07/07/2022

01

There doesn't seem to be  
much in the way of "hurry" 
in the natural world. 

Anticipation, 
expectation, 
preparation, 
manipulation, 
working the angles, 
positioning for the advantage...

All those things seem 
to come to life with us. 

Nature "just is." 

The stream flows, 
the dogwood blooms, 
the rain falls, 
the sun shines, 
the wind blows...
all in its own time. 
Some years, 
the dogwood doesn't bloom. 
Some years, 
the dogwood blooms 
the first week in April. 
Some years, 
it blooms the third week in April. 

If you want a picture, 
you have to hang around, 
or come back. 

Connecting us with the natural rhythms 
is one of the gifts the camera gives. 

Soul time is not clock time, 
is not calendar time. 

When the time is right, 
the bloom appears. 

Photography is a dance 
with the soul of the world.

02

In 2014 it became apparent to me
that my knees were not pleased
with the way I was treating them,
that is to say, using them.

Acupuncturists and X-rays,
quitting alcohol,
reducing sugar intake,
led to
choosing arthroscopic surgery
over knee replacement, 
and physical therapy,
and forearm crutches 
for long distance
(Anything over 25 yards)
walking,
and that is where I am today.

Occasionally, 
say twice a year,
I wake up and get out of bed
to knees that are like new,
and think,
"I should take these babies 
on the road!"
But, I settle for a cup of coffee
and the recliner,
knowing better than to 
take them on the road.

But, why the reprieve?
Which does not last beyond
a few minutes 
of standing and walking.
Why don't things remain the same
always over time?
Why the variation?
In everything?

Comes the reply:
"There are no steady states of being
beyond death,
and even that is to be determined,
because death may simply be 
a transition point
to a different way of being."

Coming and going,
ebbing and flowing,
laughing, laughing
all the way.

You are laughing, aren't you?
All the time?
Why not?
Laughter is never more
than a slight perspective shift away!

Until I have reason to think otherwise,
I'm seeing death 
as a perspective shift,
with laughter on the other side.

03

Do not take it seriously!
Don't let it get you down!
Or rob you of being in charge
of your own perspective!

It is all a matter of how we see things.
Of what we declare to be important.
Of how we respond to what is happening.

Nothing is so bad/good
that we can't make it better or worse
by the way we respond to it.

The power of perspective
is a superpower,
and the way we wield it 
makes all the difference.

Live to develop the right kind 
of relationship
with your perspective.
It will transform the world.

04

William Tecumseh Sherman in 1884, 
and president Lyndon Johnson in 1968,
said, "If nominated, I will not run,
if elected, I will not serve."

That is being clear about where they stood.

And it is the kind of clarity
we all need in determining 
what we will,
and will not,
do.

We only have to be clear
about what is important,
about what is called for,
about what needs to be done,
when, where and how,
in each situation as it arises,
and do it,
no matter what,
all our life long.

What is so hard about that?

"Is you is,
or is you ain't,
my constituency?"
Our life asks of us,
all the time.

05

I spend my time
becoming conscious 
of the way I am,
watching what I do,
and how I do it,
hearing what I say
and how I say it,
feeling what I feel,
thinking what I think,
wondering what I wonder,
loving what I love,
and being proud of being me,
looking forward to being
more like me
as time goes by.

How do you spend your time?

06