Desert Walking – A Meditation

Desert Mountain Trail

go here Desert Mountain Trail ©2012 Bo Mackison

follow Every soul innately yearns for stillness, for a space, for a garden where we can till, sow, reap, and rest, and by doing so come to a deeper sense of self and our place in the Universe. Silence is not an absence but a presence. Not an emptiness by a repletion. A filling up. ~ Anne LeClaire

https://onlineconferenceformusictherapy.com/2025/02/22/adxajzmkbl When I want to do deep thinking, ponder the questions that, as of yet, have no answer, I head to the desert, walk one of the trails through this bountiful wilderness. I do some of my most productive thinking here, walking the desert path. Alone. In this deep stillness, the only sounds are far off – coyote in song.

Trail in the Sonoran

http://www.mscnantes.org/ey4onhwf Trail in the Sonoran ©2012 Bo Mackison

https://getdarker.com/editorial/articles/n40g11j1od The desert is my garden; it is where I till, sow, reap, and rest. I walk the paths carved around the desert plants, trees, climb in and out of washes, struggle with the changes in elevation.

https://www.yolascafe.com/x5czqtx8ya Ideas come out in plain view for consideration. I dissect my goals into tiny seeds, doable baby steps. Plans ripen, lead to commitment to action.

Desert Tree

https://purestpotential.com/wkwsukric3 Desert Tree ©2012 Bo Mackison

https://alldayelectrician.com/dg8q87yi My gratitude for the life I lead is huge. I speak to the desert, and so I, too, speak to the Universe. My list of gratitudes — people, places, events, things — is long. I give thanks, I cry at the wealth in my world, I sing a song of thankfulness, while wondering if the coyotes hear my off tune melody.

Nurse Tree to Young Saguaro

https://danivoiceovers.com/ox92ukpgq Nurse Tree to Young Saguaro ©2012 Bo Mackison

https://penielenv.com/s4f3i1jl In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks. ~ John Muir

enter site When I walk with nature, my world expands, I see where I stand in my life’s journey. I stand upon the Mother Earth, grounded, and feel connected to a greater plan for the greater good.

Saguaros

Cheapest Tramadol Overnight Saguaro Forest ©2012 Bo Mackison

https://dcinematools.com/bbj3cnxllu3  To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have a place to live, music, art — it is all a miracle. I have adopted the technique of living life miracle to miracle. ~ Arthur Rubenstein

Tucson Mountain Park

get link Tucson Mountain Park © 2012 Bo Mackison

https://paradiseperformingartscenter.com/ghiwyot3yt Our way is not soft grass, it is a mountain path with lots of rocks. But it goes upward, forward, toward the sun. ~ Ruth Westheimer

Couple of Cactus

https://geolatinas.org/rrybfe6 Couple of Cactus © 2012 Bo Mackison

go to link I speak to the tall saguaro – tell of my plans, my hopes, my fears. I ask for courage and patience and understanding. The desert responds in its steadfast stillness, yet answers and awareness boomerang towards me on rays of sunlight.

Desert Moon at Sunrise

Purchase Tramadol Discount Desert Moon at Sunrise ©2012 Bo Mackison

If you look for the truth outside yourself,
it gets farther and farther away.
Today, walking alone, I meet it everywhere I step.
It is the same as me, yet I am not it.
Only if you understand it in this way
Will you merge with the way things are.
~ Tung-Shan

Strength. Courage. Understanding – all desert teachings, all are gifts from the desert.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo walks the deserts in Arizona, and pays attention.

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Rusted Gate

Rusty Gate

Rusted Gate © 2012 Bo Mackison

I beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a foreign language. Don’t search for the answers which would not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

There was a time when my whole life was a question. And I couldn’t find the answer.  And that worried me greatly. I thought it was important, as I had been taught in years of schooling, that finding the correct answer to the question was paramount to success.

It took me many years to realize that there is never only one correct answer to any question of substance. That there are many correct answers depending on who is answering the question.

And then it took me a few more years to realize that it wasn’t always necessary or even in my best interest, to answer every question. Sometimes it was better to only glimpse the answer, just as the courtyard behind the massive, woven gate in the photograph provides only a glimpse of the inner goings-on.

The gate is heavy, it may be old if one associates rust with antiquity, or it may only have been specially treated to look old. The passing of years often speaks of wisdom, of knowing the answers.

Is the gate a gate of protection? If so, the gate provides security, even as it allows a view, the flow of air, a sense of art in the simple yet artistically designed gate.

Life is not always what it seems to be. I think of a gate and anticipate it will bar my way, it will prevent me from finding answers to my questions. Instead, the gate is merely an object on my passage through my day. If I continue long enough on my journey of exploration, I just may live my way into the answers I seek.

Do you have questions you want answered quickly? Can you wait for the answers, even if it takes a lifetime?

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is traveling in Arizona, no longer seeking answers at this time in her life, but simply paying very close attention to the many questions she asks.

To Photograph a Leaf

Leaf and Light ©2012 Bo Mackison

It is no accident that a photographer becomes a photographer any more than a lion tamer becomes a lion tamer. ~ Dorothea Lange

I love how the sun light on the backs of these layers of leaves, subtracts the light and adds the shadows. I feels like one big leafy puzzle to me. These are the kinds of photographs – ones that delight and surprise – that make me happy I have fallen so passionately involved with photography. When I saw this leaf, I just had to take its portrait!

There’s hardly a day that passes without me taking a walk with camera in tow or me pulling over to the side of the road when a photo opportunity catches my eye. So thankful am I for my camera that rides shot-gun whenever I run errands to a store, drive to the other side of town, or take a cross-country trip.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is looking forward to her next cross country trip – planning, packing, and counting down the hours until it’s time to go!

The Gifts of Generosity – Sunday Series

Threshing ©2012 Bo Mackison

Generosity in working together to provide food.

Whitewashing the Fence ©2012 Bo Mackison

Generosity in working together to provide beauty and fun, memories in the making.

Gathering © 2012 Bo Mackison

Generosity in working together to make clothing and quilts for comfort and warmth.

Gardening at Koepsell’s Heirloom Farm © 2012 Bo Mackison

Generosity in working, growing food for the community.

Generosity — sharing talents for the betterment of self and community.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Photographs are from Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor museum of history. Eagle Wisconsin.

Starry Earth Garden

Olbrich in Autumn

A Starry Earth Garden ©2012 Bo Mackison

So plant your garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. ~ Anon

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo appreciates these smallest of starry green wonders in the midst of November gray.