the playground

new playground

2010-04-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

I am posting things I find inspiring over on my tumblr blog and won't post much here anymore - moving in a new direction it seems and if you would like to check it out ... I am calling it natural beauty and the link is http://aunatural.tumblr.com/

Love,
Mikaelah

2010-04-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

Artist: Ann Weber
via

2010-04-10T10:13:00.001-07:00

Anam Cara

Anam Cara, Gaelic for "soul friend," is an ancient journey down a nearly forgotten path of wisdom into what it means to be human.

via akira studios

2010-04-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

Autumn by Duy Huynh

2010-04-10T09:47:00.001-07:00

happy easter

2010-04-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

2010-04-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

2010-03-13T13:38:00.001-08:00

ICELAND from Gunnar Konradsson on Vimeo.

2010-02-08T09:38:00.001-08:00

2010-01-12T11:33:00.001-08:00

Patience from Glowing Heads on Vimeo.

2009-12-13T14:46:00.001-08:00

Untitled from Rami Lob on Vimeo.

Lantern Festival

2009-10-31T13:54:00.001-07:00

Tabla Drumming

2009-10-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

noticing

2009-10-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is.

In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness:

touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it

because in the last analysis all moments are key moments...

and life itself is grace."

- Frederick Buechner

2009-09-28T09:13:00.001-07:00

"Love after Love"

by Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

The Obama Plan for Healthcare in 4 minutes

2009-09-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

2009-09-14T10:55:00.001-07:00

2009-09-12T16:21:00.001-07:00

How Art Happens...

2009-09-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

"The inspiration can come from anywhere, but it is necessary to be aware." J. Agnelli

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn't the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.

I sent the music to the photographer, Paulo Pinto, who I Googled on the internet. He told his editor, who told a reporter and the story ended up as an interview in the very same newspaper.

Here I've posted a short video made with the photo, the music and the score (composed by the birds).

Music made with Logic.
Video made with After Effects.

The newspaper story about my work (O Estado de São Paulo): tinyurl.com/l4qdbg

soothsaying...

2009-08-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

My thoughts keep soothing me.

"so, do you love your thoughts yet? " -bkatie

round

2009-08-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Earth was small, light blue, and so touchingly alone, our home that must be defended like a holy relic. The Earth was absolutely round. I believe I never knew what the word round meant until I saw Earth from space.

Aleksei Leonov, USSR

b.1934

the presents...

2009-08-20T11:25:00.001-07:00

The present moment is not allowed to live in me ...
when I ...

MIRROR mirror

2009-08-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Look how a mirror will reflect with perfect equanimity all actions before it.

There is no act in this world that will ever cause the mirror to look away.

There is no act in this world that will ever make the mirror say "no."

The mirror, like perfect love, will just keep giving of itself to all before it.

How did the mirror ever get like that?

It watched God.

Hafiz

There's no relationship out there.
There is only the reflection of what you are doing inside yourself and how you're dealing with relationships inside of you, not out there.

From The Tao of Spirit by John-Roger

Open, Closed, Open.

2009-07-14T01:53:00.001-07:00

4

Open closed open.
Before we are born, everything is open
in the universe without us.
For as long as we live,
everything is closed within us.
And when we die,
everything is open again.
Open closed open.
That’s all we are.

excerpts from open, closed, open:

7

I believe with perfect faith that at this very moment
millions of human beings are standing at crossroads
and intersections, in jungles and deserts,
showing each other where to turn, what the right way is,
which direction. They explain exactly where to go,
what is the quickest way to get there, when to stop
and ask again. There, over there. The second
turnoff, not the first, and from there left or right,
near the white house, by the oak tree.
They explain with excited voices, with a wave of the hand
and a nod of the head: There, over there, not that there, the other there,
as in some ancient rite. This too is a new religion.
I believe with perfect faith that at this very moment.

--By Yehuda Amichai
An israeli Poet

The Place Where We Are Right

2009-07-12T01:14:00.000-07:00

by Yehuda Amichai

From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.

