The fog and the frosted grass

The fog and the frosted grass (photos from 2008-10-29)

The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.
/Jon Kabat-Zinn (Wherever you go there you are, p. 17)

When I came out of bed I noticed the grey outside the windows. It was embedding everything with its soft touch and made the world into a watercolour scene where the water is still dripping and making everything blurry.

I put on a pair of plastic clogs and went outside. It was chilly and the grass said wosh-wosh as it broke under my weight. It was frosted after a cold night?s breath. Now white of stars where a month ago it was only sprinkled with dew, the grass broke as I walked on it. Though I didn?t notice the frost at first because I was looking up. I was looking towards the black tree shadows and the invisible sky.

F(r)og by the pound too.

I love early mornings as the light is always so special and everything looks crisper and newly awakened. I wish I could experience it every day, but unfortunately I?m not a morning person. But maybe that is why I cherish these lonely morning experiences, because I catch them so seldom?

Smilla did follow me outside but was disappointed in the frozen cold world she did not recognize. She hurried back inside as I put the lens to my eye and saw the world in yet another way, through my camera lens. I was fully awake in that moment, my hands already cold from the morning air. My breath a tiny cloud going out from my mouth into the world. I walked around, and I saw things. Things I thought were full of meaning and value.

I was only outside for 15 minutes, but it was precious to me. When I came back inside I had collected much more than the photos I went out to snap.

I gave Smilla her breakfast on the floor, then poured black coffee in a big mug for me. I wish I could say I sipped it mindfully and sat to meditate for an hour after breakfast, but I can?t. I went about my day as I usually do and that was it. My dose of beauty and mindfulness that day was over.

Another split one I did, adding it to the pool Dyptichs.

Sugar rose? No it’s the frosting! It’s summer and winter in the same photo.

PS: How mystical… since I started this post I’ve seen two posts about the mist… it’s been everywhere! Did you see it too? Susan had morning fog and Karin, in another place in Sweden, had some misty mornings…

The quote at the top of this post is by Jon Kabat-Zinn, from his book Wherever You Go, There You Are (p. 17) that I’m reading right now, slowly! Taking in one or two of the short chapters each night. It’s a beautiful book about mindfulness and meditation. I like it a lot because it is easy to understand and it makes me want to meditate so much, plus it has pages with torn edges which is beautiful (they have not been machine cut!). If you need a dose listen to Lilou at youtube or Mr Kabat-Zinn at his google talk where he says:

Your real meditation practice is your life…