Getting Some Distance

Only far enough away to see things in perspective.

There's no desire for a do-over and the idea is pointless.

This experience, these memories, hopes held-onto, carry-over fragments from another time.

That's the soul of everything.

It's about packaging this up and finding my 'element'.

How does this mix-bag, this jumble of things come together in some orchestra to play in harmony and sing a melody worthy of setting free?

I want to see my life as a picture - to have it still for a moment, long enough to pick out some lost detail and reconnect, spark something sadly forgotten but now newly rejuvenated.

To see things in their entirety and feel the joyous weight of abundance, the dots, fragments, pieces and parts becoming part of a larger one-ness that is me, my life and bringing me evening closer to those whose pictures bleed into mine.

A collage of life, of shared togetherness and of glaring into the distance, that spot on the horizon where we will meet again, smile and laugh and know.

Sometimes It's Hard to Come By

Moment's of stillness, awareness and reflection that is.

This has been a time of action, activity, busyness.

Following much thought and searching stillness turned into doing.

In when something begets somethings, pretty soon the rolling stone is gathering much moss.

And before I know it my plate is full and overflowing.

Change and transition have become a constant yet in the midst of life I forgot at times to come up for air.

Maybe I wasn't recognising the signposts.

I know at times I definitely wasn't listening no matter how loud the signal was.

Good habits are only good if I make them habit.

Only now looking back over these past few weeks do I see these moments I may havce taken for granted.

A song that scales the heights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrVFg2adUOU&feature=related

A moment between a couple.

A bird in distress.

The feeling of vulnerability and the fear of loss.

Resilience.

Stillness & The Urban Intervention

I had originally planned a post based on the POWER of URBAN INTERVENTIONS that would take a different form.
But Urban Interventions are about more than words - they are about bringing AWARENESS.
Am I seeing what's right in front of my eyes?
Can I see beyond my first impression?
Can I see beyond long held 'muscle memory'?
(aka Beyond what I believe I'm seeing because I stopped really looking along time ago)
I stopped to look at the Australian Hotel on Broadway.

Something about this sight as I walked home from Glebe last week caused my to pause.

The overgrowth at the side.

The brick work slowly falling apart.

And what's growing between the cracks.

Within the walls of what is now only a building are the memories of emotions scaling the spectrum of life.

I want to go beyond the surface.

I not only want to see what is, but what was and what could be.

The answers and explanations may not always be forthcoming. However in taking the time to look, and be still, let the awareness of now come upon me I've found a new appreciation all about me.

Today I Put My Thoughts Into A Bubble And I'm Holding Onto Them For Awhile

Background Music While You Think It Through

Stillness & Architecture

If you consider architecture the creation of structure, would then stillness not be the process of building?

The architect reviews, considers, and then envisions.

The architect creates the framework from which something can come into this world blending functionality and aesthetics.

The physical exertion to bring into this world a material manifestation of this design is then the building and labour required for the realisation of the vision.

In human existence, the time when we plan, research, experiment and question with regards to the flow and direction of our life, is this not architecture?

Life, however, remains fluid and constant without the clearly defined lines of design / plan / prepare / build.

Narratives overlap. Ideas are born on top of other plans, converge and then diverge at different times and at different stages of their maturity.

How we adapt to these changes is created in the space set aside for absorption.

Or put more simply, change is absorbed in our moments of stillness.

In this time the building blocks are cemented into place giving us the strength and stability to move to the next level of our growth with steady feet and a sure mind.

Stillness allows the function and aesthetic to meld and become entwined in our inner fabric.

Even at our quietest, we may be making the biggest changes because we are allowing change to happen to us.

When Things Become Possible Again

And all of a sudden something seems possible.

A fog has cleared. The road block a speck in the rear view mirror.

And I'm feeling much lighter, much happier, much more myself.

A certain wholeness.

It's never one thing, though.
That would be like basing this gradually building confidence on balancing a plate on a single supporting rod.

It takes many layers of support, on top of a foundation that was laid sometime ago.

Activity begets activity. Something begets something. And off we go...

Though is this the time for stillness and contemplation?

Should this now be the time for energy, action, drive?

Change is happening rapidly. The thin and weak trickling stream that starts from a small place eventually flows into the rapid torrents of the river that flows into the ocean.

We don't always see the change coming. We aren't always aware of those actions of ours that are ushering in that change.

When it comes and I see the newness and a future of possibility and opportunity, stillness will always give me the time to absorb that change, ingrain it within me.

Allow the change to run deep, become habit, not just momentary.

Stillness feeds a soul's hunger for replenishment and nourishment.

Today's stillness is some good music, a cup of tea, sitting back really listening. That's how I'm going to recharge in the time and space that has presented itself.