mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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Distracted or Connected?
June 2, 2014
— 2 Comments
palo verde
The options we have for communication now boggle the mind. Some minds seem to be desperately boggled by what it takes to tell a story or get a message out to the world today. It is easier than ever because of all the free platforms we can use. It is harder than ever to reach individuals because the competition has grown to include just about everyone on earth. Our message must be not only short and sweet, but must also strike a universal chord. Leonardo da Vinci, especially toward the end of his life, often wrote about thinking in reverse: “Consider first the end.” and “Think well to the end.” were examples of his frequent statements on this subject. Leonardo left us with designs for flying machines and engineering that had not yet been proven when he died. His legacy is his art, certainly. He also left us a very strong and lasting gift of his philosophy. His practice of connessione refined his sense of mysticism and wholeness. He sought and found deep connection with all creation that inspired his work.
If you feel connected in a big way, or to a power larger than your own, confidence and ease are natural. On the other hand, if you feel disconnected from something greater it is possible to entirely loose touch with a realistic self image. We do not hold onto the same ideas or ideals for our entire life. The concept of connection may replace true connection, or maybe we always felt like we were separate and drifting. Now we can substitute chat/tweet/youtube views for personal relationships. The illusion that these clicks and likes make us part of a clubby group might just be the ruin of true connecting. Take a look at your physical worldly connections (so to speak) and how they relate or substitute for spiritual contact. I don’t think you need to join a religion or go to a certain building to make contemplation and meditation a part of your own practice. I feel connected to spirit whenever I:
- listen to almost any music
- dance
- sing
- use color in a creative way (cook, paint, sew, combine,etc)
- observe the heavens at night
- immerse myself in water
- watch the surf
- hear poetry
- write poetry
This list is only a partial, and ever changing accounting of my own ways to notice connessione, or systems. Once you start to think about it you find that everything does depend on everything else, and we are all connected. If you feel distracted and want to center your thoughts, remember all the ways the universe has collaborated to create you and keep you alive. The systems that create us also sustain us.
aloe
Congress, Creativity, Connessione
September 27, 2013
— 3 Comments
Watching the US congressional dramatists perform for the nation I wonder how these folks make contact with reality. Systems thinking, or connessione provides a holistic, integrated, well proportioned view. The interests of many networks can be connected for the good of the entire system. Our congressional employees seem stuck on the idea that hostile, unproductive bickering is what the taxpayers deserve. Fractured care for our precious resources is eroding the national confidence. Rather than forming natural helpful alliances bills are created with purposeful conflicts of interests from the get go. It looks as if these representatives of the people are on some kind of very bad bummer trip, unable to view any kind of broad picture for fear of heavy freak out. They use their imaginations and creativity to whip up disharmony rather than working to connect the whole.
How can we use our own creativity as taxpayers to force these clowns to get it together on behalf of the American people? Can we imagine them working for us rather than wasting our money? I find that difficult. In the season of Halloween let us consult history and the ancestors to learn from the past. How did our ancestors off insane rulers? There have been plenty of them. We must connect the dots to understand the deep lessons history teaches. We must find the strength and the will to create a congress that works for us. We are capable of balance, even if we are not witnessing it in our elected officials.
Arte/Scienza
August 8, 2013
— 3 Comments
Leonardo da Vinci said, “Study the science of art and the art of science.” Today his advice to find balance between creative imagination and logical discovery is sage, indeed. We are swayed by evidence and data, which is appropriate. Adding the equal amount of pure artistry is the tricky part for most people. Leonardo lived Arte/Scienza as one of his core values. He worked to become ambidextrous because he thought it added to his whole brain thinking. I am sure it did.
He used mind mapping in his notebooks. One of his mottos was ostinate rigore which was important to his sense of detail. To be both detail driven and expansive in creativity was his goal. The free association and creative style thinking he used had never been promoted before Leonardo. He not only taught and believed in an infinity of ideas, his notebooks show us that he recorded a good number of them while he was alive. Notebooks with records of nightly dreams are a wonderful way to add to your own right brain training and attention. It is not as important to go into detail as it is to begin a practice of writing them down directly after awakening. If you follow a daily routine the dream memory will become stronger as you practice. Your own dreams contain both art and science that you need to create balance.
Corporalita
July 19, 2013
— 2 Comments
Leonardo, the maestro, was guided by core principals. Cultivation of grace ambidexterity, fitness, and poise were central to Da Vincian thought. He viewed healing as “restoration of discordant elements” in a person. His copious notes on personal responsibility for our own health and well being were left for history. Many think of the Mona Lisa smile as his signature work, but probably the best known of all his art work is the anatomical range of motion dude in a circle and square known as Vitruvian Man. His study of anatomy was accompanied by observation of his own body in relation to his wellness and fitness routine. His self portraits are studies in facial anatomy as well as in painting technique.
