My hosting site is tracking down Friday’s missing post – yes, there was/is a post – but it went “POOF” and is now hiding on one of their servers waiting to be found. In the meantime, I thought you might like a peek at what’s on my worktable.
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While I am here on the coast of Connecticut for an apprenticeship (maybe two…) my daily meditation includes long walks on the rocky beach across the street, taking pictures, gathering dried seaweed, bits of driftwood, rocks, shells, bones, beach glass and many other things that wash up on the shore.
Back in my tiny room, where I have placed a vintage oak folding table in front of a window that looks out over the ocean, I continue my meditation by making marks on the driftwood bits.
There is no goal other than for me to listen to the surf and experiment with mark making. The images here are the results of one of these sessions.
This works for me as a meditation, where time, thoughts and worries slip away. Tell me, what type of meditation works for you?[/private_archives]
Enjoyed reading about your meditation, the form it takes, or should I say, lack of form, and the freedom you experience. Meditation these days includes “globs of Paint” and allowing whatever wants to come forward, global meditation (newrealitytransmission.com) and stopping several times a day to watch the light play across the llano and mountains (a great luxury right now). Enjoy your website, daily emails and blog. Thank you so much for sharing.
my meditation is just sit and watch the sea! love, riet:)
Coincidentally your blog post and this one showed up consecutively in my reader. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/201011/new-study-shows-humans-are-auto-pilot-nearly-half-the-time
BTW nice marks!
I love driftwood. It is like nature sculpts it and each piece is a work of art. I like how those are adorned by burning patterns.
Your post resonated with me, Susan. I’ve recently begun the practice of “praying in color”, inspired by the book by the same name by Sybil MacBeth. The author is Christian, but the concepts go across belief systems as it speaks to those of us who respond to visual, non-linear approaches to the Sacred.
I start out feeling stressed and anxious about time constraints and my to-do list, but after awhile of making repetitive and colorful patterns I get into a state of calm where I feel connected to the Mystery that is Spirit.
The making of repetitive marks reminds me of the concept behind Zentangles and perhaps the creation of Mantras and Tibetan Sand Paintings. I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit lately, so I loved reading your post.
One thing that I know for me is that the actual making of the marks has to be more important to me than the end result, or suddenly I’m focusing on the outer audience and not the inner calm.
Just my two-bits. Thanks for the post!
Susan, your meditation is exactly the kind I find most restorative. Listening to the “oohhhhmmmmmm”"oohhhhhmmmm”‘s of the water and making repetitive and deliberate marks cannot be more mind clearing! Good for you to share it. Thanks.
Susan, just looking at your post is meditative . . . and inspiring. I am a lover of dots anyway. They lead the eye to other places of interest, cause us to pause and sometimes leave us to wonder or guess what’s next . . . .
Thank you Asuncion and Riet, sometimes my meditation is just to sit and watch the sea too. There is just something about the sea…
Great article Victoria – interesting – both the article and the fact that this post and the article appeared at the same time for you.
So true Bluezy – about nature sculpting each piece of driftwood into a work of art. I am particularly drawn to the small bits of wood and roots…don’t know why, but they pull me in.
Susan and Sue – Yes! Yes! Yes! And the dots…yessssss!
Dear Maureen – somehow I knew this post would resonate with you, thank you for sharing your thoughts. And oh my,the making of the marks is the whole point for me or else I would get caught up in the end result and the meditation would be over.
[...] driftwood and shells. My little room is beginning to overflow with these treasures, and some of my experiments are finding their way into an interesting art project that I have started to develop (pictures [...]