Flowers and Art in Milwaukee: Art in Bloom

This weekend I was invited to go the the Milwaukee Art Museum to attend the Flowers in Bloom exhibit.  I went with a friend and her family and had a wonderful time.  What a great place to people watch!  The museum was crowded with art and flower lovers and the floral interpretations of the works of fine art were inspired.

Here are a few:
The use of color, shape, and texture in the floral arrangements was ingenious.  In this piece the angular petals and strong vertical stem lines truly mirror the painting.

Even the containers were used to pick up color accents and various planes in the art work.

The use of objects in the arrangements was both startling and pleasing.

What a great way to spend a lovely Sunday afternoon on a spring day.

On Mindfulness

There are times when it seems that I am caught up in the currents of life which seem to pull me off my feet and drag me under.  They buffet and sweep me along, and it's easy to feel helpless, the victim of something outside of myself.  I find I have to remind myself that it is not the conditions of life that determine my well being, but how I hold myself as I go through life.  Mindfulness is key to moving through life.  Biblically it is framed as being in the world, but not of it.   Here is a prayer that I was recently introduced to at Quan Am Nam Hai Monastery in Panama City, Florida that frames mindfulness.  

This particular call to worship frames the early morning practice that starts each day:

The dharma body is bringing the morning light.
In concentration my heart is at peace.
A half smile is formed on my lips.
This is a new day and I vow to go through it in mindfulness.
The sun of wisdom has risen in every direction.
Noble Sangha bring your mind into meditation.
Namo Shakyamuni Buddha ya.

I recently awoke from a dream.  It was a lovely dream, but a dream none the less.  The dream was so strong that I awoke with a real sense of loss and sadness.  I realized that I have a real attachment to dreaming.  When I awoke there were caring hearts to greet me and loving arms to hug me and comfort me.  My life is so amazingly blessed.  I count my blessings this morning and then release them to the world as I say this blessing:

For all of the peoples and the nations of the earth, may not even the names disease, famine, war and suffering, be heard, but rather may their moral conduct, merit, wealth, and prosperity increase, and may supreme good fortune and well being always arise for them.  

I offer this blessing to all, equally.  I wish you well.

With Love

The Art of Caring

Life is Art.  You don't find yourself, you create yourself.  We, each of us, have our favorite colors, our favorite music, our favorite places...I have my favorite medium for creating my life - it's CARING.  I am surrounded, every single day, with an ever changing collection of fellow human beings.  One of my favorite things to do is dive into this living sea of humanity and show that I care, that I notice, that I see, that it (whatever it is in the moment) matters to me.  Have you ever seen sunlight play through the surface of a body of water?  It's lovely.  It dances, and illuminates, and charges the water with potential for life to move through and be seen, embraced by sunlight.  That's what I like to do with the people around me.  I truly enjoy charging my environment with my light and illuminating and celebrating the life that moves through it.  So...what is your favorite medium in creating your life?

Friends...yes, friends - I love them!

Friends...yes, friends - I love them!  They enrich my life and bring such dimension to my purpose, my path. Being a friend is such a blessing and a responsibility.  Being true friends can be even more challenging when there is physical distance between friends, when those who are friends are not privy to the the day to day bits and pieces of life that build their todays.  There is so much of that which is shaping us now, that they have no knowledge of.  So the deep conversations that occurred when we shared the same space is now missing in the exchanges that are limited to emails, phone calls, and Skype sessions.  Some of these life building details will come out in those conversations, but not nearly as much as when you share the same space; when you have that constant contact and those micro interactions that build our collective todays.  I am feeling that distance and loss of intimacy with my dear friends in Green Bay.  I have been gone now for going on five months.  Yes, we do email, write notes and cards, and call on occasion, but it's not the same.  Friendship embraced in immersion in the present is the most connected form.  I miss it.  I feel the distance and the loss and it does require me to adjust.  Yes, I am building new friends in my new home, and yes, they are wonderful, special, and a blessing, but they lack the time and disclosure that is invested in those who you have been friends with for a long time.  So the change that comes with retiring and moving to a warmer climate also includes the realm of friends. Absence does make the heart grow fonder and I am looking forward to reconnecting with my dear friends in Green Bay when I go back to visit this summer.  So to all of my friends - I love you!  For those who are a part of my growing circle of distant friends - I miss you, and am soooo looking forward to seeing you again, until them we WILL stay connected.

With Love

The Road Less Traveled

In case you hadn't noticed, I've taken some time off from my focus on sharing my thoughts and working on my calling - building others to greatness (at least in a public arena).  This was due to a number of reasons, with first and foremost having retired from my 8 to 5 job in Wisconsin, and moving to Florida.  That happened in November of last year.  Once in Florida I needed to established my life - to determine what this new location held for me both physically and spiritually.  Sooooo, it's taken until now to really get my feet underneath me and to start to feel, see, and envision my path as embraced by these changes.  Which brings me to the subject of my chat today - change.

So here are some words that have gelled together, for me, around the concept of change: minimizing, reducing, eliminating, sorting, valuing, letting go, collecting up, prioritizing, relocating physically, relocating mentally, adjusting, reflecting, death, rebirth...here are some emotions that I have processed during this time: fear, uncertainty, anxiety, happiness, exhilaration, anger, regret, doubt, love, surprise, disappointment, distrust, trust, loss, gratitude, self compassion, empathy.

WOW! So Yeah! That's a lot to go through in four months, never mind a HUGE economic change.  In the end, I know, after four months, that I made the right choice.  Change of this level is very much like the birthing process, in that it is somewhat traumatic.  And, like the birthing process, it is helpful to have people around you who are there to support you, encourage you, physically hold you and emotionally love you as you process this struggle.  That's not to say that I executed this change with grace, skill, or finesse.  At times the process was painful, awkward, and complicated, more than I feel in hind sight it had to be.  All that being said, in the end it was successful.  In the end that is what is important, that at the age of 60 I was able to transition to a different life, and it didn't destroy me, or harm me, or in any way leave me depleted.  Instead, I have emerged exponentially better for the effort.  I am substantially happier, energized, healthier, and most importantly inspired, fired up, and purposeful.  And it is about my calling, my purpose, my gifts that I bring to the world.  The energy that I was putting into other people's causes, products, purpose, wasn't aligned well.  It's not that I don't give, volunteer, help, and work with others and their causes, it's that the balance and alignment is now MUCH healthier.  The change that I chose meant taking a substantial reduction in compensation.  That was one of the toughest changes to adapt to, but I have found I truly need very little to thrive, and I see that following my calling, my passion is the right thing to do and is evolving an income stream that is truly in alignment with who I am and what I love and believe in.  It feels soooo much better than making as much as I did when I was sacrificing purpose in order to make a living, and I couldn't have done any of this without the support of those who believe in me and who believe in the gifts that I bring to the world.

With Love