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Posts from the ‘Photography’ Category

Aug 9

EFG – Effort, Faith and Grace

“Effort at its most fundamental level is just that commitment to try, to work hard, to give our all, not knowing where that will lead is also a working definition of faith. Life has taught me that, regardless of what we face, effort and faith will lead us into the larger stream of life that holds us. And being held by the larger stream of life is another way to describe grace.” – Mark Nepo, The One Life We’re Given

“Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” – Bradley Whitford

“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” – Bradley Whitford

No matter how many times you throw the stick, Grace (my poochie niece) always runs off the dock full throttle with the same level of effort and enthusiasm at the beginning and at the end.

The stick is out of reach but only if you don’t pursue it with all of your heart, soul and being. Yet again, our four-legged friends teach us two-legged over-complicating wanderers how to live well and completely by pursuing the stick and never, ever giving up.

EFG

Jul 29

Reach

“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?” – Robert Browning

It is in the effort and action of reaching that we are simultaneously pulled and pushed. Motion transforms to momentum. Dreams released to unfold. The effort soon becomes effortless and the action natural.

“But for each of us, isn't life about determining your own finish line?” – Diana Nyad

“But for each of us, isn’t life about determining your own finish line?” – Diana Nyad

Change is our friend not foe. Growth is our calling. And reaching our potential is not only for oneself but is the gift that the world needs from each one of us. Our purpose is to leave this world with no regrets or doubts that we became our best and most sacred self. And the world is better for it.

Reach, and keep reaching.

Jun 5

4 Comments

A Picture

“What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; What is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” – Matthew 10:27

It’s been a month when words have meant so much and so little all at the same time. Indescribable really. Sometimes, many times, a picture, a song, a scent, a sound capture what words could never harness.

Here are a handful of photos from my Lake Tahoe vacation last week with my best friend Sharon. We don’t see each other as much as we did when we were in college, yet each time we get together, there’s a silent connection that needs no words.

Be present with yourself and others. Words will come or they won’t need to. Look around, listen. Say what needs to be said and let silence enter too. In the silence, we hear what we need to, what we must. A picture, more than a thousand words.

“The truth is, I can never die. For I will be in everything and see you in everything and watch over you. I am your reaction in the water of a mountain lake.” – Klaus Kinski

“The truth is, I can never die. For I will be in everything and see you in everything and watch over you. I am your reaction in the water of a mountain lake.” – Klaus Kinski

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir

“Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.” – Ansel Adams

“A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.” – Ansel Adams

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” – Ansel Adams

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” – Ansel Adams

 

 

 

Mar 24

The Gravity of Light

“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.” Helen Keller

Darkness hovers, to overwhelm and crush. But light remains, breaks through and triumphs. Three days – from 30 silver coins, despair and denial to hope and deep, everlasting love. Easter returns again and again, never to be defeated.

Be drawn and pulled into the Light. Love always wins. The gravity of it all.

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining - they just shine.” – Dwight L. Moody

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining – they just shine.” – Dwight L. Moody

Jul 29

8 Comments

Rise and Set

“The sun is new each day.” – Heraclitus

May you rise and set as easy and sure as the sun. Grateful for the day that has passed, moving softly into rest to prepare for the next. Renewed and ready to receive the gifts of a new day. Deep and steady in each moment, each day, confident that it is enough, more than enough.

“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott

“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott

Jan 9

4 Comments

Steady

“The sea can do craziness, it can do smooth, it can lie down like silk breathing or toss havoc shoreward; it can give gifts or withhold all; it can rise, ebb, froth like an incoming frenzy of fountains, or it can sweet-talk entirely. As I can too, and so, no doubt, can you, and you.” ― Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings

“The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.” – Euripides

“The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.” – Euripides

Amidst the chaos, we can remain steady. Unmoved by wind and waves. Rolling with ease. Calm drawn from within. Steady.

Dec 11

2 Comments

Passing

“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” – Marcus Aurelius

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

Amidst the cold days that have arrived early in the season, I am vividly reminded that all things pass quickly. Seasons come and go. People move in and out of our sight. We wake up feeling like we’re 24 and we’re 49.

So as we dread the “15 degrees below days” that come all year round, there is beauty to be found even in these days. If we base our happiness on the weather, a compliment or a list of “rules” that we put on ourselves and others, we are passing by instead of passing through our lives. Each day has its gifts often disguised as inconveniences and interruptions. Get interrupted, wake up and let not this day pass without notice and deep appreciation of the fullness of each moment. Find summer in each day.

Sep 22

3 Comments

10080

“Time is not a line, but a series of now-points.” – Taisen Deshimaru

“Sunset is still my favorite color, and rainbow is second.” – Mattie Stepanek

“Sunset is still my favorite color, and rainbow is second.” – Mattie Stepanek

There are 10080 minutes in the week. As you begin this week, what’s your plan? Anguish or anticipation? We waste a lot of time deconstructing the past instead of constructing the present. Patiently, we wait for the “perfect” moment to make changes, do something different, pursue what we really want. Be impatient and move, only 9660 minutes left.

Put those “now-points” to good use this week and enjoy your life while you’re at it. And be kind along the way.

Aug 16

6 Comments

Find Fun

“Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home… it’s your responsibility to love it, or change it.”- Chuck Palahniuk

Everyday is filled with opportunities for fun and frolic, despite chaos that may surround you. Lighten up and simply enjoy those moments that remind us of the many blessings that we overlook. You need not look far to find fun, just to be open to it.

Mom, Dad, Lily and I celebrated Molly’s seventh birthday today with a lot of toys and a few frosty paws ice cream cups. I can remember driving with Dad to Elkhart Lake Wisconsin to pick Molly up like it was yesterday. Time flies. Joy is ours if we choose it. If you can’t find fun, let it find you.

“If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.” – George MacDonald

“If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.” – George MacDonald

Aug 13

Carve

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” – Michelangelo

Venture past the obvious, dig deeper and look again, longer. See the light beaming through the clouds. See the blue behind the passing gray. See the angel in the marble. New eyes, new perspective. Our world is carved out by us, not our circumstances. Our life is a blank canvas that we paint, a sculpture we create. We are the author and artist of our life, unfolding a day at a time. Find your angel and set him free.

“Ah, Hope! what would life be, stripped of thy encouraging smiles, that teach us to look behind the dark clouds of today, for the golden beams that are to gild the morrow.” – Susanna Moodie

“Ah, Hope! what would life be, stripped of thy encouraging smiles, that teach us to look behind the dark clouds of today, for the golden beams that are to gild the morrow.” – Susanna Moodie

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