7.22.24

Thought

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

For what are you possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow? And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?

And what is fear of need but need itself? Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?

– Khalil Gibran, The Prophet  

Quote

Don Miguel Ruiz on love: 

“What you will see is love coming out of the trees, love coming out of the sky, love coming out of the light. You will perceive love from everything around you. This is the state of bliss.”

Intention of the Day 

My intention is to stay calm and centered as I make conscious choices today.

What’s your intention today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

7.15.24

Thought

A third example he discusses is art that comprises vertical and horizontal lines, like that of Piet Mondrain, or colored squares, red in Malevich’s Red Square, blue in Theo van Doesburg’s The Cow, and yellow in Josef Alber’s Homage to the Square: Yellow Climate. Art of this kind is, he argues, particularly well adapted to the visual system, because each cell in the visual brain has a receptive field. It responds, that is, to a limited part of visual space – a red square, say, or a line of particular orientation.

So there is a correspondence between art made of lines or colored squares (which Zeki dubs ‘art of the receptive field’) and the physiology of single cells in the visual brain. Moreover, cells that respond to lines of particular orientation predominate in the visual cortex, and are found in many areas of it. Physiologists consider them the building blocks that allow the nervous system to represent more complex forms.

So when Mondrian defended his use of the vertical and horizontal lines saying they ‘exist everywhere and dominate everything’, his observation was, Zeki suggests, neurobiologically correct. When we view one of his abstracts, or some of the paintings of Malevich or Barnett Newman, large numbers of cells in different visual areas of our brains will be activated.

– John Carey, What Good are the Arts?  

Quote

Philosopher Seneca on desire: 

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”

Intention of the Day 

My intention is to focus on the process and not the outcome today. 

What’s your intention today?

Happy Monday,

Val

7.8.24

Thought

We have been chosen, just as indole acetic acid has been chosen plant metabolism, to play certain roles. We have a role, but our role seems to like a major one. We are like a triggering system. Out of the general background of evolutionary processes mediated first by incoming radiation to die surface of the Earth and then by natural selection, suddenly we arrive, with our epigenetic capability to write books, tell stories, sing, carve, and paint. These are not genetic processes, these are epigenetic processes. Writing, language, and art bind information and express the Gaian mind my well.    

—Rupert Sheldrake, Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham, Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness

Quote

Socrates on change:

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."  

Intention of the Day 

My intention is to stay present as much as possible today. 

What’s your intention today?

Happy Monday,

Val

7.1.24

Thought

To offer another illustration of it, suppose you are cutting wood. If you go against the way the tree grew, that is to say against the grain of the wood, the wood is very difficult to cut. If you go with the grain, however, it splits easily. Or again, in sawing wood, some people are in a great hurry to get on with sawing and they try and power right through the piece. But what happens? When you turn the board over you see the back edge of the wood is full of splinters, and you find that you are rather tired as well. Any skilled carpenter will tell you, “Let the saw do the work, let the teeth do the cutting.” And you find that by going at it quite easily, and just allowing the blade to glide back and forth, the wood is easily cut. As our own proverb says, “Easy does it.” And wu wei means easy does it. Look out for the grain of things, the way of things. Move in accord with it and work is thereby made simple.

—Alan Watts, What Is Tao?

Quote

Leonardo da Vinci on the power of thought: 

"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions."

Moment of Gratitude

I’m grateful for the time I had to make some music last weekend. 

What are you grateful for today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

6.24.24

Thought

Emptiness is essential to the spirit of Zen. In the context of Zen, emptiness is not nihilism. It is not a void. It is not loneliness. It is not a black hole. The experience of emptiness is the experience of no boundaries and the experience that you are not separate. It is the experience of oneness. It is vast and boundless as the empty sky. It extends to the ends of the universe, unobstructed. 

Zen Master Keizan once commented, “When emptiness is struck, it makes an echo, and thus all sounds are manifested. When emptiness is transformed, all things manifested and, therefore, forms are distinguished. Do not think that emptiness is not forms, nor think that emptiness is not a thing or a state, emptiness is everything, just as it is. Emptiness is fullness. 

— Ellen Birx, Healing Zen

Quote

Writer Ralph Waldo Emerson on self authenticity:

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

Intention of the Day

My intention is to breath deeply today.

What’s your intention today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

6.17.24

Thought

How does the cloud know when to rain? How does the tree know when spring begins? How does the bird know when it’s time to build a new nest? The universe functions like a clock…

… these rhythms are not set by us. We are participating in a larger creative act we are not conducting. We are being conducted. The artist is on a cosmic timetable, just like all of nature.

—Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

Quote

Lao Tzu on inner completeness:

"When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."

Acknowledgement of the Day

Today I acknowledge myself for making calm and conscious choices.  

What are you acknowledging yourself for today?

Happy Monday,

Val

6.10.24

Thought

The affluence of the universe - the lavish display and abundance of the universe - is an expression of the creative mind of nature. The more tuned in you are to the mind of nature, the more you have access to its infinite, unbounded creativity. But first, you have to go beyond the turbulence of your internal dialogue to connect with that abundant, affluent, infinite creative mind.  

—Deepak Chopra, The Seven Laws of Spiritual Success 

Quote

Writer Ralph Waldo Emerson on the internal:

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

Intention of the Day

My intention is to be responsive and not reactive today. 

What’s your intention today?

Happy Monday,

Val

6.3.24

Thought

The morning-glory, lasting only a few hours in the summer morning, is of the same significance as the pine tree whose gnarled trunk defies wintry frost. The microscopic creatures are just as much manifestations of life as the elephant or the lion. In fact, they have more vitality, for even if the other living forms vanish from the surface of the earth, the microbes will be found continuing their existence. Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom, I am swallowing the whole universe with it, and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space.

– John Carey, What Good are the Arts?  

Quote

Thich Nhat Hanh on mindfulness:

"The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers."  

Intention of the Day

My intention is to relax into the moment and stay centered as I make conscious choices today.

What’s your intention today? 

Happy Monday,

Val