HELIOS

HELIOS 2010-03-17T19:18:51Z User 283 http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/ OrgSpace NewsLog Red brown earth, newly ploughed.

Driving through the country roads
I see fields and fields of newly ploughed earth - rich dark and fertile - I feel the spring time energy - the thrusting potential of a another new cycle of creation about to begin. . .

EARTH
Red brown earth, newly ploughed,
fertile and ready for growth.
Touches my Taurus moon.
Calls for my naked body.
Rolls me in its rich soil.
I feel the season.
Springtime energy
infuses me
patient,
as the sunwarmed life
springs forth.
Singing to me,
of days to come.
Dreaming
of the harvest.

Image and words Susannah Bec.

“There are beautiful and wild forces within us.” - St Francis of Assisi

.]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/__show_article/_a000283-000176.htm 2010-03-17T19:18:51Z 2010-03-17T19:43:23Z Huge Sweeping Golden Beams

We work with the stuff of the soul by means of the things of life.- Thomas Moore Today the Sun shone, huge sweeping golden beams - filling my room and leaving no space for me inside. I put on my shoes and stepped outside, just in time to join Spring as she arrived in my garden. In the garde...

We work with the stuff of the soul by means of the things of life.- Thomas Moore

Today the Sun shone, huge sweeping golden beams - filling my room and leaving no space for me inside. I put on my shoes and stepped outside, just in time to join Spring as she arrived in my garden.

In the garden the door is always open into the holy.- May Sarton

photos taken today in my garden.
.

]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/__show_article/_a000283-000175.htm 2010-03-15T18:53:09Z 2010-03-16T00:32:03Z Thought For Today

"Let the mind be enlarged to the grandeur of the mysteries, and not the mysteries contracted to the narrowness of the mind." - Francis Bacon .

"Let the mind be enlarged to the grandeur of the mysteries, and not the mysteries contracted to the narrowness of the mind." - Francis Bacon

.]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/__show_article/_a000283-000174.htm 2010-03-13T23:36:08Z 2010-03-14T00:04:34Z One photo and the memory it contained. . .

I was just going through some old photo files stored on my hard disk when I came across this photo, as soon as I saw it a flood of memories came back and I was there again... "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir We had walked across the meadow behin...

I was just going through some old photo files stored on my hard disk when I came across this photo, as soon as I saw it a flood of memories came back and I was there again...

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir

We had walked across the meadow behind the old cottage we used to live in and climbed over the five bar gate that led into the wood; As soon as I put my foot down I could feel the spongy ground thick with pine needles and I breathed in the wonderful damp cool smell.

We knew these woods well and loved to go off the beaten paths and make our way though the thick curling ferns. The slanted dappled light dancing through the canopy made the place seem magical.

In these quiet hidden inner places of the woodland we would often come face to face with its creatures, coming out of the dark green into a passage of sunlight to see a deer standing stately and silent, bathed in the almost luminous light.

It was strange that no matter how many times we explored, we always found new areas that we were sure we had never seen before.

On one of these forays we stumbled out of the damp green interior into a clearing and there lit by a ray of sunlight, radiant amongst the blankets of dark green pines was the tree in the picture.

It almost took my breath away!

I walked over and stood in front of it and made Joe laugh when I said that it looked like something special was happening and that maybe it was having a birthday. :-)

I stood for a moment just taking in the wonderful sight and enjoying the moment of sunshine, then remembering my camera, I retrieved it from my deep pockets and took the photo before we headed back into the shade of the canopy and made our way home.

.]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/__show_article/_a000283-000173.htm 2010-03-12T13:04:02Z 2010-03-12T13:09:55Z Sunday . . . at my computer

. . . The view from my window when sitting at my desk.

"The little things? The little moments? They aren't little." - John Zabat-Zinn

The Doves have spent a few days now hanging out on the fence enjoying the sunshine, and then flying over to the bird table for some seed, then back to sunbathing and courting! I watch as they gently groom one another, then I tactfully avert my eyes as they mate!- regularly! ;-)

It is wonderful to have my computer right in front of this window, as it feels like I am part of what is going on out there. . . the changing light, the hundreds of birds that visit the bird table and hanging feeders throughout the day.

I know that as I watch, before long all the trees will have their leaves and the bush to the right in the bottom photo will be dripping with huge lilac blooms that I will be able to smell through the open window.

It is wonderful to watch the sun go down, it sets just behind the red heart in the window, and in the morning to watch the pink light of sunrise bathe those trees in a gentle golden light.

I think this is a great place to have my computer!

.

