In my life, and maybe in everyone's life, I encounter people every day who want to share their stories, anecdotes, and advice about how to live better. During pilates this morning, I realized my feet looked like they were praying. A downward prayer. Courtnie, the instructor talked about listening to our bodies, going within ourselves to our cores. I choose to practice Aikido, which is the most humbling part of my daily routine. I try to keep my ego off the mat, opening my heart and head to learning how to strengthen and deepen myself.
What balances this practice of being told how to live better is having another strong aspect of life where we are accepted and understood as we are right now, the part of us that is allowed to be messy and awkward, sad and lost, immature and silly, sensitive and reassured. This is the balance between flailing and containment. I am looking for this side of the equation, the part where I don't need to do or be anything other than who I am.
Right now, I love learning about photography. Like Aikido, I am a beginner when it comes to taking pictures.
"Any discipline can help your writing: logic, mathematics, theology, and of course and particularly drawing. Anything that helps you to see, anything that makes you look. The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that doesn't require his attention."
--Flannery O'Connor
