Marcoclicks - images, words

Noise and reflection

How might we think about this day, one that harbors a richness of sound and color, light, and texture? Is there some overriding experience or context for this? Will the message embedded in this singular day be shared, meaning exposed for all to notice? Or will we simply continue on our way, unchanged? We get to choose which of these manifest.

These are our ever-present adventures and the opportunities, the questions in front of us - will we slow down, perhaps even stop, at the sign of subtle, quiet, tender new experience? Or will we be captured by internal circular stories, seeming to miss much of what we have been given a body to experience?

Oh, there are so many choices, so many ways to live a life! Indeed, there are just as many ways to get through a single day. So there is no need for our judgment, as though there were some scale to weigh wisdom and world view. Our joy is to search our hearts and use what we learn to guide our actions: to shift, when necessary, to gracious opening or to retain our inward focus when we know that is wise. A dance it is, in equal parts graceful and awkward. Let's go.

Blessings,

Marco

Exploring in Reverse

I suppose there's nothing new here. After all, I've been shooting these two rotting logs in the nature preserve near Brookline's trolley tracks for the better part of a long time. How much is there to see in those two decaying bits of the natural world, in a sanctuary shoehorned in by tennis courts, jogging paths, and dog runs?

Truth is there's as much to see as I will find or make time for. Each time I look I can find aspects or angles or textures or highlights that are blissfully new. They are interesting - no, captivating - not because of their newness, although that does continue to surprise me after all this time. What captures me, though, is this clearly visible demonstration of what I know in my head to be true: the more I look, the more I see.

There is so much in these blessed dead logs. The quality of the light, a passing breeze, the growth of a leaf or its shadow - all of these and twelve other factors I cannot name join together to create a surprisingly and continually unique moment, even now.

I am learning that I am a reverse explorer. I seek out the familiar and dig down to find the unusual and the new. Internal or external, new or old, it is all about seeking. And the power of this path is my ability to engage whenever my heart allows, whenever I can muster the on-going connection and courage for attentive looking. There is in that moment the most exotic landscape imaginable, the one right in front of me.

Blessings

Marco