DAY 365+60

insight

When I look at my photos I realize that my captures often show a different side of the world I saw  along my stroll. In fact, when I am walking outside I have a global vision of the scenery around me, I am aware of perspectives and the diverse layers of colors and textures that define the place where I am, but when I look through my camera I  only take photos of some details

This always makes me wonder about the mental processes that I use to create those images (which are focused only on some aspects of what I am seeing) and why I pay attention to some information or stimulus and others go unnoticed. Obviously, this is due to the way I perceive the world which is subjective and is impacted by a number of changing variables depending on who I am, something that I find fascinating 

If the images I capture are highly influenced by the characteristics of the things which I am observing but also by the context, my mood and my own personal characteristics, I can infer that the reflection upon those images can give  me data about myself and can help me to improve my self-knowledge. And this only can happen if everything I perceive as occurring outside me, is also occurring inside me 

Does this means I am creating a reality for myself? I don´t think so, I rather think that when I take photos I am creating an image of reality that allows me to understand what is beyond my five senses by understanding myself. This, of course, generates a new perception of that reality which goes beyond the socially constructed vision of it and reveals its sacred dimension

A new perception according to which the importance of things can be relative, the approach and attitude say it all, the tiny competes with the impressive, and allure defies logic

A new perception according to which balance doesn´t come from symmetry, and beauty doesn´t mean perfection, recipes and standardized options are not always the best and challenges can open amazing paths

A new perception according to which the unexpected can shape the soul, the part is contained in the whole and the whole is contained in each part


Walk and Click Wednesday

DAY 365+59

spring cleaning

I have not become familiar with this concept till I started to read books (and later blogs) by writers from the northern side of northern hemisphere. We live in a sort of eternal spring here, so this equinox often goes unnoticed

In fact, we coexist the whole year with open windows, flowering plants, green leaves, sun rays and clothes hanged out to dry due to our mild weather, and we can clean the house from top to bottom whenever we want to. Therefore, we don´t usually plan special celebrations or chores this season

However, I have learned to appreciate this tradition, so during my Easter vacations I will spend a few days cleaning up and rearranging things at home

This morning, while I was attempting to make some lists in order to figure out the best way to do all the things I want to do without consuming all my free time, I discovered myself thrilled with the possibility of starting to empty the wardrobes or throwing out paper piles. To be honest, this find amazed me a bit (I am not so very fond of housework), so I left aside the notebook, and I started to think why I was so eager to start

And then I remembered what usually happens:

I implement easier -and simpler- ways to deal with things. And order creates beauty

I pay renewed attention to the needs of the house inhabitants to express themselves by making room for their specificities. And respect creates balance

I recover a certain sense of austerity because I often realize that I already have all I need to live. And the possibility of refraining from excess, creates abundance

I take time to leaf through my books or wash up my teapots delicately and they stop being just objects and start to be outlines of my story. And memories create gratitude

All these things purify my living space, and this renews the energy that is stagnant and is not flowing properly. And neat energy creates harmony

I develop a sort of meditative state while doing the tasks which leads me to cleanse also some of the clutter inside me. And inner work creates joy...

Unexpectedly, I´ve realized that this is maybe one of the main reasons why I plan cleanings

The clutter inside me is all about cognitive biases which create wrong ways to stay in the present because they make me prone to hyper-generalization, oversimplifying, negative filters, polarized thoughts, hyper-control, emotional reasoning, projection and self-accusation. Of course, they (and their consequences) have to be examined in detail, but once this effort is done, they must be deconstructed

As far as I am concerned, this is the ultimate challenge of my inner work. It´s not enough knowing and understanding, I need to internalize what I have learned and translate it into new actions and behaviors, and this happens in a level which is not accessible for the mind. It happens in the place we call conscience where we work without schedule, where knowledge becomes wisdom

Going there can be easy sometimes, but if you are like me, from time to time you will need something drastic to find the correct gateway to it. In particular, when anxiety is in the air. In this cases, when silence and meditation; walks, photography and prayers; creating or journaling are not working as well as they usually do, I resort to house reorganization

I do it slowly, methodically, room after room, day after day. I take ownership of my outer space and suddenly, I am inside me again. And from inside, I change


Cross-posted at Vision and Verb, yesterday. Many other women share their passion for creativity and words there, please visit us, it is a wonderful site

There you will find also a Card Shoppe. For every greeting card sold, the profit will accrue in allotments of $25 each to be given as loans to men and women around the world who are starting their own businesses. We have chosen the non-profit organization KIVA as the conduit for our giving back

You can send a love note to a friend and make a difference in the world

DAY 365+58

"When you get free from certain fixed concepts of the way the world is, 
you find it is far more subtle, and far more miraculous, than you thought it was." 

