“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
The Marcel Proust quote above is one of my favorites. Referencing discovery and new eyes, it expresses the foundation of what Treasure Your Life Now is all about.
The fulfillment of it becomes truly alive for me when you, too, experience the essence of the voyage of discovery.
Today’s Spatterdock plant photos represent a recent awakening I had. For the past seven plus years I have been sporadically photographing the Spatterdock plant, leaves, roots and flowers. The leaves were always green.
To my recollection the very first time I realized that the leaves are heart-shaped was when I saw some Spatterdock leaves that were pink (below and in the thumbnail photo above).
In the upper photo the heart-shape is quite obvious, especially since I’m looking for it now. Only at the time, in March 2006, I was so caught up in experiencing the golden end-of-the-day light that the shape totally eluded me, at least as I reflect on it now.
It was the pink, a color we associate with hearts, that had that image now stand out, having me see the Spatterdock leaves with new eyes.
For fun, I’ll share a couple of other Spatterdock photos featured in much earlier issues of Picture to Ponder.
In the photo right above, my attention is immediately drawn to the little face I see under the Spatterdock root. Looking to our right, she has a pointy nose. When I about her before I called her Little Red Riding Hood. Now I’m thinking she’s wearing a chef’s hat or different kind of bonnet. What do you see?
In the upcoming Through and From The Lens course, starting this Wednesday, October 3, we will have fun looking for, among many other things, faces and other images. They will be surfacing as you start using your unique and expanded “new eyes.”
The last Spatterdock photo, for today, is for those among you who prefer more traditional scenes:
a turtle sunning on a Spatterdock root
Today’s Photos –
as, stated above, are of the Spatterdock plant. All but the ones that include pink leaves were taken in Wakodahatchee Wetlands. The latter were in Green Cay Wetlands.
Self-Reflecting Queries and Relationship Tips –
Today, I invite you to look into your life to see where you might be viewing people and situations with already pre-conceived, expectations, from what you “know.”
Are there any situations that seem “sticky” to which you might bring “new eyes?”
In referencing it to a Relationship Tip, I invite you to open up a discussion with the person, or persons, in the sticky situation. Share what it is you are seeing, with no attachment to the outcome or that the other person(s) see it your way.
Then ask, and be open to, what they see.
You might also start looking for faces and other imagery in your physical environment, playing the same game with another person. What makes it easy, enjoyable AND eye-opening is that there are no right or wrong answers. It’s risk-free!
As always, have fun, and please post what comes up for you in the Comments section below.
Last Chance for learning to Take Great Photos without being a Camera Wiz, understanding all of the settings –
If you are one of the subscribers who has from time-to-time thought about enrolling in the Through and From The Lens, four-week Telecourse, NOW IS IT for registration. This is the LAST TIME I will be offering the course.
Following are a few of the reasons, participants who have enrolled in the upcoming course:
• tired of not using her camera because she was befuddled with all of the settings, now having a new camera and declaring, “It’s time!”
• desire to take more creative photos on an upcoming scheduled cruise than she took in her last.
• wish to learn more of how I see both “inside and out.”
Judith Tramayne of agoodread.com, one of the past participants, recently wrote:
“You made me so aware of what I was missing. Looking through a lens tends to make one focus. I loved how you taught me to appreciate my camera as a means to increase my creativity.”
She concluded, “I didn’t even like a camera before I took your class.” Now she is photographing regularly and used picture she took in the course as a reference for one of the painting illustrations in a new book.
For details, bonuses, registration information and to see testimonials and photographs from some other past participants go to Telecourse
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Linda Braun Gipson, a Registered Massage Therapist, in Houston, Texas wrote [my bolding]:
a brilliant September sunset in Green Cay Wetlands. 
Masked wood knot face on side panel of boardwalk railing
Hibiscus at night, lit by a full moon and poolside lights