Creative Burst of Energy with Lizzie!

  January 2023 Depending on where you are, the world outside may be frozen, yet life goes on. Beneath the layer of ice or snow, beneath cold wet leaves, life awaits the spring thaw. The frozen world is beautiful yet challenging. A temporary condition, part of nature's continual cycle.

 “When Great Trees Fall" When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws on kind words unsaid, promised walks never taken. Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves. And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. Th...

  Sometimes life takes you a bit off the beaten track.  ... into unknown territory ... into new experiences ... into unfamiliar realms You can follow in someone else's footsteps, or you can choose your own path.  Make the most of the adventure.

  Do you ever have a sense that you feel entirely whole? In some ideal world, you feel that sense of "wholeness" all the time. That would seem to be a good thing.  In my everyday life, there's always something to do, somewhere to go, some task to accomplish, a mess to clean up, in inter-personal communication issue to figure out and reply in my mind, something I need to remember to do as soon as I have time ... there's always a distraction from being present in the moment. There are times, however, when I'm outside in nature that I feel this sudden and overwhelming sense of "I Am Here! Now! Wow!" The morning I took this picture was one of those moments.  It was cold. Windy. Threatening rain. I went for a long walk along the beach. The sky was dark and ominous. The wind was brisk, but fortunately blowing at my back (which I didn't appreciate until I walked back along the beach and had the brisk wind blowing in my face!). The waves were constant. The s...

 Today is Thanksgiving. It's a time of year I always reflect on things I am grateful for. There are many things I take for granted that I am extremely grateful for, such as clean drinking water, and indoor plumbing, and electricity. A couple of years ago, a friend and I started a Thanksgiving themed "community art project." We wrote "What are you grateful for?" in sidewalk chalk on a popular walking trail. We then left some pieces of  chalk nearby and enjoyed reading what people listed.  This year's community gratitude list includes: Friends, good health, foxes and owls, music, my partner Dogs, cats, laughter, family, life, coffee Trees, turtle, emotional intimacy, physical intimacy, love, sleep And many more! What are you grateful for?

 Solitude is a time of peace and reflection. Gazing into the distance of the past, present, or future. Solitude is a time to just be yourself, getting to know yourself, doing what needs to be done. Or doing nothing at all. Solitude allows a different perspective, not directly influenced by the presence of others. Something to be appreciated. Something to be grateful for.

  “Learning to distance yourself from all the negativity is one of the greatest lessons to achieve inner peace.” ―  Roy T. Bennett

  “Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.” ―  Lao Tzu

  Cascade One thing leads to another in the cascade of life. Every decision I have ever made affects the next, and that affects the next, etc., etc., etc. The person I am today, in this moment, is a culmination of all the experiences I have ever had, all the mistakes I've ever made, all the "most embarrassing moments," all the joys, all the skills I've learned, all the losses and hurts, all the successes, all the adventures I've ever had. Through it all, I'm still the same person, I'm still me. I still have the same DNA. But I keep changing, evolving, and learning. I continue to flow through my own cascade of life events, big and small. If you are reading this, your life and mine have just intersected for a brief moment in time, and then we move on from here.

Photo: Misty Blue Ridge Mountains, NC. Photo by L Bowen 2022 Looking out over the horizon, it seems I can see forever.  But what about when we can't see forever? Perhaps it's foggy, perhaps life took an unexpected turn Perhaps you just don't know where to go next And then it's a new day You've had some time to reflect Things seem clearer now ...hopefully... Hindsight is 20/20

  Contemplation Take a step back Re-center Who are you? What are your goals? Take it slow Don't rush Make a list Contemplate What do you want? “The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.” ―  Thich Nhat Hanh

 Butterflies don't lay their eggs on just any random plant. Each species of butterfly has a specific host plant, or perhaps a small assortment of host plants, that are the exclusive food plant of the butterfly caterpillar. Without these specific species of host plant available, the adult female butterfly won't lay eggs, and there would be no next generation of butterflies. One of the most well-known butterfly and host plant combinations is the Monarch Butterfly and the butterfly milkweed plant. Monarch caterpillars munch exclusively on milkweed plants. They start as a tiny egg and within a few weeks have eaten enough milkweed to grow into a full-size caterpillar, ready to find a safe location to transform into a chrysalis, and finally into the next generation of beautiful butterfly. What feeds you, both in body and soul? Do you have a favorite comfort food? Do you have a daily ritual or routine that makes you feel connected with yourself, with others around you, or with spiritu...

