TIME OUT

I need a time out!

How about you?

Recently I had a shift of perceptions (again).  Like an everchanging sky and landscape and seascape and dreamscape (the great escapes).  

I pondered:  What is time?  Is time a gift?  How can we use available time to our best energetic or resting advantages?  



Unknown


The gift of time:
Time for?

Tai Chi and/or Yoga

Meditation

Contemplation

Recreation

Reading and Research  "R and R"

Entertainment

Music: quiet or peppy as needed

Sleep/Rest/Nap


And the Biggies:

Me Time...outreach or autopilot resting and daydreaming

Carving out Time for Creativity

Art/ Writing

Connecting with Family and Friends in person if possible



Windows and Doors Open:

Categories of thought and action

Organization and streamlining

Linking seemingly unrelated topics together to create or fashion something new.  Making order from chaos.

Vision Board: mind pictures 
Mental "Folders" of topics available for information storage and retrieval.  

Sensory Mapping

Creative process awakens

Today 

I took a time out for 45 minutes to watch an older short movie called * The Red Balloon: "Fantasy. A balloon with a life of its own follows a boy around Paris."  Remastered, the fine detail and precise color was stunning.  Stones and wood looked touchable and realistic.  Many neighborhoods were shown as the balloon followed the young boy down sharp rough  cobblestone narrow streets and alleyways. Old church spires scraped the sky, smokestacks touched clouds.

Near the end, a throng of balloons in many colors surrounded the boy and engulfed him.  He grabbed onto their tether strings and the balloons uplifted him "up up and away!"  

Flights of Fancy help reset our outlook to continue on with a playful feeling and happy heart.




Blogger search key word: Time

Related Posts:
The Reel World (ultra sharp detail in meditation)
All Alone Universe
Second Hand
Possibly Present
Life and Depth
Timely and Relevant
Time Castle

Resources:
* The Red Balloon, produced in France, TCM, Turner Classic Movies

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

Images by Dahlis:
Rainbow, Solid Light, photo
Take Your Time, collage 
Snail's Pace, ink brush 

MOLT DOWN

I remember brushing out my Collies long thick coats and watching the large and small tufts of soft downy under coat drift slowly to the floor.  *Some knitters collected the tufts of hair, washed them, dried and carded them and spun them into fine yarns for knitting a variety of warm winter garments and hats.  The sweater below was "easy" with store bought yarn! 

A Dog and His Boy

Seasonal molts are common to animals wild and tame, to thin down that thick coat for summer or prepare for growing a new winter coat.  We notice some thickening of new hair as early as August here, before the north winds blow.  

Here is Orange, raised in the desert SW climate, he came to us with no undercoat under his short sleek hair.  That winter we kept him inside untel spring to keep him warm enough.  Two years later, we noticed he has put on a soft orange undercoat some of which he shed on me today.

Orange and Green



And then there is our furry boy, Ruff, "The Mane Event."

Here Ruff, a Norwegian Forest Cat mix, sports his "Collie" winter Mane.  Lion-like he sits at the window and watches the snow fly.  He likes to shovel snow outside too, using his fur covered club shaped huge front paws like plows, he scoots forward, creating a path for himself through the drifts.  Ruff has a triple coat, guard hairs thick and wiry, middle layer, and soft downy undercoat next to his skin.  Texture of softness and waterproofing is combined.  A cat built for winter!

Ruff even found his own local groomer.  Sometimes he comes back inside with his feet and neck ruff already trimmed!  He enjoys brushing and, like a Collie, closes his eyes while I brush his mane.  Groomer Has It.



And then there is our Tom in long ago winters, a snow cat impervious to the cold.

Reptilian


Key Words Blog Search:  Cats, Collies

Related Posts
Stars and Snow Spirit of Phoebe
Winter Wolf
Thin Ice
Call to Colors

Resources:
*Collie Cues Magazine, Hayward, CA 1980, knitting with Collie Hair

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

Photos
 by Dahlis:
Rob and Sky
Orange and Green
Ruff, the Mane Event
Tom in Winter, photo by Paul, published with permission

I ASK MYSELF

*I Ask Myself, I Answer Myself

How important is it?

Usually, not very.

In choices during the daily round

That Higher Power you honor

may be impervious

to each simple, little choice you make.

Just use your head,

enlightened by your heart.

Sometimes, there is no right or wrong,

stark in contrast;

think in terms of gray,

not black and white, 

not wrong or right,

but simply, next best thing.

Do it now.

*Poem contributed by Isabel Brady Jackson, published with permission

What's Gnu?

Blog Search Key Words: poetry, creative writing

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

Images by Dahlis
Sancat studies shadows, photo

What's Gnu? pencil gesture drawing

CHOICES

Bloom Where You're Planted?

Not Always!