Alan Watts

DAY 365+57

when I opt for equilibrium

I usually drag out my walks with no apparent reason. In fact, once I am outside I am reluctant to come back home, I forget my previous laziness and I want to go on and on and on 

To be honest, I often think twice when I have to leave my house. I have to remind myself that even when I am cerebral, reflective and fond of my intellectual life, I also need to roam, be erratic and follow my ramblings. I am a very task oriented person, but I also have a strong creative side, deep spiritual beliefs and a bohemian yearning which is almost secret (and hidden), so I feel that is good to permit myself to be a bit unfocused and wander instead of going always after predetermined goals

This is a way to combine all my facets, and prevent me from restraining some of them that have not been in the forefront only because they have not been encouraged or approved by myself or others. Indeed, I try to link them all through the contemplative observance of my life and the active acceptance of who I am

I have learned that I can be idealist and pragmatic, intense and mundane, introspective and passionate and also that it´s good to be open to a less dualist viewpoint. Often, polarized opinions lead us to not consider a legitimate side of ourselves that is valuable and enriching, and also necessary, because it gives us balance, a point of difference and a sense of completeness

When I make the effort to do that, I always receive great rewards. Some of them are intangible, as a great sense of fulfillment because I am developing my whole potential (no matter how divergent my attributes seem to be), and some of them are very tangible

They are little miracles that occur along the way when I decide to validate myself and don´t penalize some parts of me

Little miracles that talk about the great importance of staying open minded, to accept heterogeneity and diversity 
Little miracles that urge me to appreciate this polychromic world and let go for a moment monochrome mindset

Little miracles that illustrate the charm of change as well as the appeal of stability; the mystery of what I already know and the challenging trait of the unexpected 

Little miracles that remind me the possibility of embracing the delicacy of the ordinary and an integrative vision

Little miracles that makes me become aware of the uselessness of ego´s judgmentsLittle miracles that drive me to merge with what is 

Little miracles like a walk where I find cycles, seasons and stages coexisting peacefully and creating beauty



Walk and Click Wednesday 

DAY 365+56

blooming in the now

The old church seemed to be awaiting me. I walked alone around its solitary facade. There was not any trace of opulence, only pure simplicity, austerity, lack of sophistication and a kind of severity that comforted my heart 

It made me think how very often we make things much more complicated than they really are, much more obscure and tough than they should be. And how easy life is when we opt for being without complication, for clarity and fairness

It made me think that life indeed is not so hard to explain, so hard to understand, so hard to live... even when it is intricate and complex

I looked at all the plants that were clearing a path through the stones and flowering, the lichens that were creating awesome patterns on the ground and I realized that they were using their energy to grow up fiercely, purposefully. They were not questioning or judging their circumstances, showing resistance. In fact, they were making the most of them and they look courageous and strong and lovely

Maybe because strength comes from adaptability, resilience comes from acceptance, braveness comes from lenience and true joy can´t  exist together with artificiality 

It made me think that living with ease is not so difficult, even when it seems puzzling and uncertain,  when  we accept that we don´t need to be all the time thinking of mending our lives or waiting for the right moment to act, finding new justifications or explanations about ourselves. And also, that we don´t need to be all the time making plans or analyzing what is happening

It´s not so difficult when we, by copying another creatures, admit that we are just where we are, that we are just who we are. When we  allow ourselves to be  just here and now and to start to evolve, move and grow from this place where we are with no tricks, with no masks, with no adornment or ornament...

DAY 365+55

when life is too hectic and time is short 

when a busy schedule seems to make me unable to enjoy everydayness and I cast my inner work into oblivion  because I am too busy to calm down and do it devotedly,  I try to remember that I must stay present in every circumstance of my life, even in those which drive me crazy 

I try to remember that I must stay present in the exhausting days when I have to deal with tasks that don´t awake my true inner bliss

I try not to forget that life is cyclic and every activity has its time 

I try not to forget that even so, there is always tiny room for breathe, pray and smile,

a tiny room for appreciation and meditation

I try to accept that I have to live what comes to meet me because this is the most authentic spiritual practice 

And when routine and duties become overwhelming,I try to recover a certain sense of amazement 

I get away from the papers of my students, from the lists of things that must be done

I go outside, walk,  look around with my tired eyes... 

