Torch Cactus ©2014 Bo Mackison
One’s options in this world are as vast as the horizon, which is technically a circle and thus infinitely broad. Yet we must choose each step we take with utmost caution, for the footprints we leave behind are as important as the path we will follow. They’re part of the same journey — our story.” ~ Lori R. Lopez
Coneflower, Unfolding © 2014 Bo Mackison
“There is something perfect to be found in the imperfect: the law keeps balance through the juxtaposition of beauty, which gains perfection through nurtured imperfection.” ~ Dejan Stojanovic
There was a time, a time spanning many years, when I would have processed this photo in a way so that the wrinkled, brown area on the front petal would have been invisible. Or I would have searched for that one flower that already looked perfect, and photographed that one.
We look at a perfectly formed flower and marvel at its beauty, admire the face of a model made perfect in the post processing stage, choose the perfect landscape perspective that hides the telephone pole.
Today I choose to photograph the flower with its imperfection. To see the whole. To study the lovely curling petals on the verge of opening. To marvel at the juxtaposition of the orange and the pink.
This does not imply that I did no post processing – I did. I softened the background, added a vignette to emphasize the flower. Played with the photo until I liked the artistic interpretation AND I chose to show the flower as it is – perfect in its imperfection.
Shadow Flowers © 2014 Bo Mackison
“We often walk without knowing the beautiful and the mysterious art created behind us by our shadows.”
~ Mehmet Murat Ildan
Cosmos © 2013 Bo Mackison
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. ~ Lao Tzu
When we can’t change our reality, the key to peace and a life-long happiness is to accept that which is. Not deny what life is handing us, nor sugar coat the problems. But practice acceptance at what this moment holds. Life happens. It is hard in the present to see the gifts that a difficult or unexpected situation can offer. But challenges often gift us with new perspectives and opportunities.
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. ~ Søren Kierkegaard
The ACCEPTANCE card offers activities for contemplation, art, and writing and a call to action:
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is creating a set of Prairie Wisdom Cards, second in a series of cards based on natural habitats, and used for exploration and discovery.
Vintage Dahlia © 2013 Bo Mackison
“But when does something’s destiny finally come to fruition? Is the plant complete when it flowers? When it goes to seed? When the seeds sprout? When everything turns into compost?” ~ Leonard Koren, in Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers
It’s been a rough few weeks. Really rough. A double loss in our little family. A long time friend’s liver cancer diagnosis. A co-worker’s college aged child killed in a motorcycle accident. Grief is not an easy emotion at any time, and I am working to cope with grief upon grief upon grief, while discovering the life skills I thought would be helpful are woefully inadequate.
I’ve been asking a million “Why?” questions. And getting no satisfactory answers.
Yes, I know life is cyclical and includes — on various levels — experiences of birthing, living, and dying. And during this time of grief, I tend to ask the question “Why?” An unanswerable question, in most situations like these, but it was becoming an unhelpful mantra for me.
I didn’t realize how pervasive “Why?” questioning was throughout the many parts of my life, however, until a wise mentor kindly brought it to my attention. To fully explore her comment, I began to journal. And I came up with a long list of questions:
My mentor suggested that I need not answer those persistent whys, that they are a both a distraction and an attachment to outcome that does not serve me in my work.
She suggested I read a small book, The Seven Paths by Christine Baldwin, one she has found of great help in its simplicity, and contemplate several of the paths — “follow your purpose while dealing with surprises,” and “ask for what you need while offering what you have.” And finally, “move gently upon the earth.”
The advice is simple, solid, and had a feel of acceptance, an uplifting quality. It offers a message to quiet the continuous chatter of “why” and substitute the more down to earth and less ego-driven mantra — “Do your work and release it into the world.”
I took these wise words one step further, and applied them to my current life situation. The above quote by Leonard Koren in his book on wabi-sabi gave me a container for my thoughts.
Our destiny, each of our destinies, is individual. We are alone on our journey, yet we walk with companions.
We may set fruit, flower, sprout seeds, or turn to compost. No need to ask “why?” for it is all good, it is all necessary.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Her exhibit, Garden Party – A Celebration of Botanical Photography, is at the Alicia Ashman Branch Library Gallery in Madison, Wisconsin and runs through September 5, 2013.
