Reflections on: Writing Away by Lavonia Spaulding

Website:

Writing Away by Lavonia Spaulding

From the introduction:

Writing Away, [A Creative Guide to Awakening the Journal-Writing Traveler] is a book about forging that relationship [between life experiences and life examination] through keeping an awakened, intentional, creative travelogue, but above all, it’s a place where journey meet journal. The two words, which share an obvious root, jour, or “day” in French, both refer to how far one has gone in a day. The poet T. S. Elliott once said, “Only those willing to risk going too far can find out how far they can go.” How far are you willing to take your journey and journal?

Quotes from Writing Away by Lavonia Spaulding:

On the power of setting an intention:
“Making the journal equal to the journey is simply a matter of shifting your intention: you’re no longer traveling and keeping a log on the side, but embarking with a dual purpose.”
On the power of ritual:
“Turning something into a ritual eliminates the question, Why am I doing this?”
On the power of the written word:

“A journal is personal travel insurance, protecting your memories from strolling off un-chaperoned, vanishing without a goodbye or backwards glance. This is the driving force behind most people’s road journals, and although basic, its importance cannot be overstated. The human memory is feeble and needs all the help it can get.”

On the bigger picture:

The author and nature writer Barry Lopez talks about becoming intimate with the location in a “storied” way. It starts with silence, concentrated sensory attention, and familiarity with geographical and anthropological history, and it continues towards the cultivation of an ethical, reciprocal relationship with the land. It’s like having a conversation with someone we’re attracted to, says Lopez–someone with whom we’d like to form a lasting relationship. As a human being, the basic desire is not to impose too much of ourselves or own that person; we only want to be in love. Likewise, the desire isn’t to control a location or terrain; we want to be its companion.”The key, I think,” writes Lopez, “is to become vulnerable to a place. If you open yourself up, you can build intimacy. Out of such intimacy may come a sense of belonging, a sense of not being isolated in the universe.”

On the connection between travel and art:

Pablo Picasso said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” That problem, I think, can be solved with travel. Travel renews our youth, giving us a dispensation to reclaim the original zest for art so often rooted out of us as adults. Surrounded by the unfamiliar, we regain the eyes of the six-year-old,  and suddenly we’re handed all the conditions necessary to become an artist again: inspiration, free time, a portable canvas, and a cornucopia of exotic materials at our disposal. Can you think of a better environment for revamping your creativity?

On the power of travel:

… travel stirs us up. It’s a stimuli smorgasbord with a menu of Curiosity, frustration, self-consciousness, bliss, courage, vulnerability, stress, alienation, titillation, fear, loss, boredom, lust, loneliness, all—you name it. And in addition to emotions, with perpetually observing information and sensory phenomena.

And on the power of journaling:

A notebook is a traveler’s salve, soothing the commotion of our relentless thoughts by providing a safe container for them. The act of writing anchors us, slowing and deepening our reflections so that we articulate with more honesty and precision then when we think and talk.

My thoughts:

I wasn’t impressed with this book at first. Spaulding began at the beginning, which is a reasonable thing to do, but the specifics on the whys of journaling, and the hows of choosing journals and marking implements was basic, and I presumed I knew it all. Not so. I grew to enjoy her writing style, if not all of her anecdotes, and with an open mind, I continued reading. And then I struck gold.

The gold?

She provided much food for thought regarding some basic journal prompts. I’m not one for the fill-in-the-blank journaling style, but it seems a few helpful guides may make the leap into daily writing easier.

I do not presume I will devote a lot of time to the journlaing process, and yet it is the perfect go-to ritual to fill the in-between times – the waits for transportaton or delays in scheduled activities. So I’ll be ready when that happens.

