Saturday, February 27, 2021

UP AND RUNNING!

* "I appreciate the beauty and resiliency of nature and strive to strengthen those aspects of myself," Shirley MacLaine


"What does up and running mean?"


Wait for it! 

See Spots Run: I am a sprinter~ running a marathon?


**  "I had a dream and then I got real!"  
Rick Green, comedian humor and insight 

"And I dreamed I was running," Oh, it was so much fun!  I felt every sensation of actually running a distance, a marathon rather than a sprint.  How did this happen?  


Dreamscape

A small group of non competitive running friends gathered, let's say 10-15 people of all ages from kids to "Gran on the Run."   Sprinters, joggers, slow or fast paced, Cheetah Speed Walkers, every one at own comfort level.  Some stopped for awhile to enjoy the sun and scene, rest as needed, or practice Stretching, Yoga, or Tai Chi/Qigong.  Free from agenda, time trials, stopwatch,  "Your Run Your Way."

"Honor Your Body" 



In the dream:

I felt every footfall and joy of the run, arms and legs pumping comfortably.  How can this be?


Courage

I thought of the wild wolf and horse running free in mountains and plains.  I thought of the stamina of these animals, so strong and mighty.  





***  "Watching a horse run without effort is a joy to behold,"  Out of the Blue Post Free As the Wind



The path and terrain varied and expanded as we ran.  The setting was rural, the path/road sometimes winding, sometimes straight, sometimes paved, sometimes not.   It was run on a one lane rural road, no traffic, no houses or farms. Some hills, some dales, some fields, some brush, "somewhere."  The setting could have been in a variety of countries.

The colors and climate were vivid, spring emerging:  soft breezes, hues danced and played in the hazy sun from ochres to dark tall water grasses, some tender spring shoots sprouting, a sprinkle of trees, a scattering of clouds, a bit of red/purple reflecting from rocks, patches of sand and more. 


 A Dream Came Alive. 

What IS THIS?

After an eternity of running we came to a small sturdy wooden bridge, we sprinted across it and heard the sounds of running shoes striking wood.  Then, ahead if us was a path up a hill~ a substantial hill!  

I turned to my running friend and said, "How far IS THIS?"
I felt like I was back in school gym class trying to run around the athletic field (puff, pant), yet I was not tired at all? 


We laughed heartily:
"You make me feel like a child again!"

I thought "accept the day as it unfolds!" (really difficult).


The pathless path unfolds one step, one breath at a time.  "Your Path Your Way~"

Then!  I awoke!  I felt wonderful!  Really felt like I had been running  in my dream in a positive and healthy way~ rejuvenated yet peaceful.  My heart was energized and calm, not racing.  A virtual work out~ without Zoom, phone  or other online connections is possible.


**** "I am in perfect health"  Deepak Chopra 

"I am strong, agile, flexible, and spontaneous."


+ "All is possible with the mind," Paul Lam, M.D. 


Breathe, Repeat, Believe


Blog Search Key Word "Dream"

Related Posts:
See Spots Run. Cheetahs at work and play

Together and Alone, wolf stories and poem, a black wolf called Courage.

Free as the Wind, a horse running for the fun of it

Book Bag, random notes tossed in a bag become stories:  "it's all random"

Amazing Race, fun with spontaneous words.


Resources:

Suggested Positive Inspirational Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn: 
Arvind Hirpara

Runners Loving Running
Spirituality and Spiritual Souls


* Shirley MacLaine, dancer, actress, author, spiritual teacher, quote from Shirley Gram Feb-Mar 2021

** Rick Green, humor and insight, a comedian and help for adults with ADD/ADHD, quote posted in Out of the Blue post Book Bag, March 24, 2013

*** Quote from Free as the Wind, Out of the Blue post, June 11, 2015

**** Quotes, Deepak Chopra, M.D, meditation help, choprameditation

+ Quote, Paul Lam, M.D., taichiforhealthinstitute.org

TV/Online
natgeowild: The Rise of Black Wolf, "a wolf like no other."

PBS Equus: the story of the horse, also Nature and Nova series

Animal Planet (APL): Big Cat Diary (40 years of BCD) and newer segments Big Cat Tales, focus: Lions, Leopards, and Cheetah families in the Masai Mara. Jonathon Scott and other experts, respect for animals and nature

Music:
John Denver:  Fly Away
Enya, Ebudae 

Dahlis Roy:  Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Practitioner

Oil Paintings by Dahlis

See Spots Run, Cheetahs sprinting for the fun of It

Courage, black wolf

Free As the Wind, horse play

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

THE BLUE-ING

What is "The Blue-ing?"  I have watched it for years.  Inviting cats to watch the blue light meld into the winter landscape is relaxing, a bit of quiet, like a comfort blanket of meditation as the shifting light begins to glow then fade into deep purple darkness.   




