Simplicity – A Desert Wisdom Card

Simplicity - A Desert Wisdom Card

Simplicity in the Desert © 2013 Bo Mackison

Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more. ~ Jon Kabat-Zin

An intimate portrait of the desert floor reveals a microcosm.

Rocks, sand, dried bits of plants, shallow roots which disappear into the earth and then reappear a few rocks over, and delicate flowers sprouting the tiniest of blossoms. Simple, yes, but in this square foot of the earth there is a sense of grounding, of balance, and the cycle of life.

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity is not only about making space in your living space for living.

It is about making space in your life for your important work. It is about letting go of thoughts which rob you of valuable brain space and time. Simplicity means re-thinking your commitments so that you have the time and energy to focus on your priorities.

It means cleaning up loose ends – old promises, unfinished business, a recycled to-do list – things that seem important but remain in a circular file in your brain, stealing time and cluttering valuable space.

. . . choosing simplicity whenever possible adds to life an element of deepest freedom which so easily eludes us, and many opportunities to discover that less may actually be more. ~ Jon Kabat-Zin

SIMPLICITY offers questions/reflections for journal writing, art activities, calls for action:

  • Journal reflection: What time robbers or brain drains make it difficult to nurture the activities which support you, feed your soul and spirit, allow you to focus on the projects which serve you and others?
  • Begin a simplicity practice. Schedule open spaces into your day, times blocked off for pauses, daydreaming, or creative thinking spurts. These moments of quiet dwelling fill the well, charge your energy, give your brain a boost. If necessary, pen them on your calendar and respect them as you would any important appointment.
  • One more commitment often leads to another commitment, and another. Counter this chain reaction with chain art. Create a paper chain as a simple reminder of simplicity practices. Cut strips of paper approximately 1″ by 5″. In bold letters, write a message on each strip to remind you of the importance of simplifying your days. “See less, see more.”  “Simplicity = Freedom.” Add several phrases of your own. Then staple or glue the strips into a chain and hang where it is easily seen. A chain art reminder!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck  of Wisdom Cards. The first set, the Desert Wisdom Cards, feature a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.

 

 

 

Poppies and Pollen

Poppies and Pollen

Poppies and Pollen © 2013 Bo Mackison

That we find a crystal or a poppy beautiful means that we are less alone, that we are more deeply inserted into existence than the course of a single life would lead us to believe. ~ John Berger

I spent a rainy Saturday afternoon, organizing and re-arranging my bins of framed photographs and canvases. I am putting the final touches on my exhibit, Garden Party – A Celebration of Botanical Photography. The exhibit, which opens July 1 and runs through September 5, will be at the Alicia Ashman Branch of the Madison Public Library.

It will almost feel like being at a garden party instead of a library – there will be thirty-two photographs of bright flowers and garden scenes throughout the building. I’m looking forward to seeing all of my favorite Wisconsin botanical photographs hanging in one place!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.

Stepping Out on World Sauntering Day

Stepping Stones

Stepping Stones © 2013 Bo Mackison

This is a post assembled partly while thinking about last night’s dream and partly while checking my emails this morning — makes for an interesting juxtaposition of ideas.

The dream? A long walk across water on huge, irregular stepping-stones. The stones could have been a replica set designed by the creators of Stonehenge, the ancient English site of healing, ritual, and worship, but also a funerary and a celestial observatory. In the dream, I cautiously, tentatively, cross a sparkling turquoise-blue bay, intent on reaching the shore of pebbly rocks that always are just out of my reach.

Then came my morning message from Tut, a humorous, motivational email that I read every weekday. It informed me that today, June 19th, is World Sauntering Day. Tut provided a link as confirmation, and sure enough, today IS National Sauntering Day, a day dedicated to the art of sauntering.

According to Wikipedia – a source I trust on this sort of trivia – World Sauntering Day is thought to have started at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan in the 1970s. “The Grand Hotel has the world’s longest porch, 660 feet in length. It was a counter response by W.T.Rabe to a growing movement toward the recreation of jogging. The idea of the day was to encourage people to slow down and appreciate the world around them.” Love the idea of a sauntering day!

