Generosity – A Desert Wisdom Card

Completion - A Desert Wisdom Card

source url Seed Pod © 2013 Bo Mackison

go to link “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
  ~ Kahlil Gibran

The four chambers of the seed pod are empty.

https://pkuatm.org/2024/05/13/nebj565 The seeds are scattered, and the earth is gifted with the possibility of new life. The seed pod has done its part.

https://dentaris-sa.com/2024/05/13/jl2rgir Nature supports us with no request for thanks. The seeds open. The sun rises and sets. Plants grow, flower, set fruit, set seed. The seeds are dispersed, the cycle continues.

https://aaerj.org.br/2024/05/13/cbdw27736c “For it is in giving that we receive.” St. Francis of Assisi

When we give of ourselves, when we give from our heart, we pass on our gifts and in doing so we also are the recipient.

https://www.vertaglia.com/qa7nekfru7 The gift to oneself is in the giving — no expectations, no reciprocity, no keeping score. How our gift is received is not within our control, nor is it the reason for gifting. True generosity is unconditional generosity.

https://thegreathighway.com/cb8k4c75v The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own. ~ Lao Tzu

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

  •  Time is a precious commodity, perhaps even more so than money. The pithy advice from Ben Franklin – “Time is money.” – encourages us to value productivity. But sometimes wasting time is exactly what we need. Thich Nhat Hanh offers this life recipe: “Smile, breathe and go slowly.” Consider stretching a five-minute walk into a ten-minute walk simply for the experience. No reminders to smell the roses, practice mindfulness – simply walk at a slower pace and notice what happens. A tiny gift of generosity to oneself primes the pump to practice generosity.
  • Generosity with one’s thoughts requires no planning, no financial encumbrance. Mental gifting of a blessing, a prayer, a kind thought reaps benefits for both the giver and the recipient. A simple Buddhist teaching, the Metta Chant, offers generous thoughts for all. Buy Xanax Reviews “May all beings be well and safe, may they be at ease.” It is easy to remember and repeat frequently, although it can be a challenge to apply this gift to all equally.
  • Consider adopting a practice of generosity. Abandon a gift — a handwritten copy of a poem, an uplifting message, a small piece of art — where someone will unexpectedly find it, perhaps on a bench or hanging from a low branch of a tree. Attach a note of explanation that this is a gift for the finder.

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get link Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck of Desert Wisdom Cards for exploration and discovery, using a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.

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Celebration – A Desert Wisdom Card

Celebration - A Desert Wisdom Card

go to link Aloe Fireworks © 2013 Bo Mackison

Buy Diazepam Tablets “People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating, we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation… Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions.”  ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel

I dubbed this bright coral aloe the ‘Fireworks Aloe’.

see url To me, it is a beautiful reminder of CELEBRATION. Not the noisy, crowded celebrations we associate with national holidays or milestone achievements — parties, large gatherings, extravagant entertainment — but the small daily achievements that deserve celebrations, too.

source link The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. ~ Oprah Winfrey

https://restoreredspruce.org/2024/05/13/pi2l6fpb2s These aloe buds are bright and beautiful. They carry a certain joie de vivre, the French phrase that conveys “an exultation of spirit.” The blossoms remind us to celebrate life frequently, passionately, reverently.

We often do the hard work, complete the frustrating assignment, then move on to our next task never pausing to acknowledge our achievement.

How wonderful to take a few moments and celebrate, with appreciation and reverence, a job well done or a task completed in a timely fashion.

“Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music.
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music…”
~ lyrics from Three Dog Night

CELEBRATION offers questions/reflections for journal writing, art, and a call for action:

  • Celebrations do not require expensive preparations or large chunks of time. A celebration marks the completion of a project, large or small. Reflect on the projects you’ve completed in the past few days – large or small. How many of these accomplishments did you acknowledge?
  • In your journal keep a running list of your completed projects for a short period of time – perhaps a morning or a weekend. (Laundry, exercise, weeding the garden, writing a paper — they all count!) As you finish each project, celebrate. Think small Or not. Acknowledge with an “exultation of spirit”.
  • Collect a few props to use when you want to celebration. Streamers. Upbeat music. A big sheet of paper and bright markers for writing yourself congratulatory messages. A kazoo for impromptu cheers.  Add smiles and laughter. Use frequently!

