breathing deeply. 

…It’s impossible to worry when breathing deeply. 

…It’s impossible to stay angry when breathing deeply.

…It’s impossible to be anxious when breathing deeply.

It feels wonderful…so calming and peaceful.  It also reduces blood pressure, insomnia and pain.  It makes me wonder why I’ve resisted it for so long. 

As part of my commitment to a peaceful life…everyday peace and peace every day…as often as possible (hopefully every week but you know how it goes!) I plan to focus a post on peace.  It may just be a photograph and a quote but knowing me I usually have too much to say to leave it at a picture. 

So you’ll be seeing my peace posts popping up on a fairly regular basis.

Play well and be kind to one another...and thank you so much for visiting.

Birds and Branches

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.
It sings because it has a song.
Chinese Proverb

At night, I open the window and ask the moon to come and press its face against mine. Breathe into me.
Close the language-door, and open the love-window.  The moon won't use the door, only the window.

Mevlana Rumi

Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.

Victor Hugo

I’ve been busy playing with the birds!  The branches are my own photographs, digitally collaged with textures.  The little bird in all three pieces was a nuthatch that flew into Trudi’s  studio one day and wanted to stay.  She has kindly shared an extraction of the nuthatch for download.  Thanks Trudy, this little sweetie was just what I needed!

Thanks for visiting…I’m so glad you came. 

Play well and be kind to one another.

Buttons

Head over to Shared Focus today to see what Martie and I had to say about this weeks theme…buttons!  What is there to say about buttons?  Quite a bit it seems!

The Season

The seasonal west coast rain comes with it’s own beauty. (taken through my bedroom window this morning)

The theme this week over at Lens-Us-Together is “Seasonal” and was suggested by Char at We Blog Artists.  We just returned home from a (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend in the fruit and wine growing region of BC and I was sorely tempted to slip in a photograph of the beautiful apples, pumpkins or even the wacky looking gourds that we saw displayed at the fruit stands, however I managed to restrain myself!  I’ve been slow in posting this week and the luscious, crispy apples of fall have been well represented on the Lens website.

I normally greet the fall season with mixed feelings…loving the colours and crisp air, but knowing that the dark (and for us on the west coast) wet, days of winter are lurking just around the corner.  In fact I usually resist winter to the point of escaping it, now that I have the luxury doing just that. 

I’ve recently been looking at the coming of winter from another, more positive perspective…that nature has naturally built in a time of “retreat” for us.

That all moments, even the dark ones, are a gift. 

The darker days and colder temperatures are ideal for going within, slowing down and taking the time for rest and renewal.  Unfortunately for most, the world isn’t organized in a way that we can easily take full advantage of it…commuting to work on dark mornings and rushing out in the evening to meetings, book clubs and night classes is the norm.  It almost pains me to go out at night during the dark months, especially if I’ve been out during the day but then I’m a bit of a recluse, given the choice!  I’d so much rather cocoon in the house with a good book, some art work or even a favourite TV program.

How do you approach the change of season…do you fight it emotionally or flow easily into what it has to offer? 

(and yes, even though I know I could make it through the winter this year without plummeting into depression, I’m still heading south for a few months…I’ll cocoon in the tropics!)

Play well and be kind to one another,

Tea in the Woods

The theme for this week’s Lens-Us-Together (which now has 68 creative souls participating) is Coffee and Tea and was suggested by Andie.

The tea cups in this photograph belonged to my mother and although they’re not often used used now, they’re filled with sweet memories.  Mom was of an era that actually held afternoon tea parties for her friends…complete with a gauzy, ruffled apron, finger sandwiches and delicate pastries.  In fact they were used frequently in our home, for friends as well as strangers were routinely urged to come in and have a cup of tea.  The kettle was put on to boil as soon as a live body came through the door! 

There’s something so universal about the hospitality of offering a guest a cup of coffee or tea.  It crosses barriers of both language and culture. It cover moments of awkwardness and offers condolences when words are inadequate. It honours old friendships and invites new ones.

It says; lets stop and share a moment together

So pull up a mossy log dear friend and I’ll pour the tea.  We’ll chat about the softness of the forest floor and the heady scent of ancient cedars.  Birds will scold us until we throw some crumbs their way and curious squirrels will scamper shyly up and down the trees.  As sunlight shines softly through filtered boughs, we’ll sip our tea and feel a bliss of sheer contentment.

