After spending some time in Boston on Tuesday dealing with family health issues I returned home by way of Brimfield.  I wanted to get my weaving done in a timely manner but have to say my mind wasn’t all there when I arrived.  Usually weaving is a calming meditative experience for me and I can only surmise that what had transpired inside of my little world over the past week conspired to keep my mind preoccupied with other matters.

As evening progressed into night I was madly trying to get my little project finish when Pam said, “Come see this sunset.”  I got up and looked out at the view from the upper deck and went right back in to get my phone (the camera of the day).  I took a few shots, playing with the settings and pretending I could make a photograph with a phone as good as one with an SLR.  Satisfied with what I could get I went back in and wove some more.

It wasn’t until later that I realized what calmed me more than anything was the simple act of taking those photographs.  That was the true meditative moment.  I had to breathe, hold still, absorb and observe what was going on around me.  As usual it was the healing power of the natural world that helped me settle.  Taking a photograph makes me focus, zone right in on what is before my eyes at that moment.   It’s a narrow view yet somehow bigger that anything in the periphery.  Here I thought that the weaving was what would bring me down to a tolerable level of stress when in reality it was those few moments of focus on nature, breathing it in and standing still.