Freed from the traditional Thanksgiving food preparation and time with family,I spent yesterday playing with my camera, reviewing my 2020 photographs, and taking a walk in the woods. Though I miss spending time with family and friends I also appreciated the opportunity for
Slowing Down
We did not cook a big special meal and our Zoom get-together with family is today so we both had a lot of time to relax and do just what we wanted to do yesterday. I found myself in a different kind of time—organic, free, flowing, and calm. It was just what my soul needed.
Meister Eckhart, whom I love, said, “So many people come to me asking how I should pray, how I should think, what I should do. And the whole time, they neglect the most important question, which is, how should I be?” … I think when you slow it down, then you find your rhythm. And when you come into rhythm, then you come into a different kind of time. Because you know the way, in this country, there’s all the different zones — I think there are these zones within us, as well.
— John O’Donohue
A Walk in the Woods
Jon and I took an afternoon walk at Big Willow park in Minnetonka, near where we used to live. I had hoped to see some sunshine on our afternoon walk but gray skies prevailed. Still it was good to be out in the woods.
Geese flew in big V’s overhead as we arrived, honking as they flew. A squirrel froze on the side of a tree beside the parking lot, thinking that we wouldn’t see him if he didn’t move. Minnehaha creek is still unfrozen though the water level is low and in places that it typically gurgles and rushes in the springtime, the flow was calm and serene yesterday.
I think it makes a huge difference, when you wake in the morning and come out of your house, whether you believe you are walking into dead geographical location, which is used to get to a destination, or whether you are emerging out into a landscape that is just as much, if not more, alive as you, but in a totally different form, and if you go towards it with an open heart and a real, watchful reverence, that you will be absolutely amazed at what it will reveal to you.
And I think that that was one of the recognitions of the Celtic imagination — that landscape wasn’t just matter, but that it was actually alive. What amazes me about landscape — landscape recalls you into a mindful mode of stillness, solitude, and silence, where you can truly receive time.
— John O’Donohue
Crossing Thresholds
The landscape was almost monochrome with shades of brown and gray prevailing. Still it was beautiful to my eyes. Here in Minnesota we are on the threshold of winter. During this seasonal threshold I am thankful for every day that passes without snow covering the ground. Though we’ve had accumulating snow a few times already this year, it’s mostly melted.
It helps me to feel the winter has not yet arrived when the landscape is not covered with snow. Winter will be here soon enough and last long enough that I celebrate every day without snow.
I always think that that’s the secret of change — that there are huge gestations and fermentations going on in us that we are not even aware of. And then, sometimes, when we come to a threshold, crossing over, which we need to become different, that we’ll be able to be different, because secret work has been done in us, of which we’ve had no inkling.
— John O’Donohue
Seeing Beauty
I’m getting ready to work on my annual calendar that I make each year for family members and friends. Each year I use photographs made during the year to create a calendar for the next year. It’s a nice practice of reviewing what I created during the year.
I was surprised at how many photographs I made in 2020. Though I feel like I’ve not done a lot of photography this year with the pandemic (no trips, few field trips) I have photographed my local environment a lot. And I’ve made numerous flower photos. It was really fun to go through the photos I made in the first half of 2020. Tomorrow I’ll start reviewing the last half of the year.
Where beauty is, I think, is — beauty isn’t all about just nice loveliness, like. Beauty is about more rounded, substantial becoming. And I think, when we cross a new threshold, that if we cross worthily, what we do is we heal the patterns of repetition that were in us that had us caught somewhere. And in our crossing, then, we cross onto new ground, where we just don’t repeat what we’ve been through in the last place we were. So I think beauty, in that sense, is about an emerging fullness, a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth, and also a kind of homecoming for the enriched memory of your unfolding life.
— John O’Donohue
A Return to Ordinary Time
Today I have Soma Yoga class on Zoom and then our kids and grandkids are getting together with us on Zoom. We’re going to try playing games together online. I’m not sure how well it will work but our youngest daughter Kristi, has some good ideas for us to try so I think it will be a fun afternoon.
Have a beautiful Friday today my friends and if you can try slowing down to find your own rhythm for the weekend.
May you walk in beauty.
Note: John O’Donohue quotes in today’s post came from Krista Tippet’s On Being interview with John O’Donohue, “The Inner Landscape of Beauty.”
The flower photos are from my Thanksgiving Day play with my Canon Nifty Fifty lens and my orchid flowers.
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