Busy as a Bee

So I'm still finding my way with all this creative expression stuff. I started with one thing, moved to another, moved to yet another and now I am coming back to the beginning where I started.

That is, I am regrouping and restating my creative outlet as "Bloom Spirit Expressions" (instead of also having PhotoCardArt). I found it confusing and distracting to have two different (yet barely distinct) outlets going on.

So I am back to where I started -- I am Bloom Spirit Expressions.

I am now in the process of changing things so they can all be found under that one name.

And in Greek my name, Melissa, means Honeybee...

Gold versus Gray

I have loved this painting ever since I first saw it on a school field trip to the Cleveland Art Museum many years ago. I love the ominous drama of the dark clouds combined with the sturdy and stable sustenance of the wheat fields.

I only discovered, last year when I was at the art museum once more and I took the time to read the caption, that the painting (called "Gray and Gold" by John Rogers Cox who was an American painter) was painted at the beginning of World War II and could be interpreted to represent the crossroads the U.S. faced when considering entering into the war.

I can often feel this sense of looming danger. That's when my fears are stepping forward during times of change and unknown futures.

But I can choose to focus on the impending storm clouds or I can choose to feel comfort from the plentiful wheat. Focussing on the wheat won't make the clouds go away, I know, but it's a more stable grounding for me than the ever-changing sky. When the clouds have passed, the wheat fields, in some variation and most likely not without trauma, will still be there. Or, at the very least, the land for more wheat fields to be planted will still be there.

I have recently done some traveling to England and was taken in by a similar scene. I do *not* attempt to replace or recreate the original painting but it feels good for me that I have made my own photographic version of a painting that has quietly captured my spirit for many years:

The Present Beauty

This autumn country road is beautiful -- but I can't enjoy it. The road is curving up around the bend and I don't know where it's going. For a minor league control freak like me, that unknowing is quite unsettling.

I want to rush through this curve to see what it around the corner. I want to zoom by the gorgeous fall colors just to be certain that nothing bad is waiting for me around the bend. Intellectually I can see the colors of the trees and know that they are beautiful -- but I don't feel it. I am too busy being worried...

I am challenged to work on being in the "here and now" when change is impending.

It's easy for me to relax in the middle of July when summer is surrounding me but in the transition seasons I lose my grounding. I find myself nostalgic for the past and worrying about the future. It's a vicious circle that takes away all of my enjoyment of the present.

I strive to be able to pull up a Lazy-Boy chair in my mind, right there in the middle of the tall grass of this scene, and take time to breathe in the beauty I see around me to the deepest parts of my still un-trusting soul.

I want to enjoy the "here and now" before it so quickly becomes the "there and then."

To Be Cradled in Transition

Sometimes in life I just need to retreat and slow down everything. I need to turn off the chatter of daily life, and the chatter in my mind, and focus inward on more steady and stable truths.

I find I need this especially before new changes are about to occur. I seem to need the retreat time to nurture my self, and my soul, in preparation for the changes which often can be unsettling in their new unfamiliarity.

I "know" that change is good...that without change there would be stagnation...but nevertheless, my sensibilities still find the transition into change to be challenging...

I love this little acorn that is taking a rest in the comfort of the leaf -- the leaf which probably came from the same tree the acorn was from before it fell to the ground. The little acorn is gathering its energy to prepare for the next phase of its journey, that of becoming a magnificent tree, and it finds comfort in hanging on, for just a little while longer, to the old relationship with the leaf.

Soon the acorn *will* blow away and lodge itself in the earth to eventually become the tree it was meant to be, but for now -- it rests.

Do you give yourself time to slow down, retreat and gather your energies before new changes happen in your life?