What does my wild heart desire, #2

The second process I’ll use to explore what my wild heart desires is photography. I went on a walk in Catalina State Park, which is a treasure right next to my house. (I know, my wild heart is already grateful.) I took some photos—not thinking too much about why, except I was attracted to that scene—and now I’ll dialogue with them.

Seeing the great Catalinas, touched by the setting sun, I remember that my wild heart’s desire is always to live near beauty, with beauty surrounding me, and to be on the Beauty Path. That is, if for some reason I find myself in a place that doesn’t seem beautiful, I will find beauty there, or create it. Thank you for reminding me of how much I love beauty.

I am reminded that I am always looking for my path. That the exploration–the finding and following my path–is a lovely adventure in itself. My wild heart loves that exploration and isn’t nearly as attached to the destination or the end result as my mind and my ego. Another good reminder!

This scene reminds me that reflections–even in an ordinary rain puddle–can be lovely. The way nature is reflected is a treasure, if we just remember to look. My wild heart loves to find lovely reflections, both in nature and in my own inner landscape. She loves the process of taking time, of looking and remembering to remember. She wants me to always allow time for this.

Finally, I stop and see myself–my shadow–in the landscape. What does this show about my wild heart? The photo tells me that my mind and ego tend to think my shadow–the parts of me that aren’t visible to me in “normal life”–show up in natural ways in order to be recognized and accepted. That means the parts of me that aren’t so nice and pretty are going to show up in my outer life through my relationships, and they’ll also show up in my inner landscape. And that is a good thing. My wild heart doesn’t care if I have imperfections. She’s all about discovery, exploration, venturing into uncharted territory. She says we can all have wonderful discoveries when our shadow shows up. Sometimes these involve healing old wounds and other times they involve seeing and recognizing our gifts.

What do these four photographs say to you about your own wild heart? I invite your comments!

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4 Responses to “What does my wild heart desire, #2”

  1. Maureen says:

    Dear Pam,
    This is a great idea! I just had a dialogue with the first photo, and this is what it conveyed to me:

    1. You are surrounded by vast spaciousness, which defines you. If you keep your awareness in the space around you, you’ll be able to see yourself as you truly are — your light and your shadows, your colors, your unique textures, shapes and lines. From that vantage point you can see your true beauty and appreciate your rightful place here in the Universe — you were created perfectly, you were meant to be here, you are a vital part of this world.

    However, if you bury your awareness inside of yourself, you will never be able to see who you truly are.

    2. In you exists both light and shadow. And this is good … because despite their opposite natures, light and shadow aren’t enemies or opposing forces. Rather, they live in harmony, working together to make you who you are. The shadows accentuate your light, highlighting your radiance and warmth. And the light reveals a softness in your shadows. Because of the light, you can see that your shadow parts aren’t scary or ugly or pitch black holes. Rather, they are soft and subtle, full of a loveliness that hasn’t been revealed yet.

    I can’t wait to see what the other three photos tell me!

  2. SiteAdmin says:

    Nice, Maureen! THank you for commenting, and for doing the exercise for yourself! I love the message you got.

  3. Judy Weiser says:

    I enjoyed your “discovering yourself” through the four photographs.

    I found #4 very interesting because of how the shadow wasn’t just on one plane, but instead was “bisected” around the top area of your shoulders, so that your head part was rather visually separated from the rest of you.

    Have learned long ago not to project meaning into an image when my perception may well not be shared with other viewers’ or the photo-taker’s perceptions, bu at the same time and strongly reminded of a similar image you have seen in my book, where there was a lot of different images of a person with this same “separating” line, and what it ended up meaning for her…

    SO: just curious if you noticed it at all (perhaps not!)? and if so, did it speak to you of other layers of meaning? (or not??)
    Judy

  4. SiteAdmin says:

    Judy, I didn’t see your comment until I came to my Word Press site to post another blog. I’m going to be using this blog to write a lot about photography and its connection for me with healing and spirituality.

    At any rate, thanks for commenting! No, I did not notice that separation, but I’ll check it out and see what it seemed to mean in your book. Certainly one’s head being separate from one’s body has meanings, and as a “heady’ person, a big part of my journey has been to love and be in my body. So that’s a possibility.

    I’ll try to post links to some of these blogs on your page when it seems appropriate, and hope that many conversations may result.

    And….I’m still trying to figure out how to get an automatic email when someone posts a comment!

    Hugs,
    Pam

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