Today's Picture to Ponder Photos
Dale Chihuly Green Glass garden sculpture at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami, Florida

Many of you undoubtedly remember the photos and conversations I featured last year from the Dale Chihuly Exhibit at Fairchild. For those who wish to visit, or re-visit, the photos, see Picture to Ponder Volume 2, Issues 33, 36, 37 and 60 .( Click on the numbers to see them.)

Yesterday we had the privilege and fun of going to the 2007 exhibit with friends from Philadelphia.

As I was reviewing the pictures from yesterday I got enlivened when the top photo with the striped green figures appeared on my screen. I love the colors and the movement, the feeling of playfulness, as they stand erect in their chosen environment.

The second photo seems somewhat blurred. The camera probably was not steady. As I was about to discard the image, I became attracted to the overall "softness" of the scene and so chose to include it for you to experience.

Self-Reflecting Queries
Yesterday's experience was a reminder for me of how we so often create our worlds and our experiences, solely from our thoughts and the words we may speak.

As contrasted with our visit to the Chihuly Exhibit at Fairchild Garden last year, yesterday was grey and close to rain much of the time that we were in the gardens. I did bless the fact that the weather was ideal in temperature, compared to the heat of last year, and that we were fortunate to be there without rain, given what it looked and felt like.

Then I kept looking for a repetition of the joy of discovery I had had last year. When it wasn't there (forgetting that I get to say), I "blamed it" on missing sunlight and many other things. Bottom line, as I write now, I'm thinking of the opportunities I missed by staying "in my head" so much of the day.

Though I know our friends were enjoying the experience, I was so caught up in internal monologues and comparisons, I never took the time to listen to our friends' responses or to see through their eyes. And, then, of course, I missed the full experience of appreciating the "now" of my own presence at the show and in the gardens.

I share all of this today to invite you to look at your life. Are there places, currently, where you are so full of expectations of yourself and others that you cannot fully appreciate what's happening right now?

If you see any such situations, I invite you to open up to listening and to finding what's exciting in the present, including looking at different perspectives. Use the differences between the two photos of the same scultpuure above as a reminder of the latter.

I wish you new and joyful openings. Have fun.

BLOG REMINDER -
Be sure to visit the BLOG to check out the comments. Mary Gray found an answer to the Poison Arrow flower question. Go to the PAGE and Scroll down to the COMMENTS section.

Pictures to Ponder: Inspired Journaling - for stress relief as well as inspiration, a downloadable Book "I bought your eBook earlier today and not only is it well written, the pictures you chose are lovely. I know this will be a very successful for you. Congratulations!" Eva Macie, Artist To see this flower in is it's full size as it's available in the downloadable book, click on Lady Slipper I often find peace and healing when I open up a flower photo, larger than can be used in Picture to Ponder, and spend time being with and studying it on my computer monitor. You, too, can open up one of the beautiful flowers that are in PICTURES TO PONDER: Inspired Journaling almost fill your screen with it, and then "step into" the image. The high resolution, set for printing, has the photographs capable of maintaining their quality at magnification as much as 300%. And, of course, the queries that went with the flowers are here also. For more information and to purchase, go to Downloadable Book.

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Inspirationally,


Sheila
sheila[at]eteletours.com --
© 2007 Sheila Finkelstein
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