It’s been over a decade since I stopped working at an outside job and began focusing on making photographs and writing. As time goes by I believe that this freedom from outside work and also from the daily tasks of raising a family is a time of great growth. I see my purpose in this part of life as one of learning, creating, and healing. One of the most important tasks for me as I age is focusing on
Giving Back
and of becoming clear that elders can be great sources of generativity in life.
Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we re-perceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life
— Peter M. Senge
I see myself as having a choice in whether I simply allow outside forces to determine how I feel or if instead I decide to internally generate a sense of how I want to feel. Lately I choose more and more to decide to generate feelings of generosity, kindness, love, and appreciation rather than stay mired in the frustration, anger, and worry I often feel emanating from news forecasts and people I encounter in my daily life. When I notice that I am being affected negatively by those around me, I tune in to my soul and create feelings of peace and love filling myself with what I need.
This subtle activity can spread a sense of peace and love to those who need it without a word being exchanged.
Your compassion travels beyond your own inner circle. And then you breathe out an alternative version where you mentally and emotionally and psychologically purify the poisons. So indeed, the generative idea is in the crux of this practice and of my propensity toward poetry, which is a practice of the imagination.
— Anne Waldman
In my photographic work I seek to look through eyes focused on beauty, wonder, love, and appreciation. And I strive to bring those feelings into all of my work so that I may generate more beauty, wonder, love and appreciation in the world. Of course, like all things in life, I do this imperfectly and sometimes get lost in worry, anger, and fear. But like all learning, practice brings improvement. Even if I manage to generate feelings of generosity, kindness, and love five percent of the time I feel like it makes a tiny difference.
Do you also focus on giving back and becoming a generative force in life?
May you walk in beauty.
Note: the sky has been gray, the colors dull in the landscapes surrounding me. Still I see beauty. The first two photos below are from November 2020. The first and last photos in this post are from yesterday and today.
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