Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘personal growth’ Category

Colours

Posted in creativity, from the dark room, from the living room, life, perception, personal growth, photography on June 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

blue

Sometimes its contrasts which catch my eye, but other times it’s the luxuriant shades within one area of the colour spectrum, whether that’s blue (like above), or green (like below)
DSCN3655

…or even the shades within one flower
petal

Read Full Post »

The singular which is often plural!

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, perception, personal growth, philosophy, photography, psychology on June 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Sometimes my attention is caught by a single flower

A single flower is stunning in its uniqueness…its “singularity”.

But then sometimes what catches my attention is a whole of lot flowers of the “same kind” –

And in fact, its the uniqueness of their gathering together, of their coming together, or growing together, which is so stunning.

Indeed, sometimes its their presence as a group in a particular context –

– which is just so gorgeous and beautiful and wonderful.

I think there is something here which is worth remembering about Life, especially about the lives of human beings.

We are each wonderful in our uniqueness, in our “singularity”, but we can be something else again when we live together in harmony – in our “plurality”.

Read Full Post »

Habits

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, personal growth, photography, psychology on June 7, 2015| 3 Comments »

Redstart

“We are creatures of habit”. We’re told that. But in fact, it seems all creatures are “creatures of habit”. This little redstart really seems to like sitting on this particular flower pot in my garden. He has a number of favourite places – this flower pot, the arch over the well, and a couple of fence posts.

We probably develop habits to make life easier. They can let us off making conscious choices all the time, and they can contribute towards the feeling that we live in a predictable world, which helps us to feel more safe.

There are downsides to habits however.

Firstly, by letting us off making conscious choices they propel us towards a “zombie, not hero” lifestyle – they allow us to go on autopilot probably more than is good for us. Autopilot reduces our awareness and in that state we are less likely to see and appreciate the new, or in fact, just the reality of the world around us. Haven’t you had that experience of driving a car, or riding a bicycle on a very familiar route, lost in thought, only to discover that you have arrived at your destination and not taken in any of the details of the journey at all?

Secondly, they make our world smaller. By staying on the same path, perching on the same perches, we limit our opportunities to experience the new, the different and the real.

Thirdly, they limit our growth. We growth by putting ourselves in new situations, encountering different people and places, seeing and hearing new information. We don’t do much of that when we are on autopilot.

Now, I’m not saying your habits are “bad” (I know people talk about “good habits” and “bad habits” but that’s not what I’m thinking about today. I’m sure the little redstart prefers that flowerpot for good reasons!

But today, in the “A to Z of Becoming”, I’ve reached the letter “v” again, and one of the verbs starting with “v” is “vary”.

I think it’s a good idea to become aware of your habits, then, just occasionally, to vary them. (You can always go back to them again the next time) What varying a habit can do is wake you up. It can make you more conscious and in doing so promotes your autonomy of choices, and opens up your world and your learning.

So, why not pick a habit or two in the coming week and try a little variation?

Maybe take a different route to work or school? Maybe shop in a different shop? Go for coffee in different cafe, or somewhere different for lunch? Or simply choose something different for breakfast, or try a different drink from your usual one?

Just see what it feels like, and then make a conscious choice the next time, which might be to go back to the same route, or shop, or cafe, or whatever – because when you do, you’ll probably notice somethings you’ve never noticed before.

Read Full Post »

The sun and the moon

Posted in creativity, from the dark room, from the living room, life, personal growth, photography on June 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

sunset over the vines

moon

The Sun and the Moon.

The red rose and the white……

Read Full Post »

Bejewelled

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

bejewelled

I can’t resist it.

These sparkling jewels of dew in the morning, shining in the morning sun…..

This is the month of light, and seeing light making the world sparkle is such a treat.

Seen any sparkles near you recently?

Read Full Post »

Behind the light

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, personal growth, photography on June 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »

l'amphitheatre

My previous post was about light and I shared a photo I took in a tunnel….well, here’s what that tunnel was leading to!

It’s the Roman amphitheatre in Saintes, France.

This must have been a terrifying place to be in its heyday – in the tunnel I mean. I expect the crowds of spectators (around 15,000 of them at a time) would have been excitedly waiting to see what, or who, was going to emerge from the tunnel into the arena. I suspect not many who walked or ran out of this tunnel towards this light returned alive. A shocking thought.

At the entrance to the amphitheatre there is a plaque which gives a little of the history of the place and it mentions how the Roman elite used “bread and circuses” to keep the populace in their control. Have you ever wondered how the present food and entertainment industries might do the same thing nowadays?

