Tag Archives: Heart

We All Come From Somewhere We Consider Home

Mar

2017

by IBK | 2 Comments

©IBKimage 2012

The place we currently live may or not be where our heart considers home. I was born in Northwest Germany within a mile or so of the North Sea. When I was almost 6 my family emigrated to the U.S. and we settled in South Central Nebraska … flat like Northern Germany but wide open spaces where patchwork quilts of prairie and farmland replaced the sea that one is always in relationship with when living near it.

Many years later I live in landlocked Colorado surrounded in Denver by beautiful mountain vistas, and yet as my mother before me longed for the sights and smells and sounds of home near the sea, (even though she adapted beautifully to her new land, and learned it’s ways and language, ) I too find solace in remembering where I came from and am nourished by the sights and sounds and smells of the water.

You all have places where you’ve come from and where your heart remembers being home … sometimes it’s not the place itself, but the peace you felt when at a loved one’s home who resided there. Anyway, I encourage you in this busy, noisy, chaotic world, to take yourself home for a bit and “sit with that for a spell”.

Today’s image is along the Eider River in Northern Germany at sunset where I got to be for a while. A river that cuts through flat farmland.

IBK

Posted in Aging Also tagged Blessings, Home, Life Seasons, Memories |

Time Well Wasted

May

2015

by IBK | 1 Comment

Recently, I had the privilege to hear “someone’s heart” about some major decisions regarding a hoped for direction in a relationship and a desire to engage in more frequent work or perhaps a career change. After several interactions and some movement forward, I received a note. In essence: “Things didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped and I made some sacrifices, but had I not taken this risk, I would not now know so much more about me … and then this: “It was time well wasted.” I was so moved by such a healthy reframe and have been “dancing” with the phrase ever since… time well wasted. We usually say: “It was time well spent” but this reframe opens many possibilities.

We of course want to have a lot of memories of time well spent but we often don’t get there because we think it was (or is) such a waste of time to spend time on something we want to do or be. It seems so frivolous or so much work.

Today’s image is a view from an abandoned cabin at the top of a trail in Telluride, Colorado. My photo friend dragged me up there to see this “unreal view” of a cabin with multiple windows and doors that each had a unique stunning view of the surrounding landscape. The only post processing work here is a slight crop to reduce the overall size of the image. Ah…”time well wasted”.

What say you? Can you think of time well wasted that lead you to new places and insights?

IBK

Posted in Blessings, Courage, Insight, Seeing In New Ways Also tagged Dancing in the moment, Letting Go, new perspective, Reflection |

Evergreen

Dec

2013

by IBK | 2 Comments

Looking closely at today’s image, you’ll see a small tree growing out of a rock field on a ledge near a waterfall at Yellowstone National Park. The falls are more famous as well as spectacular grand views often seen on postcards. What intrigued me about this small tree, was it’s actual existence in a harsh environment. Think of the various conditions of wind, rain, hail storm and at times extreme heat and cold; look closely at the small bend in the tree, suggesting at one time perhaps a boulder lodged in its trunk and yet it is quite hardy, crowned with healthy new evergreen growth.

At this year closes perhaps we can be grateful that in the midst of our sometimes difficult conditions we at some point – if we’re open to that – are transformed by change and loss and after a time of grieving and anger and inconvenience and love and nurture by those close in heart, even if far away, in the new season the new growth appears and the heart rejoices; changed, but with stronger roots to withstand the opportunities and challenges of being human.

Blessings to you and yours as you gather near and far in the coming days rejoicing in the love of God and neighbor.

Joy,

IBK

Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Grief, Life Seasons, Love, Reflection, Transition, Winter |

Sep

2012

by IBK | 3 Comments

©IBKimage 2011

Nebraska author Willa Cather once said: “Some things you learn in calm, some things in storm…” The last two weeks I’ve had the privilege and pain to learn in both conditions. In the calm of this week, the storm of vertigo and pulsatile tinnitus have suddenly, after a three month fury, thankfully blown out to sea. Turns out that it might have been too high a dose of my thyroid medicine which under different conditions was just right. A dear friend’s visit brought delightful hours of conversation and laughter and comfort when recounting incidents of a broken heart. Finishing a project after weeks of interviews, listening, editing and learning, preparation for sharing, provided a time of calmness tonight, after a storm of self-doubt, anxiety of wondering why I had any credentials to do this, and so on.

Like the lighthouse on Nantucket Island surrounded by a morning fog, we often can’t see clearly what it is that is directly in front of us and instead work so hard to see or engage in activity to clear the fog, often resulting in a stormy tempest in our soul or less dramatic, fatigue. And then … the fog rolls out to sea without our effort. We can stop filling in the blanks and things are clearer.

Next week I’ll be traveling to Germany with my family to spread my late mother’s ashes on the North Sea near where she lived before being emigrating to America ; it is also the place where I was born. In the intervening years since my last visit to our hometown, on the occasion of her 80th birthday, much has been revealed in calm and storm.

I wish you shelter and companions in your calms and storms.

IBK

Posted in Courage, Letting Go Also tagged Finding, Gratitude, Letting Go |

A Partridge with a Heart in a Fir Tree

Dec

2011

by IBK | 1 Comment

©IBKimage2011

Oh wait, that was a “Partridge in a Pear Tree on the First Day of Christmas “in a song of the same title. Anyway my little bird and I hope that you and yours will have precious songs to sing in the coming new year. Some of the songs written in a minor key will challenge us but in the midst of our transitions let us keep singing.