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Archive for the ‘perception’ Category

Curiously eye catching

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, perception, personal growth, philosophy, photography on October 27, 2015| 1 Comment »

That’s a funny phrase don’t you think – “eye catching”?

How can something “catch” your eye?

But it does, doesn’t it? I do think you can observe with intent. I’ll write a post about that tomorrow, but today I’d like to share what happened yesterday evening.

Every other monday evening I take a yellow bag of papers, tins, plastics and so on for recycling, along our little road a couple of hundred yards to the collection point for the pick up on the tuesday morning. I’ve done that every fortnight for this last year but as I turned to walk back home last night something caught my eye – something just in the corner of my eye –

the yard

Can you see? Just to the right of the old well….something in the field. I went closer to have a look.

flower field

Wow! Look at these flowers! Spectacular!

The sun was about to set and as I looked to my right I saw the low rays sliding across the vineyard and lighting up some of the petals. I’m really pleased with this one – just look!

sunlit

If the colour hadn’t caught my eye, if I hadn’t been curious enough to walk into the field, if I hadn’t looked along behind the old wall…..I’d have missed this.

So there’s my tip for today – if something catches your eye, follow your curiosity!

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Does Nature love you?

Posted in books, from the dark room, from the living room, life, perception, personal growth, philosophy, photography on October 16, 2015| 1 Comment »

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In her book, “Big Magic”, Elizabeth Gilbert tells the story of a botanist friend who teaches environmental biology in New York. She begins by asking her students two questions – “Do you love Nature?” (every hand in the class goes up) and “Do you believe that Nature loves you in return?” (every hand goes down).

Sad, that, isn’t it?

The myth of the heartless, uncaring universe has dominated our cultures. Even worse, the myth that “wild nature” actively works against us so needs to be “tamed” and “controlled” feeds the climate of fear which is used to control us.

What choices might we make if we took a different view?

What might our societies become if we both loved Nature and believed that Nature loved us in return? (Of course, I take it for granted that you accept Nature isn’t something separate from us. We are inextricably a part of Nature)

Two recent photos came to mind as I thought about this. The one above, which is lunch one day in my home. Look at the yellow tomatoes, the cheese, the butter, the bread, the salt and pepper and the water. Look at the delicious bowl of “potiron” soup.

Then, how about this photo I took in Regents Park in London last weekend?

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Taken facing the sun (as the photography books tell you not to!) and revealing both the glow of red flowers in the life-giving sunlight and the longing of the purple ones as they reach for the sun.

What do you think?

Do we live in an essentially hostile or uncaring universe? Or are we part of a loving, nurturing and caring one?

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The power of the beauty of Nature

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, perception, photography on October 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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As I walked through Regent’s Park in London the other day, I noticed the power of the beauty of Nature.

Even joggers were stopping in their tracks to look at, or photograph some of the beautiful autumn leaves.

As I sat on a park bench to read a little of a novel, I noticed this woman standing very still, apparently transfixed by the fountain, the sunlight and the leaves. Or maybe she was just lost in her own thoughts? After I’d read a chapter of my book I looked up and she was still there, standing in exactly the same position.

The power of the beauty of Nature to enchant and en-trance…..

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Simple creativity

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, perception, personal growth, photography on October 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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As I walk around I like to notice things – you’ve probably realised that! And when I notice them, I often take a photo. I’ve written before about the benefits of keeping a camera in your hand, but nowadays with smartphones many more of us have cameras in our hands!

I found a leaf which caught my eye. Then I found another. I picked them up, took them home then laid them in the garden, on the corner of the sandpit where my grand-daughter, Ava, had left a stone she liked.

I took the photo.

Pleasing, don’t you think? And now I can look at this scene again as much as I like.

I recommend it – everyday, simple creativity.

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As above so below

Posted in books, from the dark room, from the living room, from the reading room, life, perception, personal growth, philosophy, photography, science on October 3, 2015| 3 Comments »

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Have you ever come across a little book entitled “Li: Dynamic Form in Nature” by David Wade?

It’s tiny, but it’s a total treat.

He takes and old Chinese philosophical concept “li” and translates it in a particular way which throws an amazing light on what we see around us.

Simply put, he describes li as the invisible forces, or energies which produce the different shapes and forms of the natural world – you know the kind of things – the branching forms of a tree or root system, the wave forms in water and sand, the feathery patterns of clouds and, ah, well, feathers!

