The Cycle of Turning

Mid air sculpture by Andy Goldsworthy

As I watched the video, Rivers and Tides, about Andy Goldsworthy, an environmental artist, philosopher, and architect,  I felt calm and contemplative.  His work is meditative and gives me so much to think about.  The following link shows him completing one of his works on a beach and we watch the tide come in and gently lift the sculpture off the rocks and into the water.  The water gently pulls and pushes and slowly the sculpture begins to change and become something different.  It doesn’t fight against the change. (I need to remember that in my life.)  His artwork is as impermanent as life.  Andy calls it the “cycle of turning”.  Here is a excerpt of the video which I highly recommend if you are in the mood for something calming and thought provoking.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBcdL8uO71E

Gail Brokaw
http://www.embracethepossiblity.org  (join my monthly newsletter)

Sacred Life Sunday – Mother and daughters

Precious Time Together

Today I am bouncing back and forth between two books and finding similarities in both, written by women of two different ages.  One writer is in her thirties (like my daughters) , the other in her sixties (like me), and both are trying to regain balance and meaning in their lives.  I’m finding more similarities between these two time periods in a woman’s life than I had previously thought.  It seems many women in their thirties are beginning to look at their lives from a new vantage point and wondering if they are on the right path.  Some are wondering how they can redesign their current life to ensure they have enough time and energy left over for that which is most important to them.  It seems to be a time of reexamining everything they have believed in and realizing that time is not infinite.  If they want to arrive at their targeted destination, they’d better make a plan and get going.  Then again in our sixties, I hear many women, including myself, wanting to reexamine our expectations for our life and take time to recreate the life we want in the time we have left.  We both want to continue to experience growth, creativity, relationships, and a sense of contributing, as well as making time for reflection and rejuvenation.  Both the thirties and the sixties are a time for questioning, reviewing and committing to making changes that will serve us best in the years to come.  Mothers and daughters in these age ranges are really not so different; we just have different time lines and energy levels.  (Amen to that one!)  We both want meaningful, successful (however each individual defines that for themselves), and happy years to look forward to, as well as to look back on.

I have had a couple of great days spending time with my two daughters.  We three don’t get to be together at the same time nearly enough.  Heather lives in Maryland and Julia and I in California two hours apart.  I love the precious time I have with the two of them separate and together.  Heather was here in California for a conference in San Francisco.  She is a Speech-Language Pathologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and a mother of three little ones.  She and her husband do a great job of juggling work and family.  I’m constantly amazed and I know it isn’t easy.   Julia is a singer songwriter and marketing consultant.  She and her partner live in a quiet community in Sonoma County and are involved in music and the theater. I am so proud of all of them.  And I am so thankful for such talented souls in my family that contribute in such a positive way to this world. (And did I mention my grandson, 5 years old, wants to be heart surgeon?  And my granddaughters, age 4, a pony doctor and ballerina?  Look out world, more good stuff coming your way!) 

My daughters and I spent a day together at the beach this week.  We had a picnic of smoked salmon and tuna, cheese, french bread, raw veggies and wine.  What a life!  That kind of food on a sunny, breezy day at the beach with my daughters is the best!  The sea air, the sounds of seagulls and children at the beach in the background made a wonderful backdrop for our conversations.  I wish you all the same kind of day with your someone special.

Gail Brokaw
http://www.embracethepossibility.org
You CAN create the change you want in your life!