Lit Up Blue


I chuckled as I recalled my Mom used to add a dark blue cube of solid "blueing" into to the white laundry to add a bit of glow as it melted and rinsed out.  I was fascinated by the color of indigo dye used in those days.  The clothes didn't turn bluish at all but brightened a bit.  My mom loved to iron, calming for her.  The sheets. pillow cases, and "real cotton" white shirts all got ironed with loving care.  Some starch was used on various items like shirt collars.  I liked the smell of starch and fresh clean cotton.  

No wonder I never iron!  Paint took over~


Around 3 PM in the winter afternoons, sometimes the light has a yellow cast, depending on the sun-cloud reflection and refractions.  About 4 PM I sense "pink" tints on the snow.  These are mostly on cloudy-bright days.  Of course!  The favorite "blue-lavender" shadows and streaks of tree shadows sometimes appear!  My Favorite~ sun on shadow patterns are here.  Oh so blue~

I love to watch the "red rays" enter too, brightening the "red brown fence" near us and turning a beige house "pink!"  In the distance I see a yellow house "light up" with lemon yellow, cookie cutter pictures clipped from Edward Hopper paintings.  Even better, some early sunset lights appear in bright orange.  Trees  and twigs "light up" with a glistening brilliance of unbelievable orange-gold, just for a few minutes.

Bright orange, pink and silver lining sunsets pop up like firecrackers!  Again, in 5 minutes, you have already missed the display.  

Some early lighting events may be forest green, so lush and piney.  And then the blue begins to slowly creep into the semi twilight, ice blue with a tint of green brightens our world.  




Curtains of darker blue then purple blue happen quickly.  A feast for the eyes and heart.  Darkness falls and the world seems silent.  


Blu-ing also happens in reverse starting at first light.  Different directions of light through windows give various hues.  For example, to the West this AM, the light was lighter blue than to the East?   A great Eastern blend of purple-blue, so quiet and expectant before the pillars of light spike up and brighten the sunrise area soon to appear.  

In a recent sunrise, a bright pink pillar of light soon turned into fiery orange with huge purple clouds cradling the rising sun.  

* Tiny ice crystals may cause a spike of light.


In the mountains you may see a purple-lavender-pink-orange effect as the sun rises and the visible spectrum enlarges and envelopes your senses.




Beams of natural sunlight warm the mountain painting


** Full Spectrum light is so important to view and enjoy!  Your heart sings!  I have never gotten up for first light (willingly) but now I enjoy it daily along with the fall of twilight.


The evening blue-ing is happening right now outside~ gotta run~ 


Blogger Search Key Words: Blue Light, rainbows, painting, photography


Related Posts:

The Pink Rainbow

Light Returning, the days are getting longer now~ daylight and sunshine is returning

Lavender Blue. perceptions of light and color


Resources:

* ABC News 57, local South Bend, Elkhart, IN and MIchiana, Feb 10, 2021, weather information provided by expert team.

** Dan Pardi, Stanford University, specializes in studies of the effects of full spectrum natural light

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and The Cosmos, Possible Worlds ( visual online series), various topics.  One of my favorite episodes is Magic Without Lies, The Wave/Particle Duality.   

Victor Weiskoff, Knowledge and Wonder, book, (1960's) "Light is both a particle and a wave...."


Music:

Enya, Ebudae, Only Time Collection

Dvorak, Largo from the New World (Symphony)


Creativity:

Quilting Arts, PBS.org, blends of quilting, painting, and sewing techniques you have never imagined.


Exercise/Meditation:

Dr. Paul Lam, Tai Chi for Health Institute, online worldwide, exercises for health

Dr., Yang, Jwing-ming, WMAA.com,  author, Taiji, Qigong, and More, online from Kathy Yang (You Tube) Waking and Sleeping Qigong (energy work exercises)

Nature Walks: "Get out in nature and make your own discoveries!" Dr. Scott the Paleontologist, on The Dinosaur Train, PBS Kids.org

Deepak Chopra, MD, meditation online


Dahlis Roy:  Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Practitioner


Oil Paintings by Dahlis:

Lit Up Blue, blue paint on white canvas photographed in sunlight

Sunlight on Blue Star painting,  shafts of light touch the canvas

Natural Sunrise Light on Mountains 

Saturday, January 2, 2021

INTEND BETTER

 


Happy New Year!  