Some journal prompts I’m considering using:
  • Five details from the day using each of the five senses– sight sound taste touch smell
  • A snippet of overheard conversation
  • A piece of sidewalk “trash” to glue in the journal
  • Maps and brochures
  • A map drawn by a local for getting unlost or their written directions
  • One thing that is ordinary and mundane
  • Snapshot word pictures, which include both macro and micro details
  • Write a daily haiku
Include found items:
  • In-flight magazines
  • Menus
  • Stamps
  • Paper money
  • Price tags and receipts
  • Candy wrappers
  • Postcards
  • Beer and wine labels
  • Comics
  • Advertisements
Consider keeping running lists in the back of the Journal:
  • Funny moments
  • Beers for Bob
  • Culinaria  (I hear reindeer is on one of the special menus.)
  • Cheesy souvenirs I did not buy
  • Transportation
  • Epiphany du jour
  • Glossary of the new terms/foreign words or phrases to remember

A final reminder:

Journaling or creating art or taking photographs are all important travel-companion activities, but the primary focus should always be on the experience.

That acknowleged, these sorts of activities will enhance my travel experience and will provide me with a sense of familiarlity in a unfamiliar setting.

We are here to do,
And through doing to learn;
And through learning to know;
And through knowing to experience wonder;
And through wonder to attain wisdom;
And through wisdom to find simplicity;
And through
simplicity to give attention;
And through attention,
To see what needs to be done…
~ Ben Hei Hei, Wisdom of the Jewish Sages by Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflections on: The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

The Art of Travel

by Alain de Botton. Copyright 2002 by Alain de Botton.

The author’s website.

A book excerpt from the New York Times.

Traveler. Ohare International Airport, © 2018

The following are quotes from The Art of Travel.

On “Human Flourishing”:

“We are inundated with advice on where to travel to, but we hear little of why and how we should go, even though the art of travel seems naturally to sustain a number of questions neither so simple nor so trivial, and whose study might in modest ways contribute to an understanding of what the Greek philosophers beautifully termed eudaimonia, or ‘human flourishing’.”

On Cultivating The Proper Mindset for Traveling:

“The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.”

On The Flight’s Take-Off:

“There is psychological pleasure in this takeoff, too, for the swiftness of the plane’s ascent is an exemplary symbol of transformation. The display of power can inspire us to imagine analogous, decisive shifts in our own lives, to imagine that we, too, might one day surge above much that now looms over us.”

en route to New York City ©2018

On Enhanced Thinking while Traveling:

“Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than a moving plane, ship or train. There is an almost quaint correlation between what is in front of our eyes and the thoughts we are able to have in our heads: large thoughts at times requiring large views, new thoughts new places. Introspective reflections which are liable to stall are helped along by the flow of the landscape. The mind may be reluctant to think properly when thinking is all it is supposed to do.”

On Traveling by Train:

“At the end of hours of train-dreaming, we may feel we have been returned to ourselves – that is, brought back into contact with emotions and ideas of importance to us. It is not necessarily at home that we best encounter our true selves. The furniture insists that we cannot change because it does not; the domestic setting keeps us tethered to the person we are in ordinary life, but who may not be who we essentially are.”

orange seats. airport. ©2018

On Finding Poetry in Common Places:

“If we find poetry in the service station and motel, if we are drawn to the airport or train carriage, it is perhaps because, in spite of their architectural compromises and discomforts, in spite of their garish colours and harsh lighting, we implicitly feel that these isolated places offer us a material setting for an alternative to the selfish ease, the habits and confinement of the ordinary, rooted world.”

On Visiting New Places:

“It is not necessarily at home that we best encounter our true selves. The furniture insists that we cannot change because it does not; the domestic setting keeps us tethered to the person we are in ordinary life, who may not be who we essentially are.”

On Perspective:

“He [Wordsworth] invited his readers to abandon their usual perspective and to consider for a time how the world might look through other eyes, to shuttle between the human and the natural perspective. Why might this be interesting, or even inspiring? Perhaps because unhappiness can stem from only having one perspective to play with.”

On Curiosity:

“Curiosity takes ignorance seriously, and is confident enough to admit when it does not know. It is aware of not knowing, and it sets out to do something about it”

On The Search:

“What we find exotic abroad may be what we hunger for in vain at home.”

On The Pith of Travel:

“I was here, I saw this and it mattered to me.”

