01
Find the flow of your life, sense the movement-- or the blockage-- and become curious about the state of flow here and now. Courage assists flow, fear resists it. Anger throttles it. Compassion creates options and possibilities. Receiving the moment with compassion opens us to the possibilities of flow inherent in each situation as it arises. What is trying to move? What is keeping that from happening? Where is growth taking place? What is saying "Yes"? What is saying "No"? What needs to happen? What is discouraging the flow from here to there? What is encouraging flow? Preventing movement? Maintaining the status quo? Does your sense of your own drift and flow mesh with the drift and flow of the situation? Is there conflict? Opposition? Are you and the situation flowing in different directions? Not flowing at all? Are you a threat to the situation? Is the situation a threat to you? Consider the nature of the flow within and around you. Where is the movement? What are the questions? What is blocking the flow of life? Watch what happens and what happens in response. Does that interchange feel like flow or resistance to flow? Like things are happening or like nothing is happening? What does that mean to/for you? What needs to happen for the flow to resume? Commence?
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02
Nothing blocks the flow of life and being like My Way Now! My Way Now! is the end of the world. Any world. Every world. Living in accord with The Way is living out of accord with My Way Now! This is what is at stake in "Thy will, not mine, be done!" Christians blow that to hell by turning it into "If it be thy will, can I have a pink Cadillac? Now?" Having My Way Now, or Ever, is out of the question for those intent on aligning themselves with The Way beyond their way. We are not in it for what we can get out of it. And that means not getting anything out of The Way beyond being one with The Way, and experiencing the wonder and the bliss of the everlasting nature of that moment in each situation as it arises, knowing oneness with The Way is all there is-- as in: "It's the pirate's life for me, Gibbs. I have no say in the matter. Savvy?" Having no say in the matter is what being in accord with The Way comes down to. We are here to say and to do what needs to be said and done, and we do not get to say what that is, but to recognize what it is and comply with it in each situation as it arises. Living to impose My Will Now upon every situation that arises is not the way to The Way. Savvy?
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03
I have to photograph what catches my eye. I have to write what needs to be written. I have no say in the matter. Savvy? What do you have to do for no other reason than because you have to do it? There you are. Do that. And you become/express/exhibit/serve who you are and what is yours to do by doing it. It is as simple as that. And that is all there is to it. Savvy?
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04
This is as close as I got to the sun in 10 days of searching for scenes, and about as much of the mountains as I saw. The woman at the dinner register said, "Honey, if it isn't raining, it's burning (referring to the forest fires that were frequent occurrences). Between the two, I'll take the rain. And did. We take what's there and see what we can do with it. We could do more with better options, but the choices we get are the choices that are there. What will it be? It is ours to say. Our whole life long. We wake up and choose from among our choices day-by-day, and that's our life. How well we do it tells the tale. It helps to not take it seriously, to have nothing at stake in it, to be able to dance with what the day brings, and let it go, and let that be that, because tomorrow is coming, and today's troubles can't be infringing on tomorrow's possibilities, or the trends and tendencies stack up and become a log jam, impeding the day's flow day after day until there is no movement at all, only the same old same old for as long as life lasts. We have to start fresh each day, with no carry-over to speak of, and only here and now to consider, without past or future crowding out the present which is always the only time available to us to work our magic and express our gifts/daemon/shtick/specialties/self in the time and place of our living, no matter what. Attitude transforms circumstance and makes the most of each moment by discovering doors where there are no doors, and seeing the path where there is no path, and finding the light where there is only darkness, like Helen Keller and Stephen Hawking and the kids with Down Syndrome.
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05
It all comes down to doing what needs to be done in each situation as it arises-- without opinion, objection, condemnation or ridicule. If it needs to be done, do it! That is all there is to it! Not what we say needs to be done, but what we see needs to be done. And we have to be right about it. And being right about it is not difficult. We only have to do what we sincerely think needs to be done, and the outcome will guide us toward adjusting and altering our response until we get it right. What needs to be done is not a matter of opinion or point of view. The situation is autonomous and independent of all judgment, perspective and preference. What is right is right in each particular time and place, moment-to-moment, in each situation as it arises, dependent upon the circumstances at hand, and unfettered by what was called for in the last situation, or may be called for in the next situation. This is what Jesus understood when he said, "The spirit is like the wind that blows where it will, unbound by tradition, convention or expectation, convenience or mood or desire." Just see what needs to be done and do it. In each situation as it arises. Your entire life long. No one can do better than that. Not nobody. Not nohow.
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Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 