Looking Back and Looking Forward

“…That’s why we have the Museum, Matty, to remind us of how we came, and why: to start fresh, and begin a new place from what we had learned and carried from the old.” Lois Lowry, Messenger The transitional space between old and new feels like a shifting energetic pause. Time is marked by rituals […]

Slowly looking with the Buddhist “good eye”

Recently I came across the Contemplative Photography movement, which incorporates Buddhist mindfulness practice with Western ways of seeing the world. Contemplative Photography practice is based on holding an intention of learning to look and see through a lens of nonattachment. Through practice, you begin to trust the gaps in discursive thought where clear seeing and […]

Madiba and the power of creative potential

Madiba’s powerful words encapsulate many levels of meaning. Perhaps that is why they inspire and light a creative spark for so many of us. These words point to the idea that finding passion requires commitment and responsibility. The heroic attempt to live up to one’s potential and the power that entails is often an overwhelming […]

the known unknown

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery Poetry And it was at that age … Poetry arrived in search of me. I don’t know, I don’t know where it came from, from winter or a river. I don’t know how […]

Art and Truth

John F. Kennedy’s quote resonates deeply, reflecting the capacity of the Arts to shape collective human experience at the macro and micro levels. Simply put, we shape and are shaped by the life stories we create in our dreams, art and words. So where does Truth fit into the equation? What is the relationship between […]

“Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.” ― Mary Oliver The most treasured moments are […]

Hurrying Slowly

“When you pay attention to your dreams, you inhabit a much larger part of your soul.” – Robert Bosnak In his book Embodiment: Creative Imagination in Medicine, Art and Travel, Robert Bosnak, writes about how images are embodied by the dreamer. He views dream images as places of emotion, or as image environment ecosystems in […]

Dreams and Stories

“Trust dreams Trust your heart and trust your story”. -Neil Gaiman

Art and Dreaming

“I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.” Vincent Van Gogh. In his book Dream Tending: Awakening to the healing power of Dreams, Dr. Stephen Aizenstat writes that dream images are like characters in a story. Dream images give meaning to our life’s story, just as characters in novels give meaning to the […]

Getting on by getting off ? Creative process as a path

Starting something new is challenging. I came across this quote by Michael Edwards, the late Jungian analyst, Professor and art therapist: “Sometimes we know that we don’t stand a chance of getting into something until we have managed to get out of something else […] it is often finding the way in which sets new […]