“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”
- William Blake

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”
- Edith Sitwell

We make assumptions and take them for truth and they’re not!  Perhaps I should say, I make assumptions.  Today, something within me (my assumption-maker?) was creating a picture of what a person was like before I even met her.  (First of all, why would I even do that?!)  From very tiny clues I was piecing this image together which turned out to be so wrong!  I know this has something to do with our survival part of our brain “What if it was a saber-tooth tiger…wouldn’t you want to know?”  I am so tired of that part of my brain having so much to say.  I’m writing it a letter. 

Dear Reptilian Brain Part, (it’s the middle white in the photo – scientists call it the R-Complex)   

Stop it! 

Love,

Susanna

If you could draw or paint your creativity, that force within you, what would it look like?  We have a responsibility to nurture our creativity.

I love this quote from Martha Graham:

 “There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” (photo of floor mat by N. Bower)

Another list – what makes Brady Nickerson happy?:

Being with friends

Color

Swimming in the ocean

Sunshine

Flowers

Hiking

Music

Singing

Dancing

Feeling loved

Painting

Smiling

Summer

Thanks, Brady – and here’s one of your paintings full of color!

Back to what makes you happy. I gave you the lists from Peale’s book, The Power of Positive Thinking. My friend, Barb, sent in her list, below. Thank you, Barb and when I saw “A baby laughing”, I had to include this Micah laughing. Too wonderful. Anyone else?

Watching an eagle

A waterfall

A horse, doing anything at all

A baby laughing

Gazing into a fire

Hearing rain on a roof

Coming into a room and having everyone smile at me

Sharing a heartfelt hug

Smelling coffee and bread baking

A cat’s purr

Watching sheepdog trials

Sorrow.  We meet sorrow on the road.  It’s part of the journey.  It’s inescapable.  It hurts and there’s no way around it but feeling it until it subsides – eventually.  For those of you walking hand in hand with sorrow right now – may you be comforted, may you know that others have been there, too and may you find peace.

I was introduced to the phrase “perceptual flexibility” yesterday.  It’s about questioning your perceptions… “Is it as I think it is?”  “Is it as I see it?”  It’s about not knowing, not being sure, being open to another way of seeing or understanding.  I’m cultivating “perceptual flexitility.”

I wrote earlier this week about Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking, which he wrote in 1952.  I shared about the children he interviewed and their lists of what made them happy.  Those children had time to notice the smoke coming out of a chimney, the way the bow of a boat cuts through the water, a swallow flying…how much greater the velocity of our days in 2012.  What do we miss because of our (greatly) increased pace?  You’ve probably seen this video but it’s worth watching again.

Georgia O’Keefe painted flowers as large as she did because she said no one really sees a flower. I wonder what I’m not seeing or noticing in my life.