you can't have something...

without nothing

.

without

space,

you couldn't have anything

solid

.

nothing

is what brings

something

into

*focus*

.

and

nothing is more

fertile

than

*emptiness*

.

~Alan Watts

And forevermore no discussion

about nothing will be complete without including

Seinfeld,

in my humble opinion,

a brilliant show about...

well, you can't have nothing

without something,

but what a hilarious way to

(en)lighten up about the

human experience of it all...

.

something and nothing

are inter-connected

 as Watts says,

in a marvelous system of

WIGGLES...

so go ahead,

dare to live

*your*

*unique*

shimmy-shake!

♥

'garden splendor'

Milan ~ a completely self-taught artist

born in Angeles City, Phillipines

"What lifts you into a higher perspective of your overall life, current situations and conditions aside,

and is there any imagery you connect with that

grounds you at the same time?"

in the spirit of living the questions,

for me what lifts and grounds me is

whatever touches

the loving as well as the suffering

in my heart,

awakening,

exciting,

lifting,

and soothing

spirit and soul,

connecting me to my higher power
and all other be-ings.

yoga!

poetry.

art.

humour.

nature,

being among it as well as

imagery like the piece above.

~   ~   ~

Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are only princesses waiting for us to act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence something that wants our love.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

 

hello, little teacher

**Update to one of my personally favorite posts from 2011,
as the lessons from this little teacher continue to deepen ....

Karmapa Dream Flag via Wikimedia Commons

The American primitive painter Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917) reported watching an inch-worm crawl up a twig and then, clinging to the very end, revolve in the air, feeling for something to reach. “That’s me,” he said, “I am trying to find something out there beyond the place on which I have a footing.”
- Robert Genn

_______________________Original post below______________________

As I was waking up with my unsettled, loose-end'ish feeling self and starting the day today, I was sitting at this desk when I noticed this tiny little worm. 

I noticed as s/he/'it' moved along that at times the surface of the desk seemed slippery and it

struggled for traction.

Sometimes the cracks made it turn and

go another way.

Sometimes it would topple over and get back up.

It went over the cracks, down the tiers of the edge of the desk and back up again several times.

What is going on here?

I curiously wondered.

Bobby's Day

"The song was there before me,

before I came along,

I just came and took it down

with a pencil.

That's how I feel about it."

...

 Train Tracks ~ Bob Dylan

Where it all began...

The folks at Zimmy's are big fans and like to have fun...

Happy 70th Bob.

May you stay

forever young...

 Watch Amy Goodman's awesome special with rare interviews and songs

HERE.

May Two-Four

Happy Victoria Day, Canada!

Officially today signifies the Sovereign's birthday, though informally it represents Spring, as historically there is little chance of a frost and gardeners begin to plot out the approaching growing season. Well, most enthusiasts have been plotting long before now, but the dirt is enticing to-day.

In the spirit of the metaphorical

garden of life...

He saw that all the struggles of life were incessant, laborious, painful, that nothing was done quickly, without labor, that it had to undergo a thousand fondlings, revisings, moldings, addings, removings, graftings, tearings, correctings, smoothings, rebuildings, reconsiderings, nailings, tackings, chippings, hammerings, hoistings, connectings — all the poor fumbling uncertain incompletions of human endeavor. They went on forever and were forever incomplete, far from perfect, refined, or smooth, full of terrible memories of failure and fears of failure, yet, in the way of things, somehow noble, complete, and shining in the end.   ~kerouac, town and country, 1950

Ode to Gibby

(he was present and joyful with me on my 1st birthday,
and beyond...)

this past month you would

have been 110

though you've been gone

physically

for a long time now

  I feel your spirit

daily.

your wisdom and gentleness

live on through your only son,

a gem of a father

and human being.

when I left your side

as you were taking your

last breaths

I pray you knew that

I didn't know that

I didn't have to listen

to the adults who

intended to protect me

by leading me away from witnessing

death.

I knew you were leaving

and I wasn't scared.

 I needed to hold your hand.

It is a painful consequence

at any age to not

trust yourself.

I carried a piece from your

rock collection

in my wedding bouquet,

and I carry you in my heart

wherever I roam.

May you continue resting in peace.

gorillas in our midst

spoiler alert! 

If you have not watched the short video from my previous post, do that first before reading on. 

If you are as fascinated as I am about totally missing the gorilla (or if you did see it, how about the one player leaving, or the background colors changing?), they call it

Inattentional Blindness:

 When we're not paying attention to something,

it is as though we are blind to it...

The Illusion of Attention:

 The belief in my head that I see and notice much more of what's going on in the world than I actually do.

Where this brought me is to the awareness that I have a choice. If I choose to

soften my gaze,

I can become more

present

with what is happening in my midst.

"We don't live with the way the world is,

we live with the way we receive the world."

-Dr. Douglas Brooks, addressing the quality of your gaze to create more conscious receptivity.

I found this 5-minute video to be a lovely way to relax my entire body through relaxing my eyes...

For more on The Invisible Gorilla, you can watch

this video 

from one of the creators of this experiment...

 se détendre et être patient

(relax and be patient)

monkey business...

Watch the video below and count how many times the players in

white shirts 

pass the ball...

How did you do?

Any insights about awareness?