I posted the following “Metaphor for Aging, As Seen in a Turnip” in a blog post over three years go. The experience of it resulted in an exercise used in subsequent sessions of the Through and From The Lens course. Participants interact visually and viscerally with their cameras and self-selected fruits or vegetables.
It started with the turnip below after it caught my eye in the supermarket. I bought it as my example for a class the following week.
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This week’s post is one where I am following my intuition. For the most part, in the past years of publishing Picture to Ponder/Treasure Your Life Now, a photograph appears as I search my files, seeming to be the one that wants to be featured.
This past week Ronna Jevne, one of our long-time subscribers, emailed me acknowledging how appreciative she is of each of the issues she receives. It had been a while since I connected with her directly and I was prompted to visit her site. Somewhere on one of her pages I picked up on the quote that intuitively has bcome the subject for today’s issue.
“Remember, if you don’t go within, you will go without. Become a student of your own life, a therapist of your own soul.†Ronna Jevne, Photographer/Writer/Psychologist – www.ronnajevne.ca
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“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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It seems that I’m on a run of featuring “What brings a smile” photos in Treasure Your Life Now. Last week’s Lorikeets photo still brings a spontaneous smile to my face every time I come across it. This week’s photo of my granddaughter at age 3 does the same. [click to continue…]
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Today is one of those days when I’m stuck for what to write, along with what photo or photos to share with you for the week.
And, I’ve made a commitment to myself and to you to email one issue of Treasure Your Life Now each week. My statement on this is that there will be one to three inspirational photographs, along with the self-reflecting queries that evolve from them, plus a relationship tip. [click to continue…]
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I am in one of those states of query and mixed emotions. I would expect that you also experience such states at one time or another.
On the one hand I am thrilled and excited. On Tuesday evening, September 11th I will be doing an open phone interview with Jerry Downs, professional photographer, writer and much more. Many of you, I know, already appreciate his awesome photos, his humor, poignant messages and views of the world. I feel privileged on behalf of us all that he accepted my request for an interview. (See BELOW the Queries and Tips for a link to register for the free call AND for the download gift of his book THE PRESENT.) [click to continue…]
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As I was reviewing prior Picture to Ponder publications when preparing for today’s issue of Treasure Your Life Now, the following photos popped out. They “asked” to be shared with you.
Before saying anything more, I’ll allow them to wordlessly speak to you. Simply be with the images for a for a moment or two.
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Are you regularly using your digital camera and/or your camera phone as one of your means of communication with yourself and your loved one(s)?
Are you filled with pride and taking pictures you love, then sharing them on cards, online albums, blog posts, email and/or on your walls?
Or, are you one who sometimes doesn’t even think to use your camera – digital or phone – for communication and taking special pictures? [click to continue…]
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Announcing the re-launching of the Through and From The Lens telecourse: Using Your Camera to See in New and Expanded Ways. Please check out the information after today’s queries and tips.
It’s been a very busy two weeks. More than likely it’s been the same for you. Found in one of last year’s issues of Picture to Ponder, today’s photos are about relaxing. Taking the latter path, I am merely revising and republishing the content. I came across the issue prior to a “Questions on Getting Unstuck” Complimentary Session (see below) with one of our long-time subscribers. When I get a request I usually check to see if the person is a subscriber and if he/she has written any comments in the past
The latter woman, in fact, had. The Lisianthus flowers below are among those she had noted. When I went to the issue, I immediately stopped to “bathe” myself in the simplicity and beauty of the flowers.
I noted that then I had invited you, as I do now, to take some time to simply breathe in the beauty of the images below.
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