 How Are You?  


Signing into Out of the Blue....

I feel I am * Running to Stand Still. This title of a U2 song intrigued me as I pulled it out of a tray of music CD's (yes, CD's) of many styles of music.  At random I select..."It's all random."  I give the music a play (repeat track) and found some honesty and comfort there.  I have a table full of scribbled notes, but before I write, to relax a moment, I read an online newsletter: 

Just What I Need "Write Now!"

** "I will look at the past with appreciation for the lessons I was provided and look to the future with the intent of understanding how these lessons have helped enlighten me," Shirley MacLaine

And so, the writing begins.  As with painting, I grow with the flow, dancing and playing with words or paintbrushes brings joy into my heart~ my soul self.  I never really know what will write/paint itself, a creative mystery expands.  

Enjoy It!  Creative expressions of all kinds open doors and windows into the beyond.  Creativity brings calming to a runaway mile a minute mind, Head's Pace, the runaway, becomes a calmer Headspace. 

Focused...Positive

***I read another online newsletter from Dr. Paul Lam, Tai Chi expert.

 Lao Tzu C. 600 BC:

"Simplicity

Patience

Compassion 

These Are Your Three Greatest Treasures"


How do you maintain inner harmony?

Think about it?  

Write about it, draw or paint, play outdoors, call a friend, help a pet, grow a plant, watch the stars, Tai Chi and Yoga, meditate, take notes, read, and many more ways to reach out gently.

** "These are some of the ways we maintain the harmony within," Shirley MacLaine


+ "Intend Better," Deepak Chopra. M.D., meditation expert


The above painting was painted from a sunset, but it can also be viewed as a sunrise~


Blogger Search Words: New Year

Related Posts

Tonal Vision ( the power of music and frequencies in our lives.  I am a "one Track Pony" one track repeated over and over gives me the predictability of music and words, then calming/relaxing benefits of creativity unfold effortlessly.  "Repeat Trackers of the World Unite!"

The Newest Year

Light Returning, already the daylight is longer!


Resources

* Song of the Day:  Running to Stand Still, U2, The Joshua Tree album

** Shirley MacLaine, actress, author, dancer, spiritual teacher, online Newsletter, Shirley Gram Dec 2020-Jan 2021, also quote near end of post "harmony within."

***Dr. Paul Lam  Tai Chi for Health Institute Newsletter, Dec- Jan 2021 Quote by Lao Tzu, Tao teh Ching

+ Deepak Chopra, Meditation, newsletter, "Intend Better"


Dahlis Roy:  Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Practitioner


Oil Painting by Dahlis: Winter Sunset/Sunrise? 

Monday, December 21, 2020

WINTER SOLACE

 WINTER SOLACE? 

The White Stag in lower right appears.


Planets and stars print a stellar skyscape.   Whitecaps of clouds and snows are possible~ "perhaps."


"All Is Possible With The Mind~" Paul Lam, M.D, Tai Chi Expert~


Light Returning~ 


Wednesday, December 16, 2020

WONDERLAND

Winter Wonderland~ not quite snowy here yet....thinking back early fun romping with my gold and white Collie, Laddie.  Powdery white of winter snow and black trunks of trees, sticking up sharply like a real life pen and ink drawings~ come into my memory.

Lad scooped up the snow with his long nose and ran like the wind, bounding with joy, his coat dusted with snowflakes~ He shook them off vigorously. 

Wonderworld

Here we are, a bit before winter~

Wanderworld:  There I go, a- wanderin' again....


Wander and Ponder


Chessie, determined.  She has an agenda~


Memories of future-past.


* "All Is Possible With the Mind~" Paul Lam, M.D., Tai Chi Expert


Blogger Search Key Words:  Collies, Cats, Animals


Related Posts

Wander and Ponder, Chessie walks her timeline

What Kind of Animal Are You?


Resources

* Dr. Paul Lam, Tai Chi for Health Institute


Music

Time After Time, Cindi Lauper, singer, songwriter.  "I have a suitcase full of memories I almost left behind....Time after Time~" 


Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Practitioner


Photos: 

Lad and Me, taken by my father

Chessie, a cat like no other