Rest and Reflect Time Again, Day 20

Take today off, rest, and reflect.  What has the past 20 days taught you?  Be thankful.

Your "not" plant, Day 19

When we look at things and apply names to them it starts to drive and filter are perceptions very rapidly.  Sometimes we have to use our eyes and minds differently to only see form or color.  To observe without mounds of interpretation we have to suspend our rational categories.  Artists learn to see this way.  They learn to forget "plant" or "tree" and just see shape, shades, areas, and colors.  Today, I want you to invert your brain a bit to reawaken you to form.  Imagine for a moment that all that is solid is space and all that is space is solid.  Look at your plant in this way.  Think of it as a space, as a gap and all else around it is solid.  What is its space?  It has no color?  It's just space.   All that surrounds is solid?  What is that solid's shape?  What has been carved away from it by your plant?  

Thinking about the world in this way is a bit disorienting at first. However, if you push through to a place where you feel that what is solid is space and what is space is solid, then your sense of form will radically shift.  You will see and sense form for the sake of form.  Your ability to hold objects in your imagination will become greatly enhanced if you do this regularly.

The Nose Knows, Day 18

You have explored your plant with touch, sight and imagination.  Today, get a sense of your plant's particular aroma.  Do different parts of the plant smell differently or more intensely?  How close do you have to be to smell your plant?  Play with getting downwind or upwind of it?  Could you find this plant using only your sense of smell?  Does the smell remind you of any other aroma?  Would you confuse it with another plant?  Smell a few plants near by.  How is your plant's smell unique?  Try to put some words to the smell?  If you were to call the smell a color what color would it be?

Metaphor, Day 17

I was taking a tracking course one time and small groups were taking turns reporting about their particular area of woods they had mapped.  One person in the group would be asked to stand up and report on some specific aspect of there area, such as, "tell us about trails and runs" in your area or "who are the animals in your area and what are they doing there?"  We went through about four or five rounds of questions that you might expect with each round getting a bit more difficult for us to answer.  Then we got down to what was going to be our last round and I was asked by the instructor what the metaphor of our land was.  The metaphor?  I wasn't really sure how to respond.  This was past my edge.  I tried answering, but was really getting at the question and was asked once again, what was the metaphor of our land.  I still didn't know how to answer.  After some fumbling words the instructor let me off the hook and said, "I really didn't expect you to be able to answer that." but he wanted us thinking about it.

Whether you can answer it or not, I want you to think about what the metaphor of your plant is.  Symbolically what does your plant represent or mean right now?  Let me give you an example of the type of thing I mean.  I had a sit spot during a course once that was up in a large forked tree.  It was a time in my life when I was trying to understand how my wilderness studies and my faith studies related to one another.  I had two different communities because of these studies.  They seemed at times, if not unrelated, even antagonistic toward one another.  Over the course of the week, I came to realize that my sense of separation of these two things was really artificial and mostly in me.  It was a perception and and not a reality.  My tree became the catalyst for this awareness.  I realized that when I was sitting in the tree, if I hyper-focused on either branch of the fork, then it looked like its own tree.  However, if I drew back and looked at the bigger picture I realized they were parts of the same thing.  It was so symbolic to what I was experiencing and it helped me integrate my understanding of these different yet same aspects of my life.

So, what about your plant?  May be it is not coincidental that you were led to that particular plant.  Perhaps, its not coincidental that I am asking you to consider how it may be a metaphor of something for you.  To get at the metaphor of your plant I am going to ask you to do the following.  

1) Think about your life right now.  What is something tugging at your attention?  What is an issue that is quietly or maybe not so quietly tugging at your thoughts?  Wrap your mind around this?  You can even do this as your just driving to work or taking a shower or something.  It doesn't necessarily have to be at your plant.

2)  With whatever you identified, go hang out near your plant and take a good look at it.  How does your plant symbolize  or emulate this issue on your mind?  May be your plant has been terribly wounded in the past but has recovered and is stronger for it and you have are in a similar state.  May be your plant is going through a terrible growth.  Or, struggling to reach for life.  Or, full of lots of green but showing no signs of fruit.  You get the idea, how is your plant a metaphor right now for you personally.

3)  If something meaningful comes to mind, then you have received a gift.  Be thankful for your gift.  Express your thanks for it.

Caretake, Day 16

Be kind to your plant today.  Think about it's needs and then do something about it.  Maybe your plant needs some pruning.  Maybe it needs to be fed or watered.  May be it needs some mulch around it so that it holds water better.   Perhaps, you could weed around it and open up some space at its base.  Or may be it needs some neighboring plants trimmed back a bit.  Perhaps, there is a diseased place on the plant that needs attention.  What could you do to help your plant?  Fertilize it?  Remove pests?  Figure how you can benefit your plant today and then do so.

Look into the Future, Day 15

You have considered your plant's past, but what about its future.  What's going to happen to your plant, as the seasons progresses...as years progress?  How would you anticipate the landscape changing and what will it mean for your plant.  How long might you expect it to live and where will its children and grandchildren be?  Give your plant a good look and try to imagine how much larger it will be in the near future.  Do you have any idea if it will have fruits or berries?  Who might eat those fruits and berries?  What will your plant need between now and then?  Once again, don't be worried about being right or wrong.  Don't feel the need to go look these things up.  Just look at your plant and project with your imagination what the future might be based upon what you see and know now.  Have fun.

Compare and Contrast, Day 14

Find a plant nearby that is somewhat similar to your plant or even the same species. Take time to look at this other plant. What similarities and differences do you notice? Try to identify at least 15 differences. Consider size, structure, coloration, etc.