Blog

Little by Little

My photo/essay handmade book project continues to move forward Little by Little. I’ve discovered that I seem to work in spurts of furious activity followed by avoidance, anguish, and procrastination. Then after a week or more, one day I tire of my angst and drama about the project and begin thinking about it again, watching my two book-making online classes, and planning. I procrastinate a little longer and then finally begin working furiously on the next right steps. This week I decided to use some cotton hand-made watercolor sheets that I had on hand, as pages for my first sample Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Consider the Breath

On this cold February morning I can see my breath condense on the window pane as I breathe out on it. I begin to… Consider the Breath. It is both astonishing and ordinary to realize that the breath happens without any thought or effort on our part. I don’t have to think, “Breathe in,” each time I take a breathe or “Breathe out,” each time I release a breath. It just happens. It is as if the breath breathes me. Similarly my heart beats without any reminder from my conscious mind, speeding up when I am exerting effort, slowing when Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Malleable Meaning

I read an article this morning about how we humans make meaning. The way we interpret what we experience affects the meaning we experience in our lives. Because we interpret everything we experience through the brain networks created through our lifetime experience, in a way we create our own reality. Malleable Meaning Though meaning is not infinitely malleable, it’s much more malleable than most of us think. For the most part, meaning-making is automatic and outside your awareness. When you were a child, other people curated the environment that wired experiences into your brain, seeding your brain’s internal model. You’re Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Emergence and Awe

Seeing beauty, finding beauty, and photographing beauty has led me to experience Emergence and Awe more and more of the time. The fact that we are living on this beautiful blue planet circling our sun at just the right distance to allow life to emerge fills me with awe, wonder, and gratitude. The whole idea of emergence fills me with awe. Where did everything come from? For what purpose? When I consider the number stars in the sky and the size of the universe I cannot comprehend it all. Emergence of ever more complex structures seems to be programmed into Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Being Here Now

As January winds to a close and the weather forecast predicts frigid temperatures in the next few days, I am concentrating on Being Here Now without judging or wanting things to be different. I’ve said it before — I don’t like winter. But here I am in the middle of a Minnesota winter. Most of the time I think it’s worth it to live here, because the rest of the year here is so beautiful. Heck, even winter is astonishingly beautiful. Still sometimes I struggle with wanting to escape winter or wishing for milder weather. I think the message is Read more…

By Marilyn, ago