The place where we are right
Is hard and trampled
Like a yard.

But doubts and loves
Dig up the world
Like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined
House once stood.

touching and being touched

2009-06-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

"The more alert we become to the blessing that flows into us through everything we touch....
the more our own touch will bring blessing."

David Steindl-Rast
A Listening Heart

...now this gives a whole new meaning to housecleaning for me...
and how I touch things ... and take in what touches me.
And I have to admit, I have not been alert at all to the blessing that comes just from touching. This is good for my mind to be confused. ~~It doesn't get this at all and wants to dismiss it as nonsense.~~ So, that is my clue it must be something worth investigating. (I found the above scratched out line to be a lie.)

If anyone has any working knowledge of this, please share!

you are not really...

2009-06-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

Sir Ian is on to something here
-
the illusion is so great
-
I loved Bambi's big eyes
-
taking it all in
-
incredulous.

I don't have to know what to say
-it's all in the script
which I have memorized before
this play
called my life
ever
began.

Well, that is where I went with it anyway.

What if..

2009-06-02T08:04:00.000-07:00

I completely stopped avoiding myself.

I am still working with the thoughts from yesterday posted below...

The image that comes to this mind
is a person stopping in her tracks
turning around
seeing her shadow self
and saying
oh!
hi there!
Did you want something?
Did you want to say something?
And beginning a friendship.

With what is in the shadows.

coming out of hiding

2009-06-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

I read this about a week ago in the book "The End of Your World" by
Adyashanti and it continues to resonate with me - so I am posting it here to reflect back on for awhile as it interests me alot.

It is in reference to a talk he had given on how truth manifests in the context of life after awakening. He asked the audience to consider with him the following kinds of questions:
What if we did not avoid anything we knew to be true?
What if we came out of hiding in all areas of our life?
What if we completely stopped avoiding ourselves, because that literally is the awakened life?

The following day a man in his 50's or 60's shared this..." I was listening to the talk last night about truthfulness, about being honest, about having a willingness to face oneself as one is and not hide in some past realization.

My wife and I have been on the edge of a divorce for some time ...when we went home after the talk we sat down and began to tell each other what was true for ourselves. He said it wasn't like trying to convince each other or about being right and the other being wrong ... it was just telling the truth. It was confessing exactly what they had been experiencing for a long time... that they felt separate and distant from each other, confessing the very secrets that were causing them to feel separate and isolated.

We actually just sat there and told each other the truth. I would tell something and she would tell her truth and it went back and forth ... not trying to work anything out... not trying to come up with any conclusions or solutions ... simply coming out of hiding. They talked from 11pm to 3am and he said it was the most extraordinary evening of his entire lifetime... just that evening of telling the truth."

So,the author continues by saying that most people have a fear of being honest not only with others, but also with themselves - the core being that if they were totally sincere and truthful they would no longer be able to control anyone. (or have the illusion of control I am guessing.) He says, we cannot control those with whom we have been truthful. (no room for manipulations it looks like to me.)

Total sincere honesty wipes out the illusion of control. Most people have a fear of being seen ...

"...truth is not what we think, not our opinion...not dumping our garbage onto someone else... When we tell the truth it has the sense of confession. A coming out of hiding. It is a simple thing. It is a speaking from a sense of total and absolute unprotectedness."

Sounds like fun, hey?

2009-05-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

wrapping it up

2009-05-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

Furoshiki gift wrapping from RecycleNow on Vimeo.

its always been my choice

2009-05-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

"If I resist what happens, I am at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine my happiness and unhappiness."

e.tolle from Oneness With All Life.

