Self Development

Today’s Picture to Ponder post evolves around choices, accepting what is, making things complex or receiving with ease.

Given the abstraction of most of the images, I am including a Nature photo also, for those whom I assume expect to see nature photographs here.

Explanations are below the pictures.

Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos

melaleuca bark - face profile looking down [click to continue…]

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avocado pit with peelAVOCADO PIT

Aged, Solid,
Rock Hard,
Rich in color, texture, patterns
And oh so much more.

On its own, it splits in two
Peel the parchment skin
Find the heart lines, textures,
Ying and Yang?

Is there a message here, or do we simply accept it for what it is?

Beauty contained in the ordinary, often overlooked,
Sometimes never seen at all. [click to continue…]

This week’s Picture to Ponder’s featured photos are a result of two different experiences I had this past week. Although the photographs are not particularly beautiful. nor are the imaginary images that clear, they do represent an important message.

pink moon just starting to rise over the oceanThe thumbnail photo on the left is a piece of a live oak tree root which grew around one of the sprinkler heads in our community. The root needed cutting and, the portion close to the house, dug up. It took Issaac, one of our grounds maintenance men, over an hour to remove it. Feeling triumphant, he brought it into the office to share.

Gini, the admin assistant, somewhat attuned to my finding imagery in natural objects, [click to continue…]

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Today’s photographs focus on light and shadows, our interpretations of them and the differences, if any, a slight shift in perspective makes. The only story behind these is that the photographs were the ones that popped out, requesting being featured today. Should you need more, I invite you to make up a story about them up and share on the blog, if you wish.

palm frond on the ground in Wakodahatchee Wetlands

On a recent walk in Wakodahatchee Wetlands, following my “rule” of photographing anything that catches the eye, I used my iPhone camera to capture this dead frond dropped from a palm tree.

Then I zoomed in on it with the camera, settling on two very slightly different, views.

Though only a shift up of a few inches, less than a foot, the feeling emanating from each differs. [click to continue…]

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As I surfed through folders, it was the top photograph that jumped out, declaring it wished to be today’s featured Picture to Ponder photograph.

I assumed that it might be in recognition of the water some of us are receiving abundantly in the form of rain, while others in areas of drought are in such need.

Then, I looked back at last week’s issue of Picture to Ponder images and see that they, too, were taken looking through something; the first a glass; the second through a section of an acrylic sculpture. So I’m thinking today’s theme has to do with filters.

I’m curious, myself, to see what will develop as I write the Self-Reflecting Queries, almost always a mystery to me until the writing starts.

Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos –

orange and lemons in water for drink [click to continue…]

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Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos
are simply choices coming out of my lethargy around putting together this week’s issue of Picture to Ponder. Believe it or not, I have not been very photo-taking motivated recently (outside of photos of my beautiful granddaughter in Key West last week which you can see on Facebook in my Fun with Kaitlyn Album).

On the other hand I have made a commitment to you and myself to get this ezine out weekly, so I went to my files and the two photos below are the ones that said, “Choose me.”

Do they fit together? Maybe the answer lies with you? I’m simply trusting there is a reason, for at least one of you, that they “called out” to be included.

 courtyard outside Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art [click to continue…]

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On the run, so a quick message this week.  I was leaving Wakodahatchee Wetlands at dusk, recently, and from the distance noticed an interesting image in the rear window of the guard’s  jeep parked in the lot. Coming closer, I saw it was a reflection of the outside environment rather than something in the jeep itself.  When I noticed the imagery in motion as I walked, I grabbed my iPhone camera to video it. Thus, today’s photos.

Switching conversations for a moment, this is the same parking lot from which I photographed the “Caged Sunset” a couple of years ago.  Those photos and queries make up one of the featured essays in the current issue of Buddha Chick Life.  Included amongst the 11 other postings is a link for a podcast by SARK and a section on THE POWER OF SILENCE from Sara Avant Stover’s Book, The Way of the Happy Women: Living the Best Year of Your Life. There is also the opportunity to be the winner of a giveaway for the book. See Buddha Chick Life for it all.

Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos –

 Reflections in front window of a Jeep

Jeep reflections

Click on photo or on JEEP REFLECTIONS to see the short video
The top photo is obviously reflections in the window of the side front. Though that’s not what grabbed my attention, it’s a more interesting photo than those I got on my camera of the rear window.
The lower photo is a screen shot of the first view in the video.  Looking at the side rear window you can see the above-noted image.

Self-Reflecting Queries
Today I invite you to look around you and find an object or scene that seems static. Then move passed it and around it if you can.  Notice what shifts.  Lights? Shadows? Shapes?  Are you bringing new eyes to it?

Then, is there a situation in your life where you feel stuck? If so, I invite to look at that also, again, from different angles.
Some of the motion in the window image above came from its reflecting the leaves moving to the whispers of the wind as I stood still.  Other movement in the “scene”  was a result of the shifting of my camera and my body.
Back to your situation – Can you see any spaces for movement, perhaps from outside of it and you?
As always, have fun, and please share in the COMMENTS below what comes up for you.

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If you read the last Picture to Ponder post, you’ll most like recall my fascination with the unfolding of two interlocked, wood-like, seed pods that got totally flat after soaking in water.

One of the photos showed the pods starting to curl up. I put them back in water until my grandsons came, so together we could watch changes that might come.

The bottom line end result is that the two pods, with one ultimately placed on top of the other, became intertwined and totally circled back onto themselves into one unit.

The whole process took less than a half a day. I’ve posted the photographs below and seven others on a Pods Circling page for you to see the changes. If you are a writer, there are some interesting images on the latter page that I think would be great for journaling or creative story writing.

Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos –

 Wood pod and avocado [click to continue…]

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My older son and two grandsons are visiting this week, so today’s Picture to Ponder is late and will mainly be the photographs and story documenting discovering and transformation. The Queries are brief and might be profound for some of you.

Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos –

 Curled Wood Pod 1 [click to continue…]

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Pictures to Ponder: Inspired Journaling – Flowers Book 1 is now available on iBooks for download on iPads and iPhones. I got notification of this from Lulu Books just after I made the commitment to create and publish another book on Kindle by July 30th. Amazing synchronicity!

The book consists of flower photos from early issues of Picture to Ponder, plus Self-Reflecting Queries, with spaces to journal on each, if you so wish. The photos are larger than you see them in the ezine and online, giving you more of an opportunity for a fuller experience with each. For more details and links for the iBooks and/or the PDF on Lulu, see BOOK.

Now on to
Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos –

canteloupe with knife [click to continue…]

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