He advised people to dine, not eat. One of his many specialities was preparing vast feasts and party catering for wealthy Florentines. He collected knowledge about food and nutrition, recording recipes. He was known about town as having “more than infinite grace in every action”. His cultivation of effortless poise and ambidexterity in his own body made him famous in a rock star way. Florentines would come out on the street for the thrill of seeing Leonardo walking. His notebooks reflect a focus on balance, posture, and centering.
His favorite metaphor was the human body. It is also my own. If you consider any entity it will have a head, a heart, a circulatory system, consumption, and processing of waste. It will have dynamic balance and movement. It will present itself as open or closed, happy or sad. It will have chronic maladies and moods, a backbone, and sharp or weak senses. Often the right hand will not know what the left hand is doing. Next time you need to analyze an institution or business use this metaphor to create a picture in your mind. Ponder one of the maestro’s most famous observations, “every part is disposed to unite with the whole, that it may thereby escape from its own incompleteness.” At this moment, gentle reader, can you see how this applies to you?
Vitruvian Man
Sensazione
April 3, 2013
— 9 Comments
Refinement of all the senses leads to a full and more interesting life. Leonardo da Vinci was a student of all phenomena. His seven guiding principals for living were at the heart of all his work. They are his core values, upon which his reputation rests. By reading his notebooks and studying his drawings we can see that his constant eagle eye was at work observing nature. Sensazione, or the development of all the senses, was a big reason Leonardo became as productive as he did. He felt that by making notes and drawings of his sensual observations he grasped more of the meaning around him. He used his notebooks to create, invent, and make beautiful art.
He gives advise on keeping a listener engaged by carefully noting his posture, body language, and facial expressions. By focus and intent to see clearly sight can be developed into insight. The training of all the senses to be more apt, more receptive, and more able to understand reality was a lifetime practice of the master. Vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch and synesthesia (the ability to describe one sense in terms of another) were all parts of this whole. Sight became the best developed of his abilities, which contributed to his artistic talent.
How do you use your senses to take in the world? Have you ever tried to improve on what you have in the sense department? I was a potter for many years, so my sense of touch was developed beyond the others during that time. I had to feel the center of the wheel, and the thickness of the clay with precision or….no pot was made…back to mud. Taste and smell may be my most developed senses now. I cook, bake, and experiment as a cocktail creator. I like making a variety of teas and baths with my garden herbs. Do you have one particular sense that is your strongest? We know what Leonardo would do. He would forever practice to refine them all.
Connessione
March 19, 2013
— 2 Comments
Systems thinking was described by Leonardo da Vinci as “Everything is connected to everything else”. He called this connessione, or connection. Now that we study quantum physics, we can see that Leonardo’s concern with the connectedness of all things was ahead of his time. Ecology is the whole picture, with all the actions and reactions charted, considered and studied. Man has now reached the conclusion that the unenlightened connections to our environment are probably destroying the future of man.
Where and how do you connect with all of creation? We can think of many examples of disconnection….government, education, so called health care, all the failed and failing systems created without any thought of wholeness and balanced contribution. How do you effect the world around you and how does it effect you? Are you aware of any connections in your life? What is the most important intellectual connection you have made up to this point? I notice that resources abound for those who notice, respect, and care for them. I have connected human greed, depression and insatiable consumption of resources as a single downward spiral. I believe that mindless overconsumption of everything around us is our biggest threat.
Leonardo observed,” every part is disposed to unite with the whole, that it may thereby escape from its own incompleteness.” How do you apply this idea?
Intended Consequences
July 16, 2012
When the separate fluid streams in life..your athletic stream, your family stream, your professional stream, your fashion stream, and infinitely tiny streams of all kinds are all running in different directions, you live in the delta of waste. Running from one separate watershed to the next must mean that all the others are ignored to concentrate on a single stream of activity or thought for a period of time. The downstream result of so many running but untended sources is flooding. How does a flash flood of misdirection make itself known? There are warning signs when one becomes unable to tend all the investments that have been made. There may be dramatic messages from others who either blame you or encourage you to continue to loose focus. There is cultural agreement that society is in general unhealthy and overextended which seems to act as an alibi for lack of consciousness. Stress is blamed, nurtured, managed, and released according to one’s ability to coordinate life’s diverse responsibilities.
If you been and ended your days differently, how could you asses your situation with more calmness and effectiveness? The “thesis” of the day can be set like a 500 word paper, outlined with some organizational points, and some focus is added. The end of the day can feature a brief review to notice if and how the theme of the day has been carried out or not. From Leonardo da Vinci to Ben Franklin the creative among us have devised systems to do this kind of intention setting followed by a scientific measurement of success. We can all benefit from a system that allows us to know ourselves and the different roles we play in our own liberation and happiness.
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