Belly Laughs and Photo Class

Recently I’ve been preoccupied with

Belly Laughs and Photo Class

I’m finishing my last week of my online photography class this week and have spent hours creating photographs for it, only to discard them and start over again. I finally finished the first assignment for the week with one assignment remaining, “Photograph the face of God.”

Okay…this one may take more time than just the remainder of the week. But it is making me think and imagine in ways that are new.

Last night I pondered the joy and wonder of deep belly laughs. I’ve been noticing my belly laughs recently and just noticing them brings me more joy. Last week when I was reading a book that had frequent funny lines that tickled my funny bone I found myself noticing my belly-vibrating laugh. Gracie, my cat, who was perched on my belly at the time, also noticed my belly laugh. Her perplexed expression at the vibrations she was experiencing only deepened my belly laugh. Ah, Gracie you bring such joy.

When you have a heartfelt belly laugh, all parts of your being – the physiological, the psychological, the spiritual – they all vibrate in one single tune. They all vibrate in harmony!

   — Rajneesh

During my bath last evening, Gracie sat on the edge of the bathtub as she often does when I bathe. Her tail dropped into the water but she didn’t notice it. I watched as her tail became more and more soaked, waiting for her to feel the wetness of the water through her thick fur. It wasn’t until she leapt down that she noticed her dripping tail splattering water on her as she swished it back and forth. Her perplexed, surprised, and disgusted look sent me into gales of deep belly laughs.

Wonder, joy, and sorrow

Sometimes I spend all day trying to count the leaves on a single tree. To do this I have to climb branch by branch and write down the numbers in a little book. So I suppose, from their point of view, it’s reasonable that my friends say: what foolishness! She’s got her head in the clouds again.

But it’s not. Of course I have to give up, but by then I’m half crazy with the wonder of it — the abundance of the leaves, the quietness of the branches, the hopelessness of my effort. And I am in that delicious and important place, roaring with laughter, full of earth-praise.”
― Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings

Though the weather is wreaking havoc with my container garden and the extreme heat makes me want to stay inside, I am still full of praise each morning for the beauty of the day. When I see the drought in western states of our country I feel great sorrow for the damage climate change is wreaking on our world. So I see-saw through the full gamut of feelings every day. The trick, I find, is to hold it all lightly, the joy and the sorrow, and to seek out frequent belly laughs in between. Life is neither all joy nor all sorrow but a blend of wondrous beauty and brutality. 

I hope you are thriving no matter what the weather where you are. And that you find ways to bring yourself deep belly laughs frequently.

 May you walk in beauty.

Frozen Heart (a metaphorical self-portrait for my photo class assignment this week)