Night Flight. Chicago and Lake Michigan. ©2018

My Reflections while Reading The Art of Travel

Botton allows that his physical and mental state proved to be “temperamental accomplices in the mission of appreciating my destination.” Heat, flies, financial expenditures, strange foods, anxiety, melancholy – all were a part of his experience. But there were also candlelit dinners, an exuberance of sunlight, and walks along a pristine beach under an azure sky. It’s always a delicate balance between delight and discontent.

How important, that first “sighting”, that which affirms to oneself the arrival of “elsewhere.” (It’s rather like the Flash of Perception in Miksang Philosophy.) How many “first sightings” will I “see”? Five new countries, eight destinations, three airports, one hotel, one ship. So many opportunities for that first flash, the knowledge that I am “elsewhere.”

Botton writes of allowing one’s “compass of curiosity to settle according to its own logic”. When I consider travel abroad in terms of my interests, I’m suddenly eager to check out art museums, walk along the seacoast, and have coffee in neighborhood cafés. If I could visit a gallery and a café at every destination, my trip would be a success.

Combine a seven-year-olds sense of inquiry: ”Why?” with an adult’s wisdom and experience. That equals the ability to ask sophisticated questions and feed the curious mind. Recipe for a fulfulling trip.

What if instead of souvenirs and regrets, we “return from our journeys with a collection of small unfêted but life-enhancing thoughts?”

What if, indeed?

ANNOUNCING NEW WORKSHOP FOR PAST CCJ PARTICIPANTS: CCJ- THE SEASONED TRAVELER

Mandala by Lynn Buckler Walsh

After several days of dedicated searching, I finally found the card I’d been looking for. I was searching for the card pictured above, the card with a hand-drawn mandala on the cover, the card that I’d tucked away last year until I could frame it to hang on my studio wall. (The mandala reminds me of a compass.) The card was from a dear friend and it reads in part:

Dear Bo: A short note to say thank you for your Mandala class. You have no idea (as I didn’t at the time) what a gift it was. Creating them certainly increased my resilience during the difficult six months before we lost my sister… I won’t be at camp this year, but I want to encourage you to continue sharing your gifts. Your work is needed in the world… Big love to you, Lynn xxx.

Last month my friend, Lynn Buckler Walsh, passed away unexpectedly in Mongolia while on the last leg of a grand journey through Asia. Just days before, I’d received a postcard from her from Viet Nam with the closing phrase Can’t wait to see you at camp, we can share all our adventures.

So it is with Lynn’s words of encouragement that I make the following offer:

As many of you know I am a reluctant traveler. I love to travel and explore new places AND the many transitions that travel demands are excruciatingly difficult for me. With Lynn’s words of encouragement in my mind, I will be embarking on a two-week exploration of the Scandinavian coast and Germany this fall. This trip will require much preparation on my part as I make my way through the maze of unknowns and uncertainties. and I would love to share my discoveries and best practices with you.

We will explore creative practices with a focus on the fine art of travel as sacred pilgrimage. Whether you are an intrepid traveler like my friend Lynn or a reluctant traveler like me; whether you are traveling the world or your own backyard, these explorations and daily practices focusing on openness, attentiveness, and responsiveness will offer insight and inspiration to your journey.

We begin JULY 23, 2018.

This exploration — CCJ – The Seasoned Traveler — is for past participants of my Contemplative Creatives Journey online workshops. (I will not be giving instruction in the basics that are foundational for CCJ, i.e., Miksang Photography, Phenology, etc. Those instructions will continue to be a part of the Seasonal Explorations which I hope to offer again in Autumn 2018.)

Why “seasoned” traveler? We have already been travelers together during one or more “seasons” of Contemplative Creatives Journey. We are now ready to embark on a different sort of contemplative journey in community–one where we explore the traveler’s longing, the answered call to the beckoning journey, the preparation for travel, the departure, and the sacred way of travel as pilgrimage.

As always, I promise no planned curriculum, only my practices as they show up in my every day. We will, however, continue the ritual and routine of CCJ as it has evolved to this point.

