Heroes Not Zombies

I’ve taken a lot of autumn photos over the years, mostly in Scotland and Japan. But now I’ve moved to an area of France which is full of vineyards. Have you ever seen a vineyard in the autumn? Isn’t it beautiful?

So, these autumn views got me thinking again about why I love this season so much. It’s not just about the colours. It’s that it, like Spring, feels a season which is abundant with becoming not being. The changes in the countryside are not only striking but they are constant at this time of year.

It’s great to feel in the full flow of change, to be living a life of daily becoming…..

For many years I’ve photographed the sunsets I could see from my window looking across to Ben Ledi. Well, I’ve moved now, and I’m living in a South-facing Charentaise house near Cognac. Tonight I saw the sun setting over the vineyards – a view which is brand new to me.

Then I thought, actually, every single sunset is a brand new sunset. So don’t miss it! You’ll never have seen it before, so approach it with your new, this present moment, mind, and see for yourself – a brand new sunset.

In the second part of the A to Z of Becoming, S stands for Slow.

Slowing down allows you to notice more, experience more, savour more, enjoy more.

Our lives often seem to fly past at top speed, but that’s partly because we are on automatic pilot, or so keen to be somewhere else (in time or place) that our hearts and minds have already zipped ahead and the present passes us by almost unnoticed.

I’ve just moved to the Charente region of France, and here they have a snail as a kind of mascot. In fact, one of the nearby villages, Segonzac, is a part of the “Cittaslow” movement – a slow town.

Yesterday, I stopped in at a delightful little cafe in Cognac. They might serve expressos, but the whole experience is delightfully slow. Is that an oxymoron? A slow expresso? Anyway, I recommend it. Sit down, take your time, and slowly enjoy the whole experience!

We shape this Earth we live on.

We make our unique marks, leave our personal traces, create the world anew every single day.

We co-create the world. Together, and with every other creature, element and force on this planet.

Through DNA, twisting with other strands, passing on characteristics, tendencies, possibilities……

Through the stories we tell, the thoughts we have, the songs we sing, the images we make……

Your time on this Earth is a singular time, a unique and special time, and you are the active player, dancer, maker.

See what a world has been created by our forebears.

See what a world we leave for the children yet to be born.

See what a world we make, you and I, today……