ARTFUL GATHERINGS

Awareness

October 29, 2007  Cultivating a peaceful heart is the journey of a lifetime when this truth comes fully into awareness we can join it. Gunilla Norris

October 3o, 2oo7  It is gratitude that increases our capacity. We know the saying, “to them that have, more shall be given.” The more we are aware that we have been given, the more we are given. The abundance is never ending.   Gunilla Norris

 

  

Today I was grateful to have the time to play in my studio. I was attempting to cultivate some new ideas.

Dilemma

October 27, 2007  A room devoted to silence honors and invites the unknown, the untamed, the wild, the shy, the unfathomable — that which rarely has a chance to surface within us.
— Gunilla Norris in Sharing Silence

October 28, 2007  Can we recognize that now and then there comes an inner     sense, a fleeting thought, a little yearning 

to live our lives differently? Gunilla Norris 

I am trying to listen to my inner voice and decide my next step. The question that I am am fixated on is  "Should I enroll in a 200 hour yoga teachers training program? " My list of pros and cons is endless and I will not bore you with my ruminations. 

I am taking endless walks in my beautiful community.

I wish I could follow my dogs lead and solve my dilemma's this way........

Brave

October 23 - 24, 2007 When I am stripped of argument and doubt of all the theology I have learned and unlearned. I am left with the strong sense of connection to beauty and holiness that is central to the navajo religion. Sam Keen

October 25 - 26, 2007 Connect with the earth. Send roots from from feet into the soil. Be grounded and solid and I will grow tall and proud.

This past weekend I had a blast in putting together my first haunted house. In this situation it was a ......

Oh no watch out for the clown. He is not here to make people smile. So you best be brave or who knows what will become of you.

Simmer

October 20, 2007 - October 21, 2007 A wise old man once told me never to go to sleep immediately after going to bed. "Simmer" he said. "Lie quietly and review the events and experiences of the day and sort out what has been important and what has been trivial" It may be the best advice I  ever got. Our society, already flooded with information, might act with greater wisdom if we individually developed the habit of simmering. Sam Keen

October 21, 2007 Continue simmering

The weather here on the East Coast has been incredible.

I have bee enjoying fall walks. Some with Megan and  some with just the dogs. The dogs are in heaven because I have been taking all three with me which I am not always brave enough to do but since Maggie( the white dog) seems to enjoy walking herself. Well how I could I leave her behind.

We have been  collecting leaves and seeing what we can create with them. So I guess I Have been been simmering this fall and enjoying the beauty of the out door world around me.

Impatient's

October 18, 2007 Imagination  

October 19, 2007 Passion

Passion and Imagination.

It is time to say good bye to my summer garden. My garden is my passion and illustrates my imagination. The past two nights we have had a light frost but tonight the weather channel is calling for a hard frost. So my inpatient's will be the fist to go but I have be blessed to have them bloom until October 19. Their color this summer has been incredible. All summer and into fall these flowers have brought a smile to my face.

 

Zeal

October 16, 2007 - October 17, 2007 - Zeal

Definition great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective. Thesaurus ardent, passion, fervor, relish, gusto devoted, diligent, eager, energy, vigor.

Antonym apathy, indifference.

Everything you do this weekend do with Zeal!

Autumn

October 15, 2007 In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on. Robert Frost

Delicious Autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. George Eliot

We are experiencing a beautiful indian summer. The leaves are changing, flowers are still blooming, and children are still wearing shorts. My children feel we still need the air condition on because during the day the upstairs is hot. 

Yesterday, October 14, I was walking around my backyard barefoot admiring the flowers that are giving me their final show

before the first frost.

uncomplicated

October 13, 2007 " Detach with love." Detach from the problem not the person

October 14, 2007  Stop reacting and being controlled by my reactions.

Today I am listening to my words of wisdom from last year but for different reasons. Today I will focus on detaching from all the useless chatter in my brain. In yoga I have found two terms for the restlessness of the ordinary mind, Monkey mind and or Puppy Mind. 

Stephen Cope writes about.. "tie the puppy to the post." 

  When the puppy is tied to the post, he may at first object, and pull against the restraint.

  But eventually he will calm down, quiet, and settle. And so, too, the mind. Initially 

  the mind wanders, adopting its characteristic discursive quality, but eventually it settles 

  into the object.

When we focus or tie our mind to a mantra, a repeated ritual or the breath, the mind will eventually calm down, quiet, and settle.

With a quieted mind creating art becomes effortless, uncomplicated and painless.

Choices

October 12, 2007  I will not choose one religion but I will find a combination of many....Buddha, Catholicism, Judaism, etc.

When I read this I immediately thought of the current presidential election. There are certain aspects of the fiscal policies of both the Republican and Democratic parties I do not agree with. I do not believe that moral issues such as abortion and gay marriages are decisions of the state but are decisions to be left to your own personal church. (I will never understand if a marriage is a contract than where does the state have the legal right to make gender decisions within a contract).  I am disgusted with the hatred I have witnessed from both Republicans and Democrats. I am horrified that people pass on emails that have been altered therefore passing on lies. I hate that I cannot ask the political questions I wish to ask because people will immediately judge me on who they think I am voting for. So I needed to disengage from all political thinking today and I headed to my studio.

I started with this photo I took today of Megan and Pat.

After many steps it now looks like....

Respect

October 9, 2007 Dignity

October 10, 2007 Acceptance

October 11, 2007  Respect

To me Dolphins exemplify dignity

We must have respect for our environment

My twelve year old son's sock....He dares anyone not to respect his choices. A true free spirit.