Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Steady first, then movement.

"You have the power over your mind - not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength." - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations


Dragon Turtle, combines courage and luck with longevity and stability.
As the first month of 2018 comes to a close I have no writing, arts or crafts to offer here.  Honestly I've been quite inactive and fermenting in thoughts with no resolution.  
-Thinking of turtles; native American spirit totem symbolising a self-contained creative source.  When I was younger I was spontaneously prolific, now much of my creations are tempered with design and - of course - planning.  Perhaps dormant dragons resemble turtles? Or maybe a dragon turtle in Eastern folklore (pictured here).  Some features remind me of my developed 'demon' creation I've drawn for years.
-Thinking of stones; commercially valued semiprecious stones or common tumbled beach pebbles.  Pretty and smooth and strong, their steady solidness a contrast to the plants that are just awakening now, which hopefully won't be killed off by a late frost.
-Thinking of grey; the myriad of different greys that carry more than a suffocating fog, but a serene dove grey, an earthy slate grey, the scholarly scratchings of pencil or graphite grey, the phantom smudge of smoke grey.  The stormy sky of summer grey, and how it's different from the calm sky of winter grey, and the grey of the sea.  Grey will compliment and balance the excitement of vibrant color.

I also rewatched an online series Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness by Alain de Botton.  Whether one agrees with or not the philosopher's suggestions presented, dialogue and self-examination are helpful in maintaining a critical yet fair perspective on attitude and circumstance.  "In order to live wisely, it isn't enough to read a philosophical argument once or twice, we need constant reminders of it, or we'll forget".  I find it quite refreshing.

I had back-to-back Australia Day and Robbie Burns Day (Scotland), and thus my obligatory kangaroo burger+didgeridoo and haggis+bagpipes. So begins the stirrings of far-off travel, though still just ideas.  Many places I've been I could happily revisit, but the latest thought are of northeastern Europe meandering from the Baltic to Black Sea, and Australia+New Zealand which I've been meaning to do since I was a kid, put to the back burner for 'easier' trips - in countries where I can hobo on a park bench and the wildlife isn't trying to kill me.

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