Read Full Post »

Unwinding

Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, life, personal growth, photography on May 31, 2015| 3 Comments »

swan

I’ve reached “u” again in my “A to Z of becoming“, and “u” can stand for “unwind“.

Sunday is a good day to practice unwinding. If Sunday isn’t a good day for you then it’s still good to have at least one day a week when you set aside the demands, responsibilities and tasks for a short while and unwind. So, try to find a day in the next week even if it’s not a Sunday.

Once you find your day, how are you going to unwind?

Well, I was inspired by this swan – after all, what better way to unwind than to “swan around” for a bit? (I mean swan around in the wandering about aimlessly way, not in the dramatic or showing off way!)

The French have a great word for this – “flâner” – which means to stroll around, or (a nice English word – to “amble” around).

You see I don’t think unwinding means you need do nothing. It doesn’t mean you need to sit still, or to try to empty your mind, or anything like that. I think rather it involves taking it easy, just living, not having a particular purpose or goal for a wee while. I’m sure we need goals and purpose and everything like that, but we also need to be able to enjoy times which are free of such things.

A person who strolls around is known as a “flâneur” – and I rather like to assume the role of the “flâneur” from time to time.

I think the Italians focus more on the not doing when they unwind – have you come across “dolce fa niente“? (doing sweet nothing)

So, what about your language? What are the good words for enjoying living in an unwinding, relaxing, ambling around kind of a way?

Moi? Je flâne aujourd’hui

Read Full Post »

Place and culture and beauty and what we do

Posted in art, creativity, from the dark room, from the living room, life, personal growth, photography on May 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »

turning japanese

I look at this photo, and I wonder what country I was in when I took it.

Well, I don’t have to wonder for long because I only took it a day ago and I remember well that when I did I was only about an hour from where I live (in France) – but, seriously, couldn’t this have been taken in Japan?

What gives an image a strong sense of place or of culture? Is it the colour? Is it the juxtaposition of flowers and something particular a human being has made?

I don’t find it hard to see beauty in Nature, and now that I live surrounded by vineyards I feel more connected to that beauty than ever, but what takes the whole experience to a different level for me, is to see, in the same moment, so much creation – the creation of Nature, and what a person created.

You see, there is a spiral of creativity here.

There’s the creativity of the Universe which has produced this flower and the person who constructed and painted the shed behind it.

Then there’s the creativity of the person themselves, and where their imagination took them, and then their choices, their decisions and their actions to make this shed, pick this paint, paint that wood, choose that flower, plant it, nurture it and train it.

And there’s me.

To stand there and look up and see this, and to focus in on part of what I could see as I compose this image, and to capture it, and now, to post it for you to see.

And there’s you.

What might this image stimulate for you?

What might this post provoke your imagination to create now?

Read Full Post »

Past, present and wabi sabi

Posted in art, from the dark room, from the living room, life, personal growth, philosophy, photography, psychology on May 29, 2015| 1 Comment »

paint

This old wall revealing layers of paint reminded me of something important about memory.

The past isn’t something with disappears behind us, like the last station we just passed on the train. Rather, it’s what the present emerges from.

And because the present emerges from the past, the past is always a part of the present.

I am who I am, and my body is what it is, not brand new, isolated from the rest of the world and reality, but, as a living, developing, growing phenomenon.

I am emerging from not only the past in my life time, but from the life times of all who lived before me.

I think that’s partly why many people are fascinated by genealogy. It’s not just interesting stories about ancestors, its an uncovering of patterns, streams and influences which continue to create the here and the now.

Here’s some more beautiful photos of paint from the old fisherman’s shed on the Ile d’Oleron –

green and blue
old greens
multicolour

I hope you enjoy them.

As well as stimulating my thoughts about the past and the present, they also demonstrate (I think) a very beautiful Japanese aesthetic concept – wabi sabi – which I love, not just because of the beauty but how it honours the beauty of reality as opposed to the delusional ideas we have about “perfection” (which doesn’t exist!!)

Read Full Post »

The colour of thought

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

pink and blue

In the pink….

Into the blue….

Have you ever stopped to wonder about the colours we use in the phrases we think and say?

As I looked up towards evening, the setting sun caught the jet stream and coloured it pink as this plane streaked across the blue sky, and immediately, in my head, I heard “in the pink” and “into the blue”.

What nice phrases, aren’t they? How healthy to be “in the pink” and how free to be flying “into the blue”!

What colours cropped up in your thoughts today?

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »