Hello !
Some of you see synchronicity, and it has seemed wild lately, popping up everywhere... Do our linking via blogs seem to attract a higher sense of it happening to us? Its fascinating.
Also, am asking this question this week:
What keeps us grateful in life?
Is it our hard times, our losses; or love, or something un-shakable in our hearts; something within that regardless of loss or any other troubles keeps us warm, whole.
Nobody escapes pain, but what keeps us looking around nontheless, seeing the beauty? What keeps us kind? Striving for the best in self, and life?.
Oh Yes, the world has been touched
by a new footprint, a new handprint--
a new Love.
Elton John: The Greatest Discovery (and my favorite version (#3) here, also number 2, and all of them, but have to be in the mood for the orchestra.. * you might have to open Last Fm in your own browser, after bookmarking it, they count the number of listens per address, etc.
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Swill milk: "doctored" milk: New York City 1858
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I read once that a Spiritual teacher said, "If someone hurts you, make a place of honor for him or her in your garden." That person is a powerful place to learn about yourself, your heart, emotions.
Its very hard practice... but I hope the world tries... to stay open to each other... especially during this strange election and all the words flying around... but here, always, it is wished Peace to all.
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Autumn Leaves: Paolo Nutini
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31 comments:
'when someone hurts you'....seeing those lessons is like trying to find the dolphin in those repeated wild and wavy designs; one eye closed, the other one squinting...i have a hard time seeing the dolphin, or the lesson.
i am grateful for the blogger who's posts get me thinking ;)
Disa--I love your image of the Dolphin; and I am there at the beach, squinting with my hand on my forehead... I also agree so much with its impossibility to see.
The lesson... so many layers! All I know is I have said this to many people in college; say they are quick to flare up--students who feel insulted, or hurt by love, or think judgmentally X or Y is a hypocrite or anything.... their first instinct is to attack back; to squander themselves by being hurt; to get tangled in a whirlwind. To want small "revenge" etc...
This phrase gently planted stops something.
This often helped a pause to enter; to realize the "other person" is outside them; (and they have a garden) and they are "carrying" the whole "wrong" and its a choice to visit it; they have power, to allow that person to poison their garden or not ... & to honor the whole relationship...(we're often carrying stuff about people we really *once* loved?
in those situations with some students-- the phrase let an Americanized reaction towards "disturbance" settle, and could clear the student to not ruin their goals of getting the school work done (or whatever).
But its from the context of a person wanting to learn to step out of ego stuff and attain a mediative peace... it would only be used in context from a person like the man who said it...
Context would be everything.
Ahhh...Synchronicity..I believe you are right about that... is that why we should remember the future..
this summer I bought the book "Memories, Dreams and Reflections" by Carl Jung, it is by my bed and I glean through it once in a while.. . I probably should take up the habit of reading something all the way through from front to back.. but maybe later.... for now I glean..
what keeps us grateful?.. the lessons we learn, knowing life is far too short and could be gone in a fraction of a second... in the blink of an eye... in the flick of a puppies tail.. We can't give up hope when time gives us sadness and disappointment and takes away things and people we love... although at that moment or maybe for a while we feel we have.. it takes a time to heal a bit but there will be days again that will make us smile even though we think we won't... emptiness gives way to filling and that feels much better... but we will always remember...
I think we try to be kind because we know how good it feels when someone is kind to us... and I think, at heart, if the callousness of life hasn't stolen all the love away and turned it to stone... that we want others to feel, recognize and squeeze every bit of happiness from this life that there is...
... A beautiful fresh, new Life"...
...freshly squeezed sunshine...
take care...
I think that loving nature is a form of gratitude; for nature teaches us so many lessons. If we, like most art bloggers do, appreciate the gifts of nature I believe it helps us in our daily life. And maybe especially in hard times. I love your garden advise on if someone hurts you. I love the way you have made me think tonight! Roxanne
I love those first two images.....they have such a dreamy quality to them. Lovely!
P.S.
Jo from Mystory nominated you to win a prize in a giveaway that I am doing. Maybe you'd like to come and nominate someone, too?!
Wayfaring Wanderer: Share the Love : A Giveaway
oh mansuetude, I was already deep into a kind of autumnal softness and sweet melancholia, your post has killed me! heart so heavy with beauty that I almost cry.
hi mansuetude,
this question you ask,
for me it´s all that life offers. the older i get, i understand that this is a great adventure. life has offered so many different views for me, and i´m very grateful of all that. to realize that the whole of this, is so incomprehensible big and has so many levels - that the perspective that i have, is only a tiny, narrow piece of it all. but it´s also a part of that entirety and therefore important.
hugs!
Mansuetude, and everyone here with an interest- I admire you all, your thought put to words!
In your answer to Disa, M., you speak of "realizing the other person on the outside".
Have you ever been verbally attacked and at the same time as being that person receiving the insult - been a third soul hovering by the side -watching,hearing - and not needing to re-act but stayed in your garden and invited?
It is the most peaceful and nourishing sensation--- because it leaves space for the good in the other person and allows her/him to settle back into their true being, which is kind. Just hop out of their spiral that misses us completely.
(Does this make sense?)
Synchronicity. I first learnt of it in "The Artist's way" by Julia Cameron, I believe in it strongly, it only works for me, when I open up to it though...and go with the flow. Oh and Carl Jung, of course, Gwen. I can go along with him much easier than with Sigmund Freud.
Greatfulness fills me when I dive into nature, realize that time heals, accept every minute as it comes, know that nothing can be meant to hurt me. Events, they happen, people, what power do they have over my feelings? None, I am the decider, as you say. So beautiful.
I think you're right Gwen--saying, "at heart, if the callousness of life hasn't stolen all the love away and turned it to stone..."
the times in life you think, how is it my heart isn't a big rough rock... and then sometimes you read that a rock is also a symbol of wholeness... the world of nature will show us all the ways to talk about it, this thing called life. (you know this though).
Right now it is "fresh squeezed sunshine" all over the place..
Thanks Roxanne, the idea that nature teaches us, it remineded me of reading a passage by C.S. Lewis a long time ago--he says that all that we need for metaphor can be found there in the seasons of nature. As i get older, wiser, see the cycles repeat, it is a big yes, to him... and to you!
Wayfaring wanderer--thanks for wandering over... i will check out your blog... that Jo, she is so kind to me (i still owe you a Tag Jo... )
Roxana--ohhh i am slightly envious of that feeling ... and to read your Paz quote on the last post, you nailed what that photos means to me. It made me so happy to read, and i immediately took Paz off the bookshelf--I always forget about him... maybe he is too clear? Thank you.
Ritva-- there is so much wisdom to your words, as well. Its wonderful to know this, to hear you share it, that you and all of us get this adventure, this slow opening towards knowledge, that we are only one part but still, stitched into the whole majestic. thanks for sharing yourself...
Jo\*--(I don't know how to make your little O)... this is beautiful, you are right, i admire it all... Its so wonderful to know people think this way and will share it, too, and that there is this knowing spread all over humanity, all over the world.
I have known that feeling of being me and observing, as if an old soul is with the little person growing into its own "old wisdoms" --who knows, the mystery unfolds i think as we step towards knowing, it opens more, like a carper rolling out before us, always and forever... its that big. We!
I in turn am so grateful for all of these words shared... thanks all.
mansuetude - it is a big question you ask - a short version from me is, I truly believe that it is innate for us to be the loving soul and that the ugliness rears its head when we react with emotions - and even after the ugly reaction to the wrong done us?, we often feel bad for being ugly - so much of the healing could take place if we did the 'making space in our garden for the person who did us wrong' - that is a boatload of power we could learn from - these photos are gorgeous as usual and thank your your kind comments at my place.
I have been pondering this thoughtful post for days, thank you Mansuetude.
One little thing...to add.
What keeps me grateful is right 'here and now'...this very moment :)
hello mansuetude. you have anew post up and i didn't even know it!
what keeps us grateful... well, i have a knowingness that gratitude is The Way, so i go back to it over and over and over. and when i stay away from it for long life feels awful. like driving down a one way street the wrong way. there are many things that i immediately feel grateful for, like silence, the scents in nature, painting, walking, and on and on... other things i have to remember to be grateful for -- like angry people or illness. sometimes it takes me a while to remember to be grateful.
i love what you wrote about the garden; about how we're carrying it ALL. and what jo wrote about being the decider -- that nothing has power over us. we are the ones that decide everything. and it seems apparent to me that everything that happens in our lives is ourselves presenting ourselves with an opportunity to remember to be the decider.
i'm very, very grateful for you mansuetude. you are one of those things that i'm immediately grateful for, no remembering required. : )
Every part of our lives make us who we are - sadness, happiness, love and all. Great message, and I like the Paolo Nutini song.
Oh I connect to the likening to a big rough rock... crevices and friction... little nooks and grand exposures.. as solid as a rock.. build your house on a rock... solidity, and maybe even a place to lean once in a while.....
maybe a Rock is like Hope... because of its strength... even the intense solidness of its mass allows the absorption of the suns rays... the solid rock warms.. and then radiates all that warmth back to us all... it gives...
