It’s looking gray and cold outside with rain predicted for much of the afternoon. Since I didn’t feel like going for a walk on such a gray morning I found a
Rainy Day Diversion
in my dining room.
I’ve had a little blooming orchid plant for months now and it just keeps blooming. Recently I thought that it was almost finished blooming—the last two buds on the stem had opened. But a week later I noticed that the flower stem was growing and new buds were appearing.
This morning the flowers looked so lovely that I decided to make some photographs of them again, seeing how many different ways I could see this lovely little plant. I tried creating a shallow depth of field painterly look.
And I varied the plant position, focusing on different flowers from different angles. I added varying lengths extension tubes to my lens so that I could get closer and closer. And while I was photographing I thought about all of the other things I “should” be doing around the house. Gradually I let go of all the shoulds and simply immersed myself in the moment.
I’ve seen women insist on cleaning everything in the house before they could sit down to write… and you know it’s a funny thing about housecleaning… it never comes to an end. Perfect way to stop a woman. A woman must be careful to not allow over-responsibility (or over-respectabilty) to steal her necessary creative rests, riffs, and raptures. She simply must put her foot down and say no to half of what she believes she “should” be doing. Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments only.”
― Women Who Run With the Wolves
Even after all these years of choosing joy, and banishing “shoulds” I still discover hidden corners where duty and the desire to please others overcomes my joy seeking. Have you been “shoulding” yourself or people pleasing too much lately? A little bit of creating, giving in to a moment of beauty to pick up my camera, and making sure I have plenty of unscheduled time help me come back to my inner wild self.
Bone by bone, hair by hair, Wild Woman comes back. Through night dreams, through events half understood and half remembered…”
― Women Who Run With the Wolves
Each time I choose my wild inner self over outer expectations I mend the world one stitch at a time. I believe that everything that we do matters. Each moment, each sigh, each time we yield to an inner urge to be kind, right wrongs, share beauty, experience wonder, they all matter.
Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.
―
When was the last time you took time out to feed your soul? What is your favorite rainy day diversion?
May you walk in beauty.
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