Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos
a Red Onion photographed at night, as it was when I brought it home from the store.
The middle and lower photographs are taken on the next day, as part of a project I started, observing the peeling of an onion as it relates to the peeling away the layers of ourselves.
In terms of aesthetics, I love the richness of the color in the top photo. In the middle photo, after the outer skin was peeled away, we are left with beautiful colors and shapes, contrasting lights and darks.
I’ve introduced the bottom photo to show the varieties of textures – thin and thick – that were in the outer layer(s).
Self-Reflecting Queries
I had planned to start using this blog for almost-daily postings of photos and thoughts and then after a conversation with a couple of mastermind buddies, we decided to take on doing a photo a day, with a different theme each week. Veggies became the first theme we choose. See Broccoli and Onions, Veggies Day 1 on the blog for further explanation and an invitation to join us in our play.
On Veggies Day 2, you’ll read about my experience shopping for vegetables to photograph, studying colors, textures, and shapes.
Suddenly, while looking at the onion and observing a layer of skin starting to peel away, I remembered various times when professionals have said that one way to get in touch with ourselves is to start peeling away our layers to get inside. With that thought, I decided to concentrate on the onion as my photo for each day, for the next few days, at least. Naturally, I’ve been taking far more than one photo a day.
When I got to day 2 of the onion I immediately went directly to cutting into it to get at where I thought the beauty and intrigue would be, in the patterns of the slices. Halfway in I remembered, “Oh, my expressed intention was to peel away the layers of the onion.”
So I stopped cutting and started peeling, recognizing that this was so typical of patterns in my life. I usually simply jump in to whatever I am excited about, often not reading the instructions or getting more information that many times would have simplified things for me.
Once I started peeling, I became open to the beauties that were slowly being revealed. At the same time I noticed that some of the very, thin almost transparent sections of the very outer layer, did not want to let go and yet other sections of them, as showing in the top photo, were ready. You can get a measure of some of the thinness and thickness of the first layer – well I guess two, if we consider the very fine “skin” as the first layer.
So on to Queries for the day. I invite you to look at your own life and consider:
1 – Do you jump right in, or do you slowly peel away the levels of a project, to get at the heart of it? As you look at, and think about the onion analogy, are there any shifts, you might want to consider making?
2 – Do you usually have an intention when you start an activity? Do you have a method for keeping that present, a reminder system? If not, is there something you would like to set up?
3 – And, on a slightly different track, is there a playful practice that you’ve been meaning to do, something simple to which you might like to commit to doing on a daily basis for a week?
Lastly, I invite you to join us in taking a photo a day and I invite you to share your reactions on the blog, where this issue is also posted for your convenience.
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