According to Thesaurus.com, synonyms for sauntering  include:

amble

linger

meander

mosey

promenade

ramble

roam

sashay

tarry

traipse

wander

So today I intend to take a saunter around the neighborhood pond, wander through the grocery store, and meander in my garden. It will be a nice counter-point to the arduous struggle I encountered in my dream, leaping from one low stone to another, then swimming to the next stone, taller and angular, which I climbed with the strength of a fingernail grip.

Now I only wish I could promenade on the 660 foot long porch of The Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island this evening as sunset drifts into twilight.

Maybe in my next dream…

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She explores wherever she travels, even in her dreams.

A Sunday Walk in Thomson Prairie

Fluff Ball

Prairie Fluff © 2013 Bo Mackison

…the joy of prairie lies in its subtlety.  It is so easy—too easy—to be swept away by mountain and ocean vistas.  A prairie, on the other hand, requests the favor of your closer attention.  It does not divulge itself to mere passersby.
~ Suzanne Winckler, Prairie: A North American Guide (2004)

For this week’s hike, I walked the Thomson Prairie. One does not “hike” in a prairie, especially if it is a wild prairie –  no paths, no guided signs describing the view or the habitat or the inhabitants. This is how a prairie should be, it appears from afar to be a landscape of emptiness, but instead it is a land of thick, twisting plants, stretching tall.

Wading through these tangles of thick grasses and flowers in this mostly native prairie is pure delight, but it is not a casual stroll by any means. More a picking your way through a maze of vertical growth, choosing the way that appears to have an opening, though truly, in a wild prairie, there are no openings. Every space filled with that which grows tall, reaching towards the sun.

Thompson Prairie

Prairie in June © 2013 Bo Mackison

The land is not the setting for the work but a part of the work. ~ Walter de Maria

This is prairie in mid-June. In another month or so, the view won’t be of the far away farms and the gently rolling landscape of the non-glaciated western half of Wisconsin. It will be of grasses that stand taller than most humans, flowers that bloom high over our heads.

I’ve never walked through a wilderness prairie fully grown, one untamed by the hands of humans, but I am looking forward to the experience in another month.

Thompson Prairie Prairie in June

How High is the Prairie Grass in June? © 2013 Bo Mackison

It seems to be a constant contradiction of itself.  It is delicate, yet resilient; it appears to be simple, but closer inspection indicates that it is extremely complex; it may appear monotonous, but it is diverse and ever-changing throughout the seasons. ~ James Stubbendieck

Thompson Prairie

Daisies in the Prairie © 2013 Bo Mackison

Without a complex knowledge of one’s place, and without the faithfulness to one’s place on which such knowledge depends, it is inevitable that the place will be used carelessly and eventually destroyed.
~ Wendell Berry

Thompson Prairie

Weighed Down Thistle © 2013 Bo Mackison

That was my country—Terrible winds and a wonderful emptiness. ~ Georgia O’Keefe

Thompson Prairie

High Winds and Yellow Hawkweed © 2013 Bo Mackison

On the prairie, what you are left with is the bare truth, the land pared down to the bone, the basic dirt and grass and sky that shape the lives that play out upon it. ~ Tom Groneberg

A prairie walk is a fine way to explore the earth. Grasses shine like flickering lights, waxing and waning as the sun slides in and out of the scattered clouds.

With so little prairie remaining — Wisconsin’s original 10 million acres has been whittled to  a mere 12,000 acres by farming and other land uses — it is a rare enough experience. Pure prairie pleasure!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck  of Wisdom Cards. The first set, the Desert Wisdom Cards, feature a Sonoran Desert theme. Now she is getting re-acquainted with the prairie and grasslands in preparation for the next featured habitat.

Wabi Sabi Peony

Wabi-sabi Peony

Wabi-sabi Peony © 2013 Bo Mackison

Wabi sabi acknowledges three things: “nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished.”
~ Richard C. Powell

Peonies – as amazing going to seed as they are in their prime. I love this flower’s slightly withered pink petals, the shriveling yellow stamens, the green seed bearing carpels with their touch of lingering pink, and the few specks of pollen clinging to a lower petal.

Cycle of life. The flower does not last, but it is not at all finished. Wabi sabi.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is fascinated by the different stages of the garden flowers and the inherent beauty that lingers in a flower long after it has fully blossomed.