perfection

Sun Salutations – Day 891

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Exuberant Tulip – Photo: L. Weikel

Sun Salutations

As mentioned yesterday, in yet another example of reaping rewards for simply paying attention to the details of life that surround me, beyond catching sight of the flourishing bleeding hearts, I also noticed my tulips performing sun salutations.

The flat-out, open-hearted nature of this tulip bowled me over when I saw it. I took the photo above at 12:34 p.m., when the sun was directly overhead. This particular specimen could not have been more unabashed in its eagerness to soak up every last drop of solar nectar. Moments after I took the photo, I’ll admit, I sat on the porch and just stared at it. I drank in the exquisite harmony and balance of the petals; the way the patterns repeat themselves over and over again. Almost mesmerizingly, I see a plethora of sixes. The brilliant yellow stamens are half a six, but the rest of the flower is a blatant celebration of sixes. Numerologically, sixes can represent exuberance.

I dare you to look at that tulip and not feel joy stirring in your heart. Joy simply at being able to witness such a precisely-wrought piece of art created from a bulb that wintered underground throughout this long, cold, snowy winter.

Long Gone

When I spied this exaltation to spring, and saw its petals stretched out far and wide, I honestly thought I was witnessing its greatest expression of its tulip-hood. The feeling I got (and still get) when I immerse myself in the beauty of the patterns contained within the face of this flower is that it spent it all. This flower didn’t hold back one iota of energy when it flung its six petals out in an ecstatic embrace of the sun.

I didn’t think it could recover itself in time to live, and rejoice in, another day. I thought she’d be long gone within a day.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I set off to take my walk last night and glanced in the direction of my exuberant tulip, only to find this:

Child’s Pose Following Sun Salutations – Photo: L. Weikel

Boundaries

Wow! She was closed up tighter than a drum! What a worthwhile example of both being in the moment and setting boundaries.

It’s weird, I know. Don’t I know tulips aren’t the type of flower that just bloom one day and then have their petals fall off the next? Of course I know that. But I’ve certainly not been as aware of the cellular sentience of these beings as I was in that moment. For whatever reason, it hit home. These tulips embrace their sustenance with zeal and close up shop at the end of the day to preserve all they’ve gathered.

There’s no debate; no waffling. Life is lived with gusto and boundaries are set to protect itself and the life force coursing through it.

And my day was made all the richer for it because I paid attention.

Finally

I ran across a tree tonight as I took a walk following the announcement of the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd last year. I’ve walked past this tree a bazillion times before. But I’ve never seen it look quite so much like a Black goddess with arms upraised in victory and celebration as it did tonight.

Victory – Accountability – A Step Toward Justice – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-220)

The Other Side – Day 585

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

The Other Side

I thought for sure last night that I had a satisfying topic to write about. It was pleasing to my sense of relaxation that evening, as I sometimes feel – or at least sense – the whirr of mental gears spinning deep within, trying to light upon something interesting or entertaining to share with you. Of course! I would make a point of showing you the other side of perfection.

While the whole point was to show you the other side of perfection, the lack of photographs was distinctly disturbing. Yes, I could’ve wielded my keyboard as an artist wields palette and brush, but no. I wanted you to see what I was writing about.

As I ended up mentioning in my post yesterday, I never know when Verizon Wireless is going to decide to strap to a snail’s back photos I’ve sent via email from my iPhone to my laptop. It’s clearly a random decision by VZ Wireless. But please allow me to confirm that it did indeed take over 12 hours for the photos to make said monumental trek last night.

Nevertheless, I Persisted

And yes, I’m sacrilegiously using that phrase associated with Senator Elizabeth Warren when she insisted upon speaking when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to shut her up several years ago. Because, why not? It’s important to remember how dismissive he was to Senator Warren. He’s only become worse with age and power, for the power he’s been wielding truly has corrupted him.

But I digress.

What I simply wanted to share with you last night, and intend to share with you this evening, is the view of the other side of what I recently deemed ‘perfection.’

Pretty idyllic, huh?

With competition like this, it’s no wonder that lovely, wonderful tree I featured the other evening beamed with pleasure at being noticed and appreciated.

All I can say is that I am incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by such beauty and diversity. I want to pay attention to all of it; which is why, every day, I try to share with you a snippet of what almost feels like heaven.

(T-526)

Perfection – Day 583

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Perfection

Nope. This blog post is not about my desire for perfection. In fact, while I pretty relentlessly strive to do the best I can at whatever I’m doing, I would not call myself a perfectionist.

In fact, I think I have just enough, “Who gives a sh&*” of an attitude, to keep me honest (if not humble).

No, the title for tonight’s blog is ‘Perfection’ because of the remarkable beauty of the tree I photographed the other day.

Looking a Different Direction

Usually when Karl and I are walking along the particular stretch of road that this tree stands beside, our attention is almost always directed away from this tree. We’re almost always looking in the opposite direction.

