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Photography class at Apple

3/31/2019

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    ​I spent Thursday morning at the Apple Store taking a photography class and having my computer cleared out and updated. I’ve had Microsoft Word since 2011 and it’s about time to buy a new program. I can wait until the program dies, or can be proactive and buy a new one now. Hmm, I’m of the generation that believes everything I buy should last a lifetime—I’m talking my lifetime.
      The photo workshop offered some helpful tips as I prepare to fly on Friday to Italy for two weeks. The focus, however, was on making contact with individuals before taking their picture. Useful when Emily and Abby join me, but not during that first week when I’ll be snapping away at strangers who don’t know they are a subject.
     I wonder if I dare go up to someone I don’t know and ask to photograph them? Probably not. It would detract from that first week of solitude. 

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Being of service

3/27/2019

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​The other day a parent whose child was killed in the Sandy Hook tragedy took his own life. So many thoughts and feeling sweep through my mind/body/spirit. I will share one.
     How dare I worry about my life! I’d better stop perseverating on the meaning of my life and start acknowledging all my good fortune. My faith tells me that my purpose is to be of service to others.
     This should be simple. It can be done in silence and solitude. 

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A daily bonus walk

3/24/2019

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​I can’t remember where I got this little travel magnifying glass, but it is perfect: 2 1/4 inches square, snaps open and closes with ease, and is mighty powerful.
     Walking along examining little things is a beautiful way to be in solitude with nature. The only caveat is that it slows down my walking. Ah, but I have a springtime solution; take two walks a day. It is light enough for me to head out after supper for a little stroll up the street to the Wadsworth Cemetery.

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A way to be attentive~

3/21/2019

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     ​From time to time I write about being in the NOW; it’s one of the ways that helps me be conscious of silence and solitude. I’m pretty HDHD, although such a diagnosis was not “invented” when I was in school (very grateful for that), so I need all these little helps to keep my mind and body quiet and attentive.
     Esther de Wall, in an article in Weavings (July/August 2002), gives a marvelous suggestion of how to stay attentive to the moment:
     i carry with me a magnifying glass—nothing elaborate—one that I can put in a pocket or carry on a string around my neck. Then, whenever I can, I walk slowly and stop and look at whatever it may be, and I find a whole other world—in a leaf, in a small stone, in a twig. But it need not be outside. In my kitchen I enjoy the texture of an orange or the grains of a bowl of sugar.
       What a marvelous time I had with my magnifying glass on my walk yesterday. In rereading her article on my return home, she told me more:
     This is the practice of seeing with detachment—seeing without wanting to own or to possess. It is seeing with total attentiveness, with delight, with wonder, with love, and with reverence. Such a mode of seeing brings with it gratitude for the amazing ingenuity and generosity of a creator God—a God  who gives us a world that is rich and filled with wonder.
    I can’t wait to go out today. Or, I can stay in the kitchen. 

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Peace starts with the thought~

3/16/2019

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Pictureby Jemma Fisher
​How to live peacefully in a world of violence, violence of thought, word, and deed? I don’t need to explain or paint a picture. You can see and hear it in your mind/body/spirit. It’s always been there, but right now it seems particularly stark!
   Last night I turned off the news. But what to do to stop perseverating on all that negativity so I can move to a place of hope? I came upstairs to my  room my grandchildren have named  The Angel Room (no T.V.). I sat in the silence, thinking of people who suffering and surrounding them with light. Soon the entire universe was filled with light and I saw the possibility of a peaceful world. I know this won’t become an instant reality, but I believe in the possibility, at least person by person, situation by situation.
   As someone who has consciously longed for silence, solitude and simplicity for the past ten years, it is becoming clear that I must intentionally practice what I long for. If deeds are manifested by thoughts and words, as I believe they are, I had better get busy manifesting peace and love. 

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Follow your bliss, not mine~

3/13/2019

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​​Follow your bliss. One of my favorite quotes from Joseph Campbell. For my purposes here, I will stick with this short version. I love to tell people to follow their bliss, but I need to take care that I don’t say it as a throw-away comment—in the category of ‘have a nice day.’ Following your bliss is serious, difficult business. If I truly want someone to do so, I have to be willing to accept the fact that it is their bliss, not my idea of what their bliss should be.
 
 
Here’s Campbell’s full quote. I love how he states it so positively.  
“Follow your bliss.
If you do follow your bliss,
you put yourself on a kind of track
that has been there all the while waiting for you,
and the life you ought to be living
is the one you are living.
When you can see that,
you begin to meet people
who are in the field of your bliss,
and they open the doors to you.
I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid,
and doors will open
where you didn't know they were going to be.
If you follow your bliss,
doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.”

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Too busy to write~

3/9/2019

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​Why haven’t I posted for a few weeks? Because I’ve been too busy. My life hasn’t been simple and periods of silence and solitude have been brief. That’s the way life is sometimes; I’m looking forward to a day to myself on Monday. My Day is what I call it.
     My busyness has been rewarding and necessary. I visited Bob, a 93 year old church friend, just 24 hours before he died. I visited my best friend and my sister in Connecticut. I had lunch with a long time friends. Today I am involved with Bob’s memorial service. My daughter and her husband are visiting and we will have dinner at the Wayside Inn tonight.
    I love silence, solitude, and simplicity, but I am not a hermit.

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    Contact me: bobbifisher.mac@mac.com

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