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

Delight – A Desert Wisdom Card

Torch Cactus Flower

Torch Cactus Flower © 2013 Bo Mackison

We have won a moment in an unfolding universe. Isn’t that worthy of our notice? ~ Hannah Hinchman

The Torch Cactus blossom is guaranteed to delight with bright petals, upright stamens, and its appeal to the senses.

The flower blooms on a rather undistinguished cactus, and each individual flower opens for a single day. But the glory of the torch cacti is its propensity to occasionally bloom en masse. This is a sure opportunity for delight!

There are three tasks that matter in this lifetime. The first task, though not the most important task, is to quiet the busyness in your mind. The second is to find your song. And the third task is to sing your song. ~ Mark Lesser

Delight – it’s a feeling that is transitory, fleeting.

There is no need to prepare for delight – simply be aware. Delight in the flower you see in the garden, the song you hear on the radio, or the soft towel you pull from the dryer. What makes you smile in delight?

Invitations to experience delight are quick and easily accessible. Take up delight’s offer and notice its gift.

The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention. ~ Julia Margaret Cameron

DELIGHT offers questions/reflections for journal writing, art prompts, and calls to action:

  • Delight is a simple gift, easily discovered, a tiny moment. Notice when you smile or laugh in delight.
  • Compose a line poem. Each line consists of a few words about a person, place, thing, or happening that prompts delight. Begin and end the poem with the one word line, “Delight!”
  • Play a game of DELIGHT. Draw a nine square grid, as if you were making a line drawing for a game of tic-tac-toe . Write the word DELIGHT in the center. Each time you notice something that delights you, write a brief description or sketch a picture in one of the squares.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck of Desert Wisdom Cards for exploration and discovery, using photography, with a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.

Last Stop in Arizona – Petrified Forest

Petrified Wood

Petrified Wood ©2013 Bo Mackison

On my second day of travel, I headed north and east so I could visit one of my favorite destinations – Petrified Forest National Park. Not only am I fascinated by the petrified wood – from tree chunks to tiny pebbles – dotting the barren landscape, I also love to wander throughout the rooms of the Painted Desert Inn, a National Historic Landmark, dating from the 1920s. (To be featured in the next post!)

Chucks of Petrified Wood

Chunks of Petrified Wood ©2013 Bo Mackison

Petrified wood is deep with color, patterns, even textures. No longer wood, these relics are fossils, once ancient wood turned into rock crystals.

The petrified fossils are scattered about the park, but they are protected by federal laws. There are reminders throughout the park, reminding visitors to look, not touch.

Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Forest National Park ©2013 Bo Mackison

Petrified rocks are available for sale in nearby towns, specimens mined from privately owned land. Of course, I had to stop at my favorite petrified rock shop, Jim Gray’s in Holbrook, Arizona.  There is something ancient and sacred about a carrying a small piece of rock in my pocket that is a 100 million years old.

So I added a few last-chance talismans to this year’s Arizona collection of trinkets.

Painted Desert

Painted Desert ©2013 Bo Mackison

The Petrified Forest is only a small part of the Painted Desert, an irregularly formed crescent that stretches from western Arizona to central New Mexico.

Pale purple, gray blue and off white striations in the rock at the Petrified Forest add interest to the badlands scenery. These colors came from iron deposits in places with no oxygen, typically submerged in stagnant water in prehistoric marshes. The deep red layers indicate a dry and hot climate in the presence of oxygen. The various layers date from 50 to 200 million years ago, time enough for oceans and swamps to turn to desert a few times over.

Painted Teepees

Painted Teepees ©2013 Bo Mackison

I drove through the park, and stopped at every pull-off and a few extra middle-of-the-road photographs. Happily, the park had few visitors on an early morning in late April, and so there were few cars to worry about. And then I drove on the entrance ramp that leads directly from the Visitor Center to I-40 and headed towards New Mexico!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.    She is traveling cross-country and blogging about her travels — whenever she is in a motel with internet and awake, concurrently.

Prickly Pear in Bloom

Prickly Pear in Bloom

Prickly Pear in Bloom © 2013 Bo Mackison

“If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for a moment.”
~ Georgia O’Keeffe

Not that I would want to take a flower from a cactus in my hand, but I understand Georgia O’Keeffe’s remark about having the world for a moment. When I stop on a desert path or in a desert garden, I feel as if the world opens before me and I see the beauty, the complexity, the order of the Universe.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio. She is beginning a time of transition, and collecting the beauty of the desert – in her memory and in photographs.