When we look to our right as we walk along this road, our view is of vast open fields and a panoramic sky, usually occupied by at least a handful of clouds and almost always a breathtaking sunset.We are often distracted by the ever changing vista. The colors of each sunset are captivating in the variety of their unique palettes. Sometimes it’s hard not to see at least three different figures at a time in the clouds.

It’s not uncommon for us to see herds of deer grazing, flocks of geese or ducks stomping around in puddled water, and even occasionally a fox or two darting into the underbrush.

Appreciation

But the other day, I happened to look to my left. I should be clear: I happened to make a point of looking to my left and really seeing what was there. And wow.

Here it is:

An example of perfection – Photo: L. Weikel

I exclaimed to this tree how absolutely perfect it is. I gushed over its beauty and apologized for not noticing it sooner. Actually, I have given it a glance a handful of times over the years, but I don’t know that I ever had as extended a conversation with it as I did the other day.

Then I took its photo.

I do believe this tree is an example of perfection – and I told it so. But it was only when I got home and really had a chance to look at the photo that I realized it had swelled with pride and delight itself. I’m telling you: this tree responded to my compliments and appreciation, and its joy was captured in this photo.

This is a photograph of one happy, loved, and appreciated representative of the ‘standing tall people.’

Find a tree in your neighborhood. Maybe look in a different direction than you normally do. Or see with fresh eyes. You might be surprised by what you discover.

Give it some love – and see what happens. Watch it flourish. Notice how giving that appreciation to another Being makes you feel.

(T-528)

Living in the Future – Day Fifty One

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment

Living in the Future

It’s hard not to get ahead of myself sometimes. When I’m pleased or feel excited, I tend to extrapolate and imagine how cool things will be “when _______ happens.” (And no, I’m not encouraging you to play Cards Against Humanity in this post. Although…that could be amusing. And you know which among you would eagerly offer a shockingly off-color suggestion for that blank.)

What I mean is, there’s a part of me that was, as my Irish sisters say, “chuffed” when I got to my 50thpost. And instead of just ‘being’ with that good feeling, I started extrapolating. “When I get to this day next year, I’ll be into the 400s! I’ll be writing my 415thpost!”

Aaarggh. I do not want to do that to myself! And yet I know it’s human nature and therefore futile to hope I won’t succumb to this temptation – and often. But it sure is tedious, always ‘moving the bar,’ so to speak, and assuming the elusive next goal will be way better and more impressive to achieve than this one. And what does it get me?

N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

Nothing at all. Except it does manage to snatch my present sense of accomplishment from the jaws of a healthy, yet un-inflated, self-esteem. Always keeping myself guessing, I suppose.

But I mention this not because I remained in that mind-space. I saw where my habitual thinking wanted to take me and I snagged it, brought it back, and stomped it into unconsciousness. (Just kidding! Seeing if you were paying attention.)

No, I saw where my habitual thinking wanted to take me and I did indeed snag it. But I just rolled my eyes, laughed at myself, and hoped I’d make it to #51, while enjoying the simple pleasure of having reached the 50th. And I’m mentioning all of this because I firmly believe we all need to remember that we’re not here to be perfect!

No matter how hard we try, we’re not perfect. And we’ll never be perfect. Why? Because perfection is not only unattainable. It’s boring. And we wouldn’t learn anywhere near as much as we do living in our imperfection.

Perfection is Unattainable (and Boring)

We’re not going to find much, if any, profound and meaningful satisfaction with either ourselves or how we’re meeting our commitments by reaching some arbitrary, magical number of posts published, journal pages written, photos taken, or books read per month. The sooner we realize that, the better.

And trust me, I remember when I used to think every one else could strive for – or be satisfied by – mediocrity, but I was different. I would persist. I would do ‘it’ (whatever exacting standard I set for myself) through sheer force of will. And man, while I would not trade the level of success I generally enjoyed for my efforts, I would lighten up just a little on the jumping into the future gig. Because as cliché as it sounds, it is sheer insanity to pin all your happiness on the successful attainmentof a goal, on breaking the tape, or on writing that 1111th post.

The test of our humanity is to figure out the trick of living our lives in fullness and balance as we strive toward accomplishing that goal.

And by that I mean setting a goal (i.e., committing to writing 1111 consecutive blog posts), and finding a sense of satisfaction and healthy pride in oneself every day a post gets published. Extra credit for those days when a post has the effect of speaking to the hearts of those who read it, for those are precious.

There is something to be said for showing up. For being willing to not always be some shining example of awesomeness that you wish others would perceive you as being. But if we’re honest? The ones we’re actually trying hardest to impress are the exacting bastards that live inside of us.

They’re tamable. At least I’m determined to give you a glimpse of how I make the effort to live with them. In balance. Here’s to 2019. May we LIVE this together! In perfect imperfection!

(T-1060)