I remember when I was 25 (1/4century)... my main thoughts were "Now I am really a part of this big ol rock we call earth" ... I liked that feeling..
I believe we can see beauty even if we are going through a hard time because of our survival sense. I'm not a philosopher but I know that beauty can save us
:)
Hi :-) (and thanks)
A beautiful post. You make me curious to you. Woman. Art. United States.
I think you know I agree on the gratefulness and the way our life is how we receive.
All the best to you :)
I'm always grateful for the blessing of being loved. For being so damn lucky.
i need to keep better track of the comment "flow" on your posts.
wow.
freshly squeezed sunshine with succulent bits of pulp- nothing worse than having the best bits strained out.
aaaaaah....free therapy at a time when i have been emotionally constipated, have refrained from overt attacks. hanging onto decay...how does a garden grow?
synchronicity. :)
Thank you! Thank you for visiting me...again and again before you finally get an answer!
Thank you for this post!
It's so true what you wrote about being hurted!
If somebody is hurting me or simply irritating me I've something to learn about myself. He/she is simply pulling the string but I'm the instrument and have to recognize if I like the sound or not.....
I'm currently working on this!
I'll be back! Tank you!
what gorgeous images & words.
i'm not sure what keeps me reaching for kindness, for connection, for beauty, but i think sometimes it's just the act of reaching. just the attention to try to connect, find kindness, find beauty that helps me stay tethered to the ground when i find i'm starting to drift.
So much to ponder upon... what does keep us grateful... what does keep one kind? Hmm, all I know is that some days it feels like it is the easiest thing in the word to be kind and charitable and understanding, and other days it seems hard to see the silver lining, to be patient, to be accommodating. Surrounded by your loved ones, and with animals by my side, good things seem much harder to miss.
be well, g
Beautiful image in the photograph. And I too have been thinking about synchronicity.
One of my favorite Art Garfunkel's songs is called Grateful...
I've got a roof over my head
I've got a warm place to sleep
Some nights I lie awake counting gifts
Instead of counting sheep
I've got a heart that can hold love
I've got a mind that can think
There may be times when I lose the light
And let my spirits sink
But I can't stay depressed
When I remember how I'm blessed
Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed
And duly grateful
In a city of strangers
I got a family of friends
No matter what rocks and brambles fill the way
I know that they will stay until the end
I feel a hand holding my hand
It's not a hand you can see
But on the road to the promised land
This hand will shepherd me
Through delight and despair
Holding tight and always there
Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed
And duly grateful
It's not that I don't want a lot
Or hope for more, or dream of more
But giving thanks for what I've got
Makes me happier than keeping score
In a world that can bring pain
I will still take each chance
For I believe that whatever the terrain
Our feet can learn to dance
Whatever stone life may sling
We can moan or we can sing
Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed
And duly grateful
Truly blessed
And duly grateful.
Dear Mansuetude,
I wish I could give you equal comments on your blog as you give me… It´s so hard to find the right words in English for me. But you must know that I really like your photos and your thoughts!
I feel like Marie Louise. When I visit here I always feel sorry about not having the language, I would love to be a better writer, beeing able to express myself and to "talk" to you. But then I realise that it is just that simple that I have another language. I do not write, I draw.
The number of posts on your page tells me I am not alone in my weariness with superficial thought and a fast life that works to defeat the excavation of a soul.
I'm glad I found your blog...will visit often...
What if - in a distant time and through generations of preoccupation with busyness - we lost our innate ability (and desire) to find gratitude in the moment? Where would we be then?
Hei mansuetude, i´m very happy to found your blog with all of those beautiful photos and thoughts. i will be back..
Yes, what keeps us whole?
I feel NOT good myself at the moment - at all. Wish to find somethng to do about it. Guess I have to learn something from these unpleasant feelings and thoughts I am having...
Hope you are well!!
Great post! I am at my most grateful when I have time to pause, to look at my life, hear my inner thoughts and acknowledge that I have a supportive family and a home that is my own sacred space. I'm grateful that I'm able to lose myself whilst creating art and the cherry on the top, make a living from it. I'm grateful for the connections I am making through blogging...the chance to peep into many creative lives and sharing what is similar and what is different about each other. What keeps me grateful is the pockets of silence when I can connect with myself and something greater.....if it's while being in nature, even better. Nature keeps me balanced. That is my condensed version...I did waffle a bit didn't I :-)
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