  Inner Peace The path to inner peace Twists and turns Full of learning opportunities Full of challenges and questions Whichever path you follow is yours alone No two journeys are the same Inner peace blooms from within Seek it within yourself

  Life’s Grand Adventure   Life is one grand adventure One small adventure after another Put all the small adventures together That’s life   Come out of your shell To try something new Retreat into your shell To feel safe, secure   You are always changing Growing, getting older, learning new things Yet through all of life’s adventures Big and small You are still you.

  Advice to my Older Self Recently, I asked many people what advice they would like to offer to their younger selves. One person asked me what advice I would give to my older self. Hmmm, I hadn’t thought of that, and it is an interesting question. Obviously, giving my childhood-self advice is simply a fantasy, but I could perhaps tell my older self some things. I could write myself a letter and put it in an envelope marked, “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 2030!” Or I could take a more short-term approach. Tomorrow, I’ll be a day older than I am today. Okay, Tomorrow-Self, go out for a nice long walk, and enjoy being present in the moment. Smile and say “Hi” to a passer-by. Listen to the birds singing. Notice the colors, patterns, and textures all around. But what about my 20-years-older self, the person I will be in the year 2042? What advice would I give to her (and what makes me think I’ll be any more open to receiving advice in 20 years than I am now)? Assuming I am still alive and...

  A rainbow of flowers. Photos by L Bowen Beauty is Not Just a Rainbow Open your eyes, slow down Put on your observation glasses, and look around There is beauty everywhere It's not just in the rainbow after a storm Or the colors of flowers Or a pretty photo of an exotic place you've never been There's beauty in everyone, all around the world, even you In the ordinary everyday things we don't take the time to notice Sometimes we have to look past the ugly to see the beauty But it's there Next time you have a moment Slow down  Look around Notice the beauty, details, colors, patterns The complexities of every living thing

 In Part 1 of "Advice to my Younger Self " I shared advice I would have given to my younger self, if such a thing were possible. In Part 2 of "Advice to my Younger Self" I will share answers from others, in response to the question, "What bit of advice would you give to your younger self?" I asked many people, younger and older, male and female, what advice they would give to their younger selves. The following, in random order, is an anonymous compilation of replies. Some have been slightly edited for brevity and clarity. Thank you to everyone who shared their bits of advice with me. ·          Stand up straight. ·          I would tell my younger self to hold off on committing to someone else as a life partner until I'm sure I've fulfilled a commitment to loving and discovering myself - to know what I want, be fearless in reaching for it, and strong enough to say no to what feels like someone...

ADVICE TO MY YOUNGER SELF Sometimes I wonder, if i were my own big sister, and I could offer one morsel of advice to my younger self (assuming my younger self would listen to her big-sister-self), what would I want to tell myself? To my very shy and self-conscious little kid self, I would say, “Don’t worry so much about what other people think about you. What they think about you doesn’t really matter. Just have fun being you.” I would tell my kid and teen self, “It’s okay to make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. No one is going to think you’re stupid if you make a mistake or if you give the wrong answer. And if they do, then so what, you can be still proud of yourself that you tried.” Apparently my young-adult self needed a lot of advice, because I couldn’t settle on just one thing I should have known. So here are three things I would want to tell my young-adult self: “Do what you know you need to do. Be proactive. Don’t keep waiting for things to change on their own. You know what ...

 Springtime fern frond unfurling. Photo by L Bowen 2022 "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." -Charles Dederich Fresh A fresh start Clean, undamaged, unspoiled A new perspective Explore new ideas Great potential The possibilities are endless Wonder Live, learn, be curious, observe, listen Where to go from here? Only time will tell. Tomorrow is a new day. Enjoy your journey.

In honor of national poetry month, a poem about pollen. Yellow swirly Powdery dust Blowing in the wind Art in the puddles Today the world looks yellow. Great Blue Heron Perched Large bird on tiny branch Awkward or majestic?