Practicing Conversational Skills — Gracie and Her Friend

 

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Negotiation © 2014 Bo Mackison

This is how the conversation goes, interpreted in adult English for everyone’s benefit. Most of the conversation was in, as to be expected, dog and baby talk…

“Grandpa! Dog has a toy!”

“Mmm.”

“Grandpa! DOGGIE has a TOY!

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“May I Play?” © 2014 Bo Mackison

“I really, really want Gracie’s toy!”

“You have toys all over the house. Get one of your toys, sweetie.”

“But Gracie’s toy is MOST fun!”

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“Drop” © 2014 Bo Mackison

“Ask nicely and see if she’ll give it to you?”

“Drop, Gracie. Drop.”

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“Good Doggie” © 2014 Bo Mackison

“Good doggie, Grace. Thank you for sharing!”

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” Gracie’s Toy!” © 2014 Bo Mackison

“See, Grandpa? Grace gave me her TOY!”

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“I love Grace!”

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Love! © 2014 Bo Mackison

“GOOD DOGGIE!”

My Word of the Year for 2015 – and an Invitation Extended

Cross the Threshold ©2012 Bo Mackison

The invitation . . .

. . . the invitation to cross the threshold,  to listen to one’s intuition and wisdom.

Water Lilies and Reflection

Reflection of Skies in the Midst of Water Lilies ©2014 Bo Mackison

. . . the invitation to encourage those thoughts, feelings, and emotions, buried in the depths, to rise to the surface.

Open Way

The Open Passage ©2014 Bo Mackison

. . . the invitation to be open to, and accepting of, that which strengthens.

Debi's Tree

Fog and Sunlight © 2013 Bo Mackison

. . . the invitation to listen to that which offers hope.

Sumac Flags Flying

Sumac in Autumn – Nature’s Prayer Flags ©2013 Bo Mackison

. . . the invitation to embrace and embody love and respect.

Choosing my Word for the Year using the Desert Wisdom Cards — Part II

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Setting Words © 2014 Bo Mackison

Every year for the last six years I have chosen a word for the coming year – a word to guide me, inspire me, encourage me.

After working with three of the Desert Wisdom Cards in Choosing my Word Part I,  I shuffled the 52 card deck again and pulled a new card for each of five categories – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and trans-personal. James Wells writes about these categories and their use on his Evolutionary Tarot site and I adapted the categories to work with my needs.

PHYSICAL  (health, basic needs, sexuality, living spaces) — VITALITY

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Nurturance – Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison

MENTAL  (thoughts, beliefs, conversations, writings)  —  NURTURANCE

Openness

Openness – Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison

EMOTIONAL (feelings, intuition, intimacy, friendships, family)  —  OPENNESS

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Hope – Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison

SPIRITUAL  (soul, essence, self-esteem, personal energy) — HOPE

Reverence

Reverence – Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison

TRANS-PERSONAL (community, culture, world, cosmos, the web of life)  — REVERENCE

As I consider each pair of words, and journal about them, I love how my ideas coalesce – the emphasis of vitality and the physical, an invitation to come alive; nurturance and my mind, an invitation to nurture my thoughts, my studies, my writings; spirituality and hope, an invitation to hold hope with precious intention; reverence and community, the world, the cosmos, an invitation to treat the world and all in it with respect and reverence.

An INVITATION…

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Invitation – Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison

— the INVITATION to live each day with vitality and awareness, with generosity and openness, with reverence and hope.

So my new word for the coming year is INVITATION. The invitation to be present, to live fully. May it be so.

Choosing my Word for the Year using Desert Wisdom Cards — Part I

Desert Wisdom Cards Set III

Desert Wisdom Cards © 2014 Bo Mackison

Every year for the last six years i have chosen a word for the coming year – a word to guide me, inspire me, encourage me.

In choosing a word for the coming year, I first looked up my words I’ve chosen the last six years – Show Up, Balance, Possibilities, Weaving, Soul-centered, and Wisdom. Some of those words played more significant roles than others, especially the words WEAVING from 2012 and WISDOM from this year, but I always place each year’s word in a prominent place on my desk.

To pick a word for 2015, I pulled three of my Desert Wisdom Cards to help guide me. The cards pulled at random were:

  • VISIBILITY
  • CLARITY
  • DELIGHT
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Visibility – A Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison

VISIBILITY:

  • This is a word I have struggled with much of my life. I see that I used a similar word, SHOW UP, in 2009. I have made progress in this area – from doing art to claiming my role as artist, from creating art in the privacy of my studio to doing nationally juried art fairs and festivals, from making personal books to creating a series of Desert Wisdom Cards, and offering three different sets for sale while also creating and giving workshops based on them.
  • None of this was done without struggle, and there were times when I hunkered down and didn’t show my face for weeks (or even months) at a time. But I have made discernible progress in the process of becoming more VISIBLE, in SHOWING UP.
  • Since it is still something I do with difficulty and much encouraging self talk, it is well worth considering that my word for the coming year would advance my goal of being VISIBLE.

 

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Clarity – A Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison

CLARITY:

  • Lucid, clear in thought, focused. Only in extra-ordinary moments do I capture the clarity I seek – the flow of my creative vision, the words coming together to state my full intentions, the awareness of my place in a tiny part of my world.
  • I tend to wander, find my bearings by examining lots of alternatives, so zeroing in on one clear goal has always been a challenge, improbable and infrequent.
  • Yet, I wish for clarity in vision and I can create small practices towards that goal.

 

Delight

Delight – A Desert Wisdom Card © 2014 Bo Mackison

DELIGHT:

  • Of all the cards in the Desert Wisdom Card Set, DELIGHT is one of two cards that make me cringe when I pull it as my card for the day. (The other card that throws me is BEAUTY!)
  • Given that response, a response which I choose to notice, how might I infuse the coming year with more instances that provoke/encourage DELIGHT?
  • DELIGHT is a spontaneous feeling. When I look at the past year, I experienced DELIGHT, especially when stunned by stark natural beauty or  greatly amused by the antics of my one year old granddaughter or my best dog, Gracie.
  • Hard to plan for DELIGHT, but easily noticed when it bubbles to the surface. Perhaps I need to hold the intention, then, to be more aware of DELIGHT in my daily life.

Taking all of this into consideration, my practices for 2015 will include furthering my personal work of showing up and being visible, adding small steps to gain clarity and focus, and paying attention to that which provokes delight in my life.

In Part II, I’ll examine choosing my word of the year in terms of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and trans-personal aspects.

And I’ll choose my word for the year.

Do you choose a word for the year? Share your process and/or your word in the comments, if so inspired.

 

 

 

Fog in the Forest – A Blessing

Pine Forest in Shroud

Pine Forest in Shroud © 2014 Bo Mackison

Nothing stands in isolation.
Experiences, stories, a life time of truths.

Traveling in a forest in fog. Water droplets suspended in the atmosphere, my vision
obscured as I peer fiercely through the mist. To no avail. Not a glimmer or a ghost.

Moisture permeates the dried, the desiccated. Ragged and spent.

A pulpy mix of leaf litter, feathers, tiny skeletons and detritus.
Life and death and the in-between takes on many forms.

A shudder up my spine, bone to bone. And I recall
my grandmother’s shivery words under similar circumstances

“Someone walkin’ over my grave.” She’d shake her head, eyes closed,
and chew her cracked lip. Back away from trouble.

I hold out my bare hands in supplication. Help me.
The trees shiver in winter’s wind.

Water drops, sanctified in the sodden oak leaves,
sprinkle upon my bare head and I continue my passage through.