Yesterday Dee wrote on her blog about how she has been practicing the art of mindfulness. This is something I’ve been thinking about too; my recent experiment with mindful knitting was really interesting, and brought home to me that, even when engaged with my hobby, my mind would often rather be anywhere than in the present.
I was thinking about all of this as I sat eating my breakfast this morning, and I started to notice how many lovely things were right in front of me. The scary thing is that most of the time, I don’t even see them.
The sideboard next to where I’m sitting has a fairly random collection of objects on it. There’s this orchid:
Which is sitting in a pot full of these glass pebbles:
This lion, which I bought for Steve many years ago:
Is sitting next to this fabulous Art Deco breakfast set:
At the end of the sideboard there is an antique marble pestle and mortar, which Steve bought for me many years ago.
There is a vase of lilies, which was on the dining table but has been displaced by my blocking (yoga) mat. The flowers are dead and the petals have been dropping on the sideboard. I’ve spent the last few days walking past them feeling grumpy about the mess.
But as I sit eating my breakfast, the sun comes out from behind a cloud and shines straight through one of the fallen petals, highlighting the intricate pattern of veins:
And finally, my yoga mat is still lying on the dining table where my eyelet chemise was blocking a few days ago. One of my sons has made a pin sculpture:
What a lovely post. So much beauty right near you. There is so much beauty in detail, isn’t there?
I have always tried to see the beauty in little things – you have captured it perfectly, particularly the pins and the veins in the petal. I also like AlisonH’s lesson above, I must remember that.
(and by the way – I LOVE and covet your art deco breakfast set!)
I agree with you about Alison’s lesson. When I was at art school one of the exercises we had to do was to paint a selection of white objects in a white room, but we weren’t allowed to paint any of them white. When you are stopped from doing what you think is the obvious thing, and really start to look, all sorts of other things start to emerge.
thanks for all that beauty!
Thanks for the reminder – why are the simple things so hard to do sometimes? Love your photos
That’s a beautiful mortar and pestle. I wonder where he got it, because haven’t seen anything like that at Dean and Deluca.
Beautiful, beautiful photographs! I think your sideboard is a real treasure trove.
Only about 33 hours to go now!
Beautiful shots – And perfect post, I need a little more mindfulness. I do find that the camera helps sometimes – when trying to frame a shot, or capture the beauty that you see in something, it forces me to slow down and really and truly appreciate what I’m seeing. Other times, it’s a prop or defense mechanism – in awkward social settings for instance š
What a insightful post! I love to discover the beauty tha we can find everywhere. And all it take is to stop and look. A friend of mine once told me to be a good artist is mostly to do with the ability to look carefully and remember those moments. I find doing crafts make me stop and look at things and enjoy there beauty.
Love your photos
I am currently reading “The Power of Now” because I too feel I need to try to be in the present more. I am finding that reading this helps me to remember to stop my brain from taking over with thoughts of the past and planning for the future. As I become more aware of my tendencies I find it actually frightening to see just how little time I spend in the present. Interesting to see that you are also thinking about this.
I’ve been trying of something witty to say but I’ve come up with nothing except I really liked this post. Beautiful pictures and your thoughts give me something to think about.
Stunning photos!
Do you read the Three Beautiful things blog? I think you would enjoy it
These are awesome photos!