I love encountering these kinds of echoes and symmetries, especially when we can see a similar form in two or more completely different contexts – like the sky I look up at, then the feather I find on the grass at my feet.

 

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What’s new?

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, neuroscience, perception, personal growth, philosophy, photography, psychology on October 1, 2015| 6 Comments »

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One of my favourite podcasts is “onbeing with Krista Tippett”. Recently she interviewed Ellen Langer on the Science of Mindfulness.

Ellen Langer has carried out some really interest research, some of which she mentions in the interview, but I first encountered her work when studying Dan Seigel’s Interpersonal Neurobiology course. Her take on mindfulness is different from that of the more dominant meditation based one.

She says that meditation can be a good form or mindfulness practice but, it’s not necessary.

She says we can go through life either mindfully, or mindlessly.

Doesn’t that seem crystal clear?

I like it, because, for me, it maps directly onto my heroes not zombies. I do think we tend to slip into autopilot, or “zombie mode”. But if we wake up and become aware we can become the conscious authors of our own stories (the ones where we are the main protagonist, the hero)

How do we do that?

How do we wake ourselves up? Jolt ourselves out of autopilot/zombie/mindless mode?

She says – search for the new.

It’s novelty and the search for novelty which creates the mindful state.

And I think she’s right, because to search for the new involves intention and attention. We wake ourselves up first of all by deciding to do so. We live consciously by choosing to live consciously. Then when we are looking and listening out for what is new, different, or changed, then we not only paying attention, but we are paying attention to reality. (Instead of painting over reality with habit)

Try it for yourself.

She says see if you kind find out something new about the next person you speak to.

But what about right now?

Right now, wherever you are. Once you stop reading this, look around you and see if anything is new, if anything has changed since yesterday. Look for what’s new, different or changed.

 

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Rows

Posted in from the dark room, perception, photography on September 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Rows of vines and rows of clouds.

This caught my eye while out walking yesterday. The clouds seem to be traveling in rows. That’s what caught my eye.

But now I see the image on the screen I’ve noticed that not only are the clouds crossing the sky in parallel rows, but they are doing that above the vines which are growing in rows on the land below them.

There’s something very pleasing about this pattern with rows above and below, running at right angles to each other…

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on reflection again

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, perception, personal growth, photography on August 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I enjoy taking photos of reflections. There’s something incredibly appealig about the world reflected in water.

This got me thinking though about how we reflect. After all when we are reflecting on something we don’t turn it upside down!

I think reflecting on something is more than just looking again. It’s more than remembering. It does involve looking at whatever it is from a new viewpoint.

That viewpoint either comes from time or distance or both. Or it comes from the way we develop new ways of seeing the world all the time, as we are affected by our every day events.

How often do you take time to reflect? And when you do reflect, are you aware of trying to see from different angles, different viewpoints, or through the new lens of the present?

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The power of the different

Posted in creativity, from the dark room, from the living room, life, perception, personal growth, photography on August 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I took this shot leaning over a bridge just as some birds flew over the water.

I love the quite disorientating nature of this image. It takes a moment to figure out what you’re looking at. Which way is up? What is this?

When we drift through life on autopilot (in full zombie not hero mode!) then we stop noticing.

The unfamiliar, the unusual, the unexpected then has great powers to wake us up and see (in full hero not zombie mode!)

Why not set out to encounter something different today?

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The view from on high

Posted in from the dark room, life, perception, personal growth, philosophy, photography on August 24, 2015| Leave a Comment »

south of Genté

I like the panorama function on the iPhone.

Here’s a shot I took yesterday standing at the viewpoint just above the village where I live.

There’s a long-standing philosophical concept referred to as the “view from on high” (or, variously, “the view from above“, or even, the “view from Sirius“) which I really like.

It refers to that ability we have to change our perspective. It’s not just about taking an overview so you can see better the context of whatever you are dealing with. It’s also a good way of managing stress.

When we are in a stressful situation it can become quite overwhelming. It can be difficult to “see the wood for the trees”! (another variation on this theme). Often the best way to defuse a situation is to pause, and see if we can put this issue into a bigger context. Doing that can reduce the intensity of the stress within seconds.

I think this works partly because it’s a way of changing our focus. Remember that what we focus on always gets bigger!

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