"I'd Like to Hand it to You" by Sue Alexander

Photograph by Sue Alexander

...the gift of the winding

 journey inward.

   

Thanks to blog reader, Sue Alexander for her gift to all of us today.  We are all on this journey through our photographs and reflections.

   I thought this gift was particularly timely after yesterday's post on journeying home and the spiral has always been one of my favorite symbols.  The inward journey can take a lifetime but as Lao Tzu says:

A journey of a thousand

miles begins with a single step.

   Contemplative photographers make that journey photograph by photograph and there is always time to pause and glance back.  The experiences and even the wounds from our past have gone into shaping who we are today but they don't have to dictate where we will go from now on.

   As I said yesterday, our images are sign posts that guide our journey inward.  They are all around us, everyday, and all we need do is to pay attention.  Even the smallest thing can be a powerful focus for reflection.  Meditating on the common place is a contemplative practice I strongly encourage you to try.

 

"I'd Like to Hand it to You!"

   I love photographing hands...hands at work, hands at rest.  Hands reveal so much.  This is a hand project that has been rumbling around in my head for awhile.

   If you could hand someone a special gift, something that you feel is essential for their happiness and well being, what would it be?  Well, here is my gift to you for 2015...

 I give you the gift of

 a seeking heart.

   This is, as some of you may recognize, my scallop shell container which holds my pilgrim tokens.  I bought it a few years ago in France and it goes everywhere with me now.  It symbolizes that "seeking heart" to me.  Pilgrims of any stripe are seekers and the journey needn't be to faraway places.  Seekers are those who are always looking, always open to the new and the serendipitous.  Seekers may grow old in body but never in spirit...they are life long learners on every level that matters.

   Now, what would you give to others if you could?  How would you symbolically represent it?  If any of you wish to share your gift with those on this blog, please send me a photograph of your hand holding the "gift".  Send it to Upcloseandfaraway@hotmail.com.  I would love to see what your gift would be!