Some pebbles for the river #aros

Sunset - August 25th 2010

 Driving west into the sunset, I watch the sky changing. Wispy stripes of pink, scarlet and white hang across the blue. My eyes are not on the road.

Magpie - January 2011

 A flock of Starlings are riding the top-most branches of the bare winter trees, bouncing around in the wind. Their silhouettes like fleas on feathers, against the grey morning sky. How I wish I had my camera and was not sitting here at this red light.

Foggy Day - January 2011

 Everything is covered in a murky white curtain of fog. There seems to be no sky today. The perfect circle of the sun is still visible however, glowing white-cold. As I drive past the fields, shapes of sheep move eerily on the edges of vision. Close to the ground can be seen their almost bodiless black legs, appearing to move so quickly when all else is so still.

Sheep in a bush - August 2010

An "Artist's Date" with Paint.

Today I indulged in a little painting with the acrylic paints and children's palate I bought myself last weekend. It was a good day to do so, as today would have been my Dad's 81st birthday, and he used to paint as a young man and boy.

This is a painting he did when he was aged 16 or thereabouts, I think he said he copied it from an original.

He didn't do much painting as he grew up, in fact I can't remember him ever painting or drawing at all. He always encouraged me with art as a child, but I too stopped as I grew up, only really being creative as part of my work as a teacher.

Since leaving teaching a few years ago, I rarely get the chance to do anything creative and I miss it. So today I played a bit with the paints and some pebbles from the beach. I thought I would paint each pebble with one of the four images from the "Pebble for my Pocket" meditation  I blogged about last week.

Beautiful shapes.



New brushes and a clean palate.

Taking care not to wash my brushes in the tea.

Mixing just the right shade.

Wondering how it will go.

Satisfying.

Experimenting.

What fun!

Finished.

Mountains are going to be tricky.

Loving the colours.

Finished.

A lake and reflections were a little bit tricky!

It's hard to shut out the reality of the outside world, however a little time today spent concentrating on tiny details, colours and shapes; on mixing paints with the tip of a tiny paintbrush; and on beautiful photographs taken by others, really managed to take it all away for a while.

The fourth pebble was "Space" and by then I'd lost my patience! May have another go at that one!

Look more Pebbles! Simple and Beautiful.

Yesterday I blogged about how I was going to stop gathering so much, but I just had to share this meditation I found.

It is the last of the gatherings for my daily practice and a tool to help me become more mindful. It fits so well with the three difficulties practice and my vow to meditate daily. I need a simple structure and will easily have time for this each morning. It's such a beautiful and simple reminder of how to stay present with the difficult moments in everyday life. It also examines the depths of what is within.

Pebble For Your Pocket
by Thich Nhat Hanh

Available on the DVD -"Mindful Living Every Day."

Another simple tool, I want to make a part of my daily practice, is one I have used in the past.

About three years ago, I attended a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course based on the one originally developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn. I used the sitting meditation and the body scan, as well as the yoga.


So I am now returning to this, just starting with the sitting meditation and perhaps alternating with The Body Scan, each day during January and February. Each evening when I get home from work I will just take twenty minutes.

It's time to be still a while and listen. To find the peace and the space within me.

Pebbles from the Spooky Universe!



"Masters take great care in the small things

because....they know that mountains are made out of pebbles."

Neale Donald Walsch

 

May 2010 - Grizedale

Oooh! Spooky.

I love spooky!

I was blogging a few days ago about my tendency to skim the surface of things and to see the big picture; and about how I've been hearing a call, feeling a need, to go into the depths and the detail.

To pay attention to the small things.

Yesterday I really wanted to share this pebbles quote. I had just found it again, having originally jotted it down in a diary seven years ago.

I just couldn't work out where it fit with Maitri.

I didn't want to clutter up my thoughts from yesterday, so I left it alone.

Maitri is one very important thing I'm working on this new year. The small pebbles are another.

Anyway, excuse my rambling and excitement, but today I was reading one of the new blogs I am following after reverb10 and found this! I think it might be just what I need for January.

Spooky!