And I realize that indeed, there is still a glimmer of silence and solitude,

a glimmer of hope and light

places where I still meet myself, where I can sit down with myself...  

And connect with the sense of things (even of those which seems to be meaningless) again

Walk and Click Wednesday

DAY 365+54

misty day 

This is my contribution to Photo-Heart Connection this month. I have talked about my walk in the park a few days before a big storm,  when it wasn´t too close but we had been alerted to the danger of bad weather. The storm finally arrived past  weekend, the wind was terrible and caused many damages even in the park that I was visiting only a few days ago

That day, when I was leaving it, and was almost in the street that surrounds it, I turned round and took one single photo... this photo

I didn´t pay attention to it when I edited my previous series of photos of this walk and was trying to create a post to talk about it, but when I looked through my files this week, I realized that I felt connected to it. Maybe because it talks about the paradox of calms and storms, and made me think about my own life 

One year ago, when 2012 started, I was dealing with personal issues about visibility and my need to have a more creative and conscious life. I wanted to find a way to show my inner world and feel connected to persons that eventually could be able to understand me.  Throughout the year I  came to understand that photography could be a good help to elaborate  my experiences (to move from inside to outside) and my blog the home where I could make this kind of transition

I was looking forward to keep on exploring the endless possibilities of this discovering when the spare time that I usually had to do my inner work started to fade away. In fact, due to life circumstances, my personal duties and my job are demanding now more time than ever before. And I find myself looking for tiny moments of tranquility, the same one that I gave for granted not so long ago

We are constantly sailing troubled waters (maybe because life is change, and every change involves challenges), going through storms and calms and back to storms again but joy must not be sacrificed just because tranquility seems to be scant. On the contrary, we should make the most of every single moment, because we will never know when we be able to have the same opportunity again

If you think that something must be done, go ahead and do it. If you see something that must be captured… turn round and click

DAY 365+53

there is beauty in the decay

Days ago I was trying to explain to my students the reasons why the creation of an educational plan involves examining in detail many data and a varied information. I said that efficacy of a plan depends on that kind of diagnosis because it allows us not to focus only on symptoms and signs but also, on the real causes of the problem that must be approached through it

I wanted to illustrate all this with some examples, so I mentioned the eating disorders and I argued that educative actions aimed at diet issues are mainly focused on symptoms, whereas educative actions aimed at image prejudices are focused on what could be triggering them

Soon the debate started to evolve towards personal image as a cultural construction. We examined social conditionings, fashion market pressures and labels. We had talked before about diversity, so they felt fairly comfy expressing the right to be different and the great importance of teaching this to those who could be running the risk to suffer that sort of disorders

I was in complete accord with their proposal but said that it would not be easy to implement, considering that we all hold opinions formed beforehand based on the current beauty ideals. I affirmed that to do so, we should be able to embrace the beauty that lies in what society tells us that is ugly, the beauty that lies in those who are too fat, too old or too out of the aesthetic standards

And then I heard the silence. I looked at them and I saw they were bewildered. They were following my reasoning but I could see a kind of aversion to it in many faces: they were not able to go deep into that territory with me. And just like the interest in the theme (and the lively mood) started, it disappeared in thin air and the class continued without new shocking revelations

When the session finished I started to clean the slate (yes I still use it!). I could feel a slight trace of their youthful arrogance in the air. The same arrogance that can become stubbornness when some persons grow up and later on, results in frustration because the world is not the place they expected

And I silently gave thanks because somehow I have eluded that destiny regardless of my inveterate perfectionism and my own haughtiness. Because nowadays I am able to see beauty in the chaos, in the unfinished projects or mistakes, in what is not conventional or it is rather shabby and odd, in the failures...

in the glorious decrepitude of ancient cities,

in the forgetful ingeniousness and weak body of my mom,

in the skin around my eyes which is starting to seem as delicate and fragile as a rose petal,

in these (almost) withered leaves,

and even, in the reluctance of my students to accept that those things and persons we call imperfect can be indeed appealing


Cross-posted at Vision and Verb, where I have been Guest Blogger this sunday. Many other women share their passion for creativity and words there, please visit them, it´s a wonderful site


Simple things Sunday