TOGETHER WE WILL:

  • CONSIDER THE MANY FACETS OF THE ART OF TRAVEL as pilgrimage.

We will also:

  • CONTINUE OUR EXPLORATION OF NALANDA MIKSANG PHOTOGRAPHY.
  • CONTINUE OUR FRIDAY PHENOLOGY PRACTICE.
  • CONTINUE OUR TUESDAY TILE POETRY PRACTICE.
  • CONTINUE TO CREATE CONTEMPLATIVE ART.
  • CONTINUE TO WRITE COLLABORATIVE POETRY.

THIS PRACTICE:

  • offers ways of exploring the art of travel and pilgrimage while focusing on the three keys of the Contemplative Creatives Journey — Place, Vision, and Word.
  • gently weaves itself throughout whatever journey you are on.
  • illuminates the extraordinary in the ordinary, celebrates the uncommon in the common
  • is deeply infused with kindness and respect.

WHEN:

We begin on Monday, July 23. For the first 9 weeks, we will explore the ART OF TRAVEL as pilgrimage as I share my pre-travel preparations. For the following two weeks–September 23, 2018 through October 6, 2018–I will share my pilgrimage-in-progress from Scandinavia. There will be a wrap up of our journey together in the two weeks after I return home.

HOW:

Private community on Facebook. Everything is delivered via private Facebook group page and may show up anytime. Surprise and serendipity! You are highly encouraged to share your discoveries and experiences in the private group–however and whenever you choose. There is a strong community and collaborative aspect in the group, but it is always invitation and opportunity, never a requirement.

THE COST:

Because this offer is a unique offering FOR PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS built on prior Seasonal Journeys, but with a different time frame and focus, the cost is as follows:

  • Recommended contribution for the 9-week exploration plus the 2-week experiential, in-the-moment experience plus the 2-week wrap up is $99.00.
  • Patron contribution (for those who wish to contribute above and beyond, with my gratitude) is $120.00-$150.00. Patron price includes snail mail from Scandinavia and other special treats from my travels.
  • Pay as You Can. I will not turn away participants because of financial constraints. If you wish to be an active participant on the journey, let’s barter. Offer me a small piece of your art or a skill or service you can share in exchange for the participation fee. Make me an offer. Truly.

TO RESERVE YOUR SPACE:

Registration is now open.

Link to PayPal Invoice. 

If you would prefer to pay via check or if you have questions about alternative payments, please email me at bo(at)bomackison.com for details.

Thanks for considering my offer inspired by Lynn’s Love-of-All-Things-Travel. I hope to see you in CCJ – The Seasoned Traveler.

~~~~~

BO MACKISON is an artist, a poet, a photographer, a certified Kaisen-Muse creativity coach, a Nalanda Miksang Photography Instructor, a hands-on workshop presenter, and a woman who has spent her entire adult life surviving and thriving with the help of the creative practices she now shares with others. She is the founder of Contemplative Creatives Journey, an Online Workshop. Bo has been offering creative and contemplative programs for women since 2014. She’s been told her workshops have changed people’s lives for the better. She knows this to be true.

Chihuly at Night, Biltmore House, Asheville NC

“Glass is the most magical of all materials. It transmits light in a special way.” – Dale Chihuly

The Biltmore Gardens in Asheville NC feature acres of formal and informal gardens designed by America’s foremost landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted.

This summer the gardens are made even more special with the temporary exhibiton of Chihuly glass sculptures set in several of the gardens and the conservatory.

Most of the sculptures are set in a garden setting, amidst roses and lilies, in compositions with ornate marble sculptures, or floating midst water features. (Only one piece is in the house itself.)

These three photographs are along the walkway that leads from the Library Terace to the Walled Gardens. As it was raining the only evening we had access to the Chihuly at Night event, I spent a good amount of time in this area, setting up shots while being protected somewhat by the terrace cover. Likely these are not the pieces I would have photographed if the other garden areas had not been rained out, but I rather like this particular display, the melding of traditional and contemporary art.

 

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