"We are all wanderers on this earth...our hearts are full of wonder, and our souls are deep with dreams." ~ Gypsy proverb

Monday, January 30, 2012

Seeking stillness


"In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you." ~ Deepak Chopra



“You and I can turn and look at the silent river and wait. 
We know the current is there, hidden; and there are comings 
and goings from miles away that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say.”
~William Stafford 

There was busyness abound. Birthday parties, bowling, packing and storing. Yet, my favorite part of the weekend was the stillness. Reading and resting in my favorite corner, and a walk on the trail to visit the old oak tree near the lake.

It would take 7, maybe 8 adults to wrap around the trunk of this tree. How many times have I tried to take it's photo? How many times, to no avail, have I tried to capture the grandeur, the spirit, the stillness of this great grandfather? Too many. Stillness can't be captured, taught, or taken. Stillness is a hush that begins quietly within. The nearer and longer I stood with him, the denser the curtain of calmness became. Soon... I was still.

"No thought, no action, no movement, total stillness: only thus can one manifest the true nature and law of things from within and unconsciously, and at last become one with heaven and earth." ~Lao Tzu

Good Monday to you...

xoxo

Linking with Amanda for Weekending, and with Bella for 52 Photo's Project {where I lay my head down}

33 comments:

  1. I am in love with your tree! It looks huge and majestic. I think you captured its stillness perfectly-Happy Monday! I hope your sweater progress is progressing :)

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  2. Dropping by as I have missed you. Mystical captures. Hope you are well. :) Have a great week.

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  3. Love this post! All of it! The photos, the emotions (oh yes my friend they are seeping through) and that tree! Oh that tree. wonderful.

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  4. I almost put a similar picture of my oak tree up today,but decided to wait until Thursday {we seem to be on the same wave lately MJ.} Stillness was my favorite part of the weekend too! :)

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  5. Beautiful tree! I bet you will miss those. Inner stillness, what a gift! It brings new eyes to situations.

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  6. Stillness is a wonderful thing!! And I've seen your pictures of that tree for sometime now and it's that big? Wow... just shows that sometimes the perspective can be different. Majestic!!

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  7. I am loving your photos. While it's not being completely still, I am taking some time to sit on my keister and knit while the kids are still awake. That oak tree is so grand, just wonderful.
    Happy week to you!

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  8. you’re so good at seeing what’s required and nailing it down with words. beautiful tree, too. i love the mighty oak.

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  9. Love William Stafford, there is such a sense of stillness to his writings :)
    I'd love to sit under the shade of that old Great grandfather tree. I bet he has some stories to tell :)

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  10. really beautiful mj, you have a wonderful eye. stillness can be felt in these photos. your girl is so sweet and lovely and i love love love oak trees. yours is gorgeous.

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  11. I sure do love that wondrous old tree....

    happy monday to you too!

    xo
    cortnie

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  12. adore that tree. utterly wonderful. must be in it's 3rd century?
    those quiet moments must have been gold ;)

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  13. As a child, I would have loved to play around that old tree. As an adult, I would love to sit in its shade, with a good book. So hard to be still at times, no? We built a fire in our fireplace this weekend, and sat in our living room for a while. Ahhhh...

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  14. oh your corner looks so peaceful. i think i would be happy seeking stillness curled up in that comfy chair.

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  15. Those pictures are beautiful and "stillness" is such a fitting title to go with them. This is probably my favourite post today as I could really do with some calm time-out... Thanks for this :-) Have a lovely week ahead xo

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  16. That tree! Oh, how I miss weepy oaks. We just don't have grand storyteller trees like that here. Your photos made me recall my northern Florida days, days spent on rivers watching blue herons and egrets while dipping my toes in the water or launching off a rope swing...

    A good Monday to YOU!

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  17. Oh yes stillness. Hard to come by, but so much sweeter when we find it because it is such a treasure. And during the hell of packing, no less.
    I am impressed.
    Wishing you more pockets of stillness to go with your joy.
    Cheers,
    Leah

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  18. i'm a tree lover, hugger too. the banyans really impressed me in miami. we have a lot of oaks here and i do love them. they are mostly coastal scrub oaks and look different from yours here - the foliage at least. i like the chopra quote. that's always a good one for mamas.

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  19. seeking stillness and finding it, it seems. and you are teaching another to do the same? or is she teaching you?

    the tree is stunning. i can't imagine but i try to.

    beautiful images.

    xo
    erin

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  20. You did it - you captured him. the spirit - and the voice...

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  21. sweet MJ. You did capture the beauty of stillness.
    lovely photos today.
    XO

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  22. Oh, you did it -- you captured that tree! How beautiful.

    This post is wonderful MJ, and some inspiring words that speak to me this morning!

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  23. It may be difficult to capture it's image, though you got an incredible one, but you seem to have succeeded in capturing it with words. I'm in awe, again. Thank you! That (your) quote on stillness is another I think I'll write down and tack up on a wall.

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  24. oh stillness. this is the time of year i want to sit outside and do nothing. just be and breathe and look.

    we have a favorite tree too and i was so happy when i was able to get a good photo of it for the future. it too is so special to us.

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  25. your photographs are beautiful....stillness...I love it.xxx

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  26. Friend, February is good but March is even better! Hold on to your stillness (and soak in that Grandfather glory) and before you know it, you'll be here, basking in the Rocky Mountain Spring goodness.

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  27. and that moss.... soak it up sister. no moss like that in these parts. ox

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  28. adore. I think you've captured a deep and expanding soul there. I love his mossy fingertips. Stillness keeps eluding me these days, but I'm going to fish it out with some smoking sage. I can feel it.
    Hope you're having a restful week thus far.

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  29. you captured the tree beautifully.
    trees have been my muse lately, and that tree is gorgeous.
    yes ... stillness.

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  30. the quotes, your photographs, your writing, expresses my thought about stillness.
    how much we get get from it. the best teacher of all ....


    xoxo from d

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  31. Your prose is so calming, MJ. Stillness - such an important thing to remember to be sometimes.

    xo

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  32. Loving these calm photos,
    these quiet places :)

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“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
~ George Bernard Shaw