Years ago a neighbor gave us some clumps of flowering white violets.  I love white violets and had never seen them bloom in person before.

  

The snowy white petals reminded me of wings of white butterflies fitting about, a childhood memory.  White violets danced in the breeze, their green complement of leaves enriched their ivory bright appearance.

We lovingly planted the clumps of flowers in two beds that we thought they would like, "bloom and prosper."

This year I noticed there were sprinkles of white violet stars on an emerald grass carpet almost like a winding path beckoning out toward the back fence. The fragile blossoms also encircled themselves beneath the young hawthorn tree, a woodland scene. Then I marveled at the long rectangular tray of sparkling white violets in perfect health planted firmly and rooted in perfect harmony.  I asked my husband if he had transplanted the violets into the tray?  No, he claimed they had seeded themselves into their new space, already filled with just the right soil combination they like. They are totally at home with the dappled combination of sun and shadow.  Imagine!

River Rocks complete the picture of nature's bounty and balance.

Other plant and flower companions dot the spring landscape.  Among them are the wood violets, a sparky color combination of velvet blue and violet tones.  These are also migrating out of their beds.  Where will they choose  next? 

"Grow and Move into a New Space."

Wood violets are so welcome. I saw them blooming in the woods and edges of our yard when I was out romping with my golden Collie years ago.  I can hear the leaves crunch underfoot in the early spring woods.

Contrasts of blue-violet and lush green, sonic blends of sun and shadow.

Then then, in May, the Lily of the Valley peeks through.  I remember ours blooming in the stone basins of our front porch and along the juniper bush edges of the grey rocky steps years ago. 

You can see the green Lily of the Valley flower stem, not yet in bloom, barely peeking through to your view on the left above the largest clump of violets.

The plant has an agenda all its own...

"Every Life Has Value."

Key Words Blog Search:  Flowers

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

Photos by Dahlis

White Violet Butterflies

Harmony rocks and flowers

Wood Violets, purple and green

Lily of the Valley peeks through

TAI CHI TEACHES

**  Celebrate World Tai Chi  and Qigong Day
Saturday April 28, 2018 at 10 AM-11 AM in your time zone~

*Poem Created by Isabel Brady Jackson:

Tai Chi Teaches

          natural posture

         

          even breathing 

           flexibility

           coordination

           concentration

To which may be added

            contemplation

  

            comprehension

            compilation

            commendation

            commission

            completion

* Tai Chi Teaches, Poem by Isabel Jackson from Observaions & Affirmations Little Book of Poems 2017

Poem published with permission


** World Tai Chi and Qigong Celebration: Tsui-Lien Chang, Tai Chi expert and owner of Lotus Tai Chi, many forms and programs, Grand Opening World Tai Chi Day, April 28 Sat at 10-11 AM, open house 10AM-4 PM

Blog Search Key Words:

World Tai Chi Qigong Day

Tai Chi

Qigong

Related Post:

Universe:  Shadows of Cranes, story and poem

Resources:

World Tai and Qigong Day created by Bill Douglas, author, tai chi and qigong expert

Dr. Paul Lam, Tai Chi expert and teacher

Dr. Yang, Zwing-ming, Taiji and Qigong traditional styles and teachings

18 Form Taiji Qigong (3 parts), originally created in Beijing in 1982 by He, Weiqi and Lin, Hou Sheng 

The Yang Family traditional forms from the Yang Family linage 

Jou,Tsung Hwa,  traditional methods: books include The Tao of Tai Chi Chuan Way to Rejuvenation and The Tao of Meditation Way to Enlightenment

Special Thanks:

Gu, Jiong  my teacher and Dr. of Traditional Chinese Medicine originally from Shanghai, the Gu Family Style Tai Chi, the 88 pattern, 108 movements with coordinating  music originally developed in Shanghai area of China

Seminars at A Taste of China 1998-1999, Winchester VA 

Jou, Tsung Hwa

Dr. Yang Jwing-ming

He, Weiqi co-creator of the 18 Form Taiji Qigong

The Yang Family

Dr. John Painter

Seminars

Dr. Paul Lam, certification to teach Tai Chi for Health, Various Programs 

"Thank You for All you Teach Us~"

Tai Chi and Qigong Friends and Experts

Supportive Family including our son Rob, a student of Dr. Gu's, who taught me Tai Chi at home for 8 months until I was strong enough to attend Tai Chi classes in 1997.

Charlene X. Jiang, Dr. of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Medical Qigong

Shihan George Eddy, 88 Pattern, Gu family variation of Yang Long Form 108 movements

Andy Green, 18 Form Taiji Qigong

Unlimited Students and Friends Learning Together! 

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

Paintings by Dahlis:

Universe:  Shadows of Cranes, oil painting owned by Dr. Paul Lam.  

Tai Chi on the Beach (detail) oil painting 

Sky and Sand, oil painting