Breathe deeply and imagine being in this green forest for a few minutes…

It takes years of being still to grow moss this luxurious.   Try letting go of moving too quickly, sit quietly and see what comes to you.

Photograph – Wallace Falls State Park, Juliet Chase, all rights reserved

Technorati Tags: introspection, patience, relaxation, visual meditation

Image by viralbus

How we perceive our environment really does say as much about how we think as it does about our choice of homes.  And memory can be a funny thing.  Drawing a floor plan of your home can tell you a lot about your subconscious values and associations.  It’s a rare person that remembers things exactly as they are so this is about what you can learn from the discrepancies, rather than if there are any. This exercise may teach you a lot or a little about yourself and like many things you’ll likely get more out of it the more time you take with it.  Although even a quick run through can be revealing. It’s definitely fun and can be interesting to compare results with someone you live with or a friend whose home you know well. Find some graph paper to help keep your lines straight and then dive in. One tip is if you make one square on the graph paper equal to 12 inches you won’t need to tape too many pages together.

Step 1: From memory, draw a floor plan of your home, including all the levels, doors, windows, closets. etc.  It’s great to do this one at work or at a coffee shop where you won’t be tempted to cheat by walking around. Make it as accurate as possible and then put it away.

Step 2: When you have some time and preferably an assistant for the measuring tape, draw a second floor plan of your home by going room to room and measuring the walls, windows,  door widths etc.

Step 3: Now compare the floor plan from memory with the measured one.  It’s amazing how the brain can leave out the only doorway or an entire stairwell leading to the second floor.  What did you forget? If you forgot a door to a specific room, what is that telling you? Are you closing off that part of your life even if you haven’t physically barricaded the room?  What rooms did you make bigger or smaller than they are? What rooms did you get pretty much spot on?  It’s possible that rooms that you perceive as smaller, just have too much stuff in them and a little rearranging will leave your home and your psyche feeling more comfortable.

Was this a useful exercise? Please come back and share what you learned!

Technorati Tags: introspection, perception, perspective

Feel the coolness of the breeze preceding the incoming rain.  When was the last time you raised your face to the rain instead of hunching your shoulders and running?

Are there areas of your life that aren’t sunny, but maybe have a refreshing stillness to them?

Northern New Mexico, Juliet Chase, all rights reserved

Technorati Tags: introspection, reflection, relaxation, visual meditation

It took a long time for the brick and plaster to weather to such a calm and comfortable attitude. And even the garden would require several years to fill in with such abundance and yet, the end result is far more magical than anything that could have been created ‘finished’ in an instant.

Are you allowing yourself time to grow at your own pace or are you trying to force something into being before it’s ready?

Mission at San Juan Capistrano, Juliet Chase, all rights reserved

Technorati Tags: introspection, patience, reflection, relaxation, visual meditation

There is something incredibly captivating about watching a hawk ride the wind. It’s hard to look away while it’s still in sight.  Part of the magic is because birds of prey are so efficient in expending energy, there is no wasted effort and they take advantage of what the moment offers.

Take a few minutes to put yourself in the hawk’s place. Do you allow the wind to help you or insist on fighting it? Do you trust yourself enough to stop doing things just for the sake of doing something?

New Mexico, Juliet Chase, all rights reserved

Technorati Tags: going with the flow, introspection, reflection, relaxation, time management, trusting yourself, visual meditation