The Core of Life and Aging – Metaphors for Living as seen in a Turnip and a Red Onion – TYLN – v8-40

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.

Originally it was the circular brown lines that I believed most attracted me. It made me think of the wrinkles that were appearing on my skin.

By the time I got around to photographing it, the whole outside had “aged”, puckered and had many more wrinkles. This reminded me that unless we pay attention to our health and wellbeing, it could deteriorate faster than we’d like.

On the other hand, when I immediately cut the turnip in half, right into the center, the way I usually approached my life,

I saw that a vibrant circular structure of the healthy cells remained in the center, radiating out.

 

When putting all the parts together, I noticed a wisp of “chin hair” (another sign of age) resting on one of the turnip quarters.  Then for composition I set the segments up to demonstrate photographic balance. I realized after that it could also be a reflection of balance in our lives.

Thus the components of the blog post three years ago.

For those of you who might feel something is missing without a more colorful photo in Treasure Your Life Now, I’m adding a totally different image.

It’s a never-before published one from one of my 2008 onion series.

Totally different in appearance, though bright and vibrant, it too, as you can see

was at the end stages of the vegetable. The greens in the back are what started growing out of the deteriorating onion.

An Exercise for You with a Self-Reflecting Query –
I invite you to choose a fruit or vegetable that catches your eye.
Peel it. Cut it. Act in whatever way you are so moved.
Then step back and away from it, looking/experiencing the action(s) you took.

Is there anything in the experience that you see which relates to the way you are living your life?

Relationship Tip –
If you are in a relationship with someone, including yourself, which is feeling “old” and “stale”, I invite you to take it apart, so-to-speak. Open it up and look inside the relationship, or person, to find fresh, bright, shiny new aspects to it.

As always, have fun, and please post what comes up for you in the COMMENTS section below.