]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/__show_article/_a000283-000172.htm 2010-03-07T18:16:41Z 2010-03-07T20:12:51Z The Joy of Things

"Joy is not in things, it is in us." - Richard Wagner

*

"Stretch out your hand and take the world’s wide gift of Joy and Beauty."
- Corinne Roosevelt Robinson

*

"Oh the wild joys of living! The leaping from rock to rock … the cool silver shock of the plunge in a pool’s living waters." - Robert Browning

*

"The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within reach, is joy. There is a radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see, and to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look." - Fra Giovanni

*

"Joy is everywhere; it is in the earth’s green covering of grass:
in the blue serenity of the sky: in the reckless exuberance of spring:
in the severe abstinence of grey winter: in the living flesh that animates our bodily frame: in the perfect poise of the human figure, noble and upright: in living, in the exercise of all our powers: in the acquisition of knowledge
. . . Joy is there everywhere. - Rabindranath Tagore

*

Painting:Joy-sb
.
]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/__show_article/_a000283-000171.htm 2010-03-04T23:16:30Z 2010-03-04T23:34:03Z Doorways . . . a reminder

"The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live." - Flora Whittemore "Life is the sum of all your choices." - Albert Camus (This lovely old door belongs to a house in our village.) .

"The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live."
- Flora Whittemore

"Life is the sum of all your choices." - Albert Camus

(This lovely old door belongs to a house in our village.)

.]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/__show_article/_a000283-000170.htm 2010-03-03T17:43:53Z 2010-03-03T18:17:13Z Welcoming March

March made such a glorious entrance yesterday, decked with blue sky, white fluffy clouds and bird song. A beautiful day, just drenched in sunshine. It was as welcome as water to a thirsty soul.

"The longer I live, the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and the wonder of the world." - John Burroughs

.]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/__show_article/_a000283-000169.htm 2010-03-02T11:25:53Z 2010-03-02T11:30:47Z Sharing A Memory - A Dog Called Harvey

My old dog Harvey 1986 - 2004.

Harvey was a special dog, all dogs are in their own way, but he had definitely had quite a life! He travelled extensively and joined in on lots of adventures. He went from a nervous defensive young dog to a wise, chilled out old dog. The time I want to tell you about is when he and I escaped a busy noisy party, full of family and their respective dogs at my Mothers house.

He saw me from the corner of his eye about to leave the room and by the time I was halfway up the stairs he was there with me, I reached down and grabbed his ear and gave it a gentle squeeze and he nudged my leg in our familiar routine. When he was a tiny puppy he had the hugest ears and paws, he was such an adorable little thing, over the many years since that time, he had grown into both his ears and paws but still had the same look in his big expressive eyes.

We reached the top of the stairs and I settled myself on the single step on the turn to the next part of the landing. I could hear the music and laughter from downstairs and was glad of this moment of quiet. I felt Harvey sit down next to me on the step and lean into me, I put my arm around him, we had certainly been through a lot together him and I. On the wall opposite was a huge full length mirror, it was quite disconcerting seeing myself in such detail! I looked at my dress which had seemed a good idea when I had got ready earlier in the day but now looked incongruous with me squatting on a step, as the party raged downstairs.

I was staring at my reflection in that big mirror, when I took my eyes from my own face and looked at dear Harvey sitting next to me. And then it happened...a shared moment that sent shivers down my spine and gave me a tingly feeling all over.

As I caught his eye in the reflection, I smiled at him and watched as he instantly wagged his tail in response, then I watched, as he 'saw' his own tail wagging and as he looked at it, I saw a flicker of something in his eyes as he stared back up at himself in the mirror. In that moment of dawning recognition, something changed and I saw the new realisation in his eyes. He had actually 'recognised' himself in the mirror. He knew it was him!

He then looked at me and back at himself, then at me again, as I burst out laughing and hugged him while getting my ear well and truly licked.

Dogs have 'aha' moments too.

(A memory triggered by things talked about in the comments of my previous post.)

.]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/__show_article/_a000283-000168.htm 2010-02-27T13:24:06Z 2010-02-27T13:37:13Z Quote for Today

"We begin life with the world presenting itself to us as it is. Someone - our parents, teachers, analysts - hypnotizes us to "see" the world and construe it in the "right" way.

These others label the world, attach names and give voices to the beings and events in it, so that thereafter, we cannot read the world in any other language or hear it saying other things to us.

The task is to break the hypnotic spell, so that we become undeaf, unblind and multilingual, thereby letting the world speak to us in new voices and write all its possible meanings in the new book of our existence.

Be careful in your choice of hypnotists."

- Sidney Jourard

.
]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v283/__show_article/_a000283-000167.htm 2010-02-21T21:05:12Z 2010-02-21T21:06:05Z