Hello and welome to My View for Thursday, July 24, 2008.
Last week, I posted an image titled “A Little Piece of Savannah”. I did this because I found myself missing being in Savannah, the city that has become a second home to me. Earlier this week, I followed up with another little piece of Savannah because the “missing something” feeling was still stirring in my soul. I had a difficult time determining, and explaining, the exact nature of this feeling.
To my delight, the responses to my post from earlier this week helped me clarify this feeling. The “missing” I was feeling was for ME! — or a part of me. Those who contributed to the responses helped me greatly to focus on my feelings and determine, through our continued discussions, what it was. Usha’s post, number 9, describes what I was feeling so very accurately.
So often we all get so busy with our lives that we run on autopilot, living our lives unconsciously. It is so very easy to do. Recently, I started to do this again. I say “again” because this is something that I fall prey to every now and then in my life. And, when that happens, a longing rises up in my soul. It takes me a few days of living with that feeling, and discussing it with friends, before I realize that the longing is for a part of me that I’m giving up to whatever is going on in my life.
Recognizing who we are and how to be who we are while living our lives doing what we are doing is a life-long effort. There are very fine lines between living our life authentically, true to ourselves and to others, and living our lives being swept along with the waves washing around us. Stepping back — for me, running away to Savannah for a few days!
— and taking the time to evaluate how what we are doing relates to who we are and determining if the what is preventing us from being our authentic selves is an on-going process. It requires a lot of courage for me to say “Thank you, but no thank you” to opportunities that would take me away from me — no matter how great those opportunities or how well I might perform them.
I’ve reached the point in my life where I to try and show up, to be present to all experiences, to be aware, and to be true to myself in every aspect of my life. I say “try” because it is not an easy thing to do and I fail from time to time. The “failure”, that uncomfortable feeling of missing, gives me the opportunity to learn more about myself and grow. If it were not so uncomfortable, I would do nothing to change what I am doing to be more congruent with who I am.
I encourage you all to be awake in your own lives, to show up for the experiences of every single day as your true self and to be who you are — with compassion, with love, with gratitude, with concern and with sensitivity — but strong in who you are. That, after all, is the only real way to live.
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The path to joy comes from creative expression. When you make the time and space to harness the energy in your life, you can begin to express your unique creativity. Your joy will increase. Your confidence will grow. Your life will be transformed. You will be living your life out loud.”
— from the book “Living Your Life Out Loud” by Salli Rasberry and Padi Selwyn
This image is also a little piece of Savannah. It is a potted daisy inside one of the lovely gardens of a private home. Many of Savannah’s homes use beautiful wrought iron as decorative features on gates or windows into the garden. The first image is of the lovely decorative window. I think of this as the façade – our mask that we wear when we are uncomfortable with our situation. The second is of the daisy itself as seen through the window – the alive part of us, our soul behind our masks. The difference between the two images is the point on which the camera is focused.
Your comments and suggestions are most welcomed and help me grow as an artist and a person.
Thank you for visiting My View and thank you so very much to all who participated in the discussion with me on the earlier post this week. I hope you will continue the discussion with this post..

“A Little Piece of Savannah #3″
Savannah Georgia
Canon 5D; 50mm 1.4 lens; ISO 400; 1/2000 second; f/1.4; handheld
Please take a look at the 2009 Workshops that have been announced. Watch for more soon.