Beginning Yet Again

 "Never feel guilty for starting again."

-Rupi Kaur

These days being a flaneuse has been more mental than physical. I moved to Arizona to be closer to family, to redo my career and to try and figure out where I am in this whole aging process. The career has stabilized, the family thing has been frought with tension. And let's just say the aging process as society would have it has sparked my inner rebel.

Last night I took a trip to the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix to see Joe Jackson. It was a last minute invite and I had no idea what to expect. I hadn't really followed him in recent decades. What happened was a brilliant music meets theater as he presented musical hall songs inspired by the Victorian/Edwardian era. It was boisterous, bawdy and brilliant. He came out in a suit played some his earlier work on a electric piano and then excused himself. He came back essentially as a character he created, Max Champion, and brought with him, what looked like a steam punk band. It was fun, creative and ended up with a standing ovation.

So I'm inspired to begin again, to reinvent and see what I can discover both as a mental and soon physical flaneuse.

Joe Jackson, "Is She Really Going Out":

Beauty Is...

 "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."

-Anonymous 

I went outside tonight and found the waning moon in a glow surrounded by jet streams. Nature and technology combined to form an unexpected eerily beautiful scene. Beauty can be anywhere if we just take time to see it.

John Legend and Ariana Grande, Beauty and the Beast;

In the Seat of Contentment

 

"To be content doesn't mean you don't desire more, it means you are thankful for what you have and patient for what's to come."

-Tony Gaskins

Like many this year I have set some intentions. One of them is to live more frugally and sustainably. This is not new, it is a journey I began last year, but it was a bit sidetracked by my major move and how that had had to happen. As I purused videos on practicing these qualities one person gave insight that was so obvious, but carried the depth of in your face wisdom. To be content with what you have already. When I stopped looked around and measured,  I realized that I already have the material things I need for the most part. If something new is needed then I will be patient and see what the best approach for bringing it into my world is. 

And I also realized I can be content with who I am basically and thankful for the wisdom I already possess, the changes and growth that I need will come to me in it's own time and in it's own way. Let's hope I can continue to live out this insight for the duration of the year....

U2, 'Beautiful Day':

 

Choosing To Be Here Now

"Just be here now".

-Ram Dass

During the past year I was so busy looking at the past or future I was rarely in the present. To be sure there were times when I needed to be, but found that when there were moments to relax, to experience the moment, my anxiety was pushing me into other places. I got away from my creativity and the effects have shown. I was determined to get back to it.

One of the things that I have noticed in living in Arizona is light. It has more of a dominate presence than any other state in which I have lived. As a result I had started watching it especially in the early morning and evening. It transforms some of the most mundane moments. I caught my neighbors roof tiles and was entranced by how beautiful they became in the golden hour. And so it is at times when we choose to just be here now. This is one of the things I intend to return to in this year. We'll see how it goes.

Yo Yo Ma, Nature at Play (Bach):

The Turning of the Wheel

"With the changing seasons come new beginnings."

The year's end is almost here. Review, reflection and resolutions seem to be the themes on everyone's mind. We treat the happening of this event as if we are stepping into a abrupt new horizon, not yet known, both full of hopes and fears that we carry with us from the old. As I have gotten older I have begun to see and experience it as the turning of the wheel of seasons, a motion gentle and gradual. The experience guided by the rhythm of nature. There is aways one startling aspect related to nature though that I see at this time now that I live in the West. It contrasts with the Midwest/East Coast exposure of the earlier years of my life. That is the arrival of citrus fruit in the holiday season. Seeing it come to fruition seems an act of magic. Something so bursting with life in what I still perceive as a barren time of year.  It's a lesson that each season while bringing continuity dichotomously brings new beginnings.

Chicago,  "Beginnings":

Under the Christmas Moon

  

"The light of the Christmas star to you. The warmth of home and hearth to you. The cheer and goodwill of friends to you.”

-Sherryl Woods 

As I drove home with my sister we observed the almost full moon coming up. It was a day of family visits, calls to friends and good food. It was 17 years ago I started this blog. While a couple of years were missed, it has somehow found its way back to me each time I thought I had somehow lost it. Such is our lives. Each time we think the path is blocked and there is no way ahead a miracle of light occurs and we find our way out of darkness. This is my wish for the world. May our journey towards 2024 bring light into our troubled psyche and the balm of peace to our souls.

J.S. Bach, "Christmas Oratorio",

 

 

 

 

Night into Light

 

“Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we celebrate the darkness as it is in its fullest influence. The once fertile forests are now bare and awaiting their rebirth. The surrounding shadows whispering to us of our natural-born powers. And the knowledge of a convergent awakening.”

                                                                      -Dacha Avelin 

Tonight brings the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. I just walked Teagan after dealing with several hours of working with clients to find light in the midst of the darkness. All around I found homes festooned with light, including my own. I looked up and saw the patterns of stars shining down. Being not to far from the airport, planes sailed overhead flashing their light against the darkness taking people to holiday destinations, carrying the hopes and fears for a holiday that might bring celebration and growth or the darkness of old patterns.

So far in this life journey I have made, I have been lucky enough to find I have always been able to travel out of the night into light.  This is my hope for all that their journey's bring them to the knowledge that night will is necessary and will bring the rebirth into light.

Antiphony, "Solstice Carol":