And who knows…there may even be a fairy or two who will join us…just over there, hiding behind the maidenhair fern. 

Oh, I’m so glad you’re here!

…Play well and be kind to one another.

The Fourth File

Gail at Picturing the Year, has passed on a fun meme…to pull the fourth photograph from the fourth file in her “my pictures” file…and she’s passed the challenge on to anyone who’s curious as to just what’s in that fourth file!  I thought I would try it myself just to see what I came up with. 

...and what I did come up with, made me smile :)

Me, cooking with very, looooong green beans in Shanghai, China

This photo was taken in Shanghai in September, 2001.  We were visiting my daughter Meghan, her husband and my son Robin, who were all working in China at the time and we traveled with my dad who was then eighty six. (He's now 93 and traveled to Mexico with us last year!)  For much of dad’s life, China was an exotic and enigmatic country and when we asked him if he would like to come with us, he jumped at the chance to realize the dream of a lifetime.  Dad is well traveled in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the US, but China was a mystery that had been shut away behind closed doors for much of his life.

In this picture I was standing in Meghan’s kitchen on the 24th floor of a modern high rise. It didn’t get much more modern than this and yet surrounding her building were narrow roads that turned and twisted through old longtangs and communist era structures.  We had a wonderful trip…traveling to Beijing, Xian, Chongqing, Nanjing and down the Yangtze river.  We were three generations together, discovering China’s amazing and unique history and geography.  Meghan had been living abroad for almost six years…in Shanghai, Budapest and then back to Shanghai…so as we traveled, we caught up with each other’s lives.

It’s a trip we’ll never forget, but for more than just happy memories.  The day after we arrived in China…September 10, 2001…the Trade Center fell in New York City and the world has never been the same.  We numbly watched the events unfold on television as did everyone…feeling strangely detached in such a far away and foreign land and yet realizing just how small and connected the world really is.

I’ve included a few more photographs here of our time in China, all from “the fourth” file.  Thanks for putting the challenge out there Gail…this was fun! 

What’s the fourth picture in your fourth file?

top row:  The  Forbidden City Beijing, Meg & Bob on the Great Wall, Laundry hanging on Meghan’s street in Shanghai

Middle row:  Meg with pomegranates on the train from Nanjing, more of the street where Meg lived, all of us at the Terracotta Warriors in Xian

Bottom row:  Classical sleeve dancers, the Yangtze River, and the Tea Pavilion in Yu Yuan Gardens, Shanghai.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Play well and be kind to one another.

Simplicity

The front porch of the lovely B&B we stayed at in LaConnor, Washington…and they even welcomed Molly as a guest!

When I came home last week from my various travels, I had a lovely surprise waiting for me.  A small package had arrived in the mail from Dorit of Gerandisgleor in the Faroe Islands.  I’m red faced to admit that I didn’t know where the Faroe Islands were but my husband who comes from the UK, quickly told me that they lie between Scotland and Iceland and are a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

In August I impulsively signed up for a postcard exchange…an exchange of kindnesses…that was organized by Se"’Lah of Necessary Room…and Dorit had received my name.  My  own exchange recipient was Elizabeth of Retinal Perspectives and I had loads of fun making a postcard from my “vintage” suitcases and teddy bear photograph, which I sent off to her.   Thank you so much Dorit, it was such a wonderful surprise to open up your lovely package and a huge thank you to Se"’Lah for organizing the exchange!

While exploring Dorit’s blog, I came across this beautiful Celtic Prayer which I love and I wanted to share it with you…

Lord, help me now to unclutter my life
to organize myself in the direction of simplicity.
Lord, teach me to listen to my heart;
teach me to welcome change, instead of fearing it.

Lord, I give You these stirrings inside me,
I give you my discontent,
I give you my restlessness,
I give you my doubt,
I give you my despair,
I give you all the longings I hold inside.

Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth;
to listen seriously and follow where they lead
through the breathtaking empty space of an open door.

I especially love the last line…”the breathtaking empty space of an open door”…so exquisitely said.  As Dorit says on her post…”

“I like this Celtic prayer because it seeks peace and change at the same time.
Having a heart at peace while stepping into to the unknown.
Again and again.”

Thanks for stopping by…play well and be kind to one another.