2009-05-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

2009-05-08T07:23:00.001-07:00

2009-05-03T14:45:00.001-07:00

chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

art everywhere

2009-05-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

this delights me

smile

2009-04-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

you CAN'T do it wrong!
actually... you can't do anything wrong.
get used to it.

seeing

2009-04-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

Start seeing everything as God ` but keep it a secret. - hafiz

killing the 'me' softly

2009-04-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

i only say to people what i most need to hear
sometimes i need to repeat myself many, many, many times - to hear it and take it in.
so if i do repeat
it is because i missed something
and i hit replay
replay
replay.

it's repetitious
in the way
i wanted to hear One fish Two fish a
gazillion times
a week.
again!
again!
again!

talk less.
listen more.
take notes if necessary.
use periods to the extreme.
slow it downnn.

Going slowly helps
Short sentences help

Less is more.
i do what helps.

(advice happens this way too... so take any i might give with a huge grain of salt and give it right back to me ... and thank you!)

Bodhisattva happens

2009-04-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

joy

2009-04-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

Duality ...one thing or the other.
JOY ... everything with no other.

Let whatever is here now , kiss you

2009-04-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

Have you tried to let go?
You cannot.
No-one has ever succeeded in letting go.
Letting go is not for you.
Letting go is the end of someone trying to let go;
So do not try to let go. It will strengthen the whole game.
Don’t try to not think; it will strengthen the thinking.
Don’t try to transcend your patterns; it will strengthen the patterns.
The biggest pattern of all patterns is trying to get rid of patterns.

What should I do then?

Nothing.
Simply be available for this moment to kiss you.
When your partner comes home,
you are available for him to kiss you.
Maybe he will, maybe he won’t; but you are available.
Then the kiss is really sweet, because it is free of ‘me’.
Let whatever is here now kiss you.
Just receive life without doing.
Just receive what is given.

We are so busy living life, we have largely forgotten
what it is to simply receive life and let life live us;
to be unconditionally available for this moment to have us
and to recognise that every moment is the beloved,
whatever it contains. This moment is it.
In this moment, the beloved kisses you.
This moment is God.

- Tathagata from the book Given

Mysteries, Yes -- Mary Oliver

2009-04-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

Mysteries, Yes

Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds
will never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say
"Look!" and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.

~ Mary Oliver ~

Honoring Others

2009-04-07T14:12:00.001-07:00

and eventually
realizing
there are no others.

relationships...

2009-04-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

I am investigating new ways of being in the kitchen and forming relationships with foods that are friendlier. Recipes welcome.

2009-04-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

My husband just surprised me with a kindle!

Here's the open secret: There is no beginning of time, only a beginning of thought. It arises from the I, the subtlest thought of all, which splits reality down the middle, creating this and that, inner and outer, and all the other mirrored 0's and 1's that make up this apparent universe. Then, suddenly, one fine day, mind realizes that it knows nothing, that it is nothing, and sets itself free. Being? Non-being? Give me a break.

The above quote is from my first kindle purchase... The Second Book of the Tao by Stephen Mitchell.

home grown spaghetti

2009-04-01T10:15:00.001-07:00

I found some rare footage documenting the harvest of spaghetti.

Few people are aware of the origins of spaghetti - but not the residents of this little town in heart of Switzerland. In the early days, before factories began to artificially produce spaghetti in record quantities, it was grown locally and was very plentiful. Now there are but a few farms left and the entire crops are usually sold to residents of the town who place their orders months in advance. Some restaurants also vie for orders of this delicate pasta and because of the limited supply, they are forced to participate in lotteries for the delicacy. The lotteries help the farmers stay in business and contain the costs of growing such a crop.

competition revealed

2009-03-31T11:31:00.000-07:00

one love

2009-03-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

I took a long time off from posting on my little website and now I feel like it again and am surprised that all I want to put up are videos. I spent a lot of time working to get Obama in the White House ... now it is time to kick back a bit ... no - not really. We are having an open house tomorrow for people who are interested in Health Care in the States to share ideas...

a good day

2009-03-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

When I view this video, I like to enlarge it to fill the whole computer screen and then look into all the people's eyes as they come onto the screen. I watch this video every day now - and the previous one sings in my head... "one love...one heart... let's get together and feel alright..." I love you tube has such wonderful images to share.