February energies

Oakland, "Fruit of the Same Tree"

A purple and yellow 914

Off to see QEII: Pick up the boy

Off to see QEII: Sustenance at Oscars

Off to see QEII: Treasure Island, preparations

Off to see QEII: Positioning for view

Off to see QEII: The anticipation, the drama unfolds

Off to see QEII: Thar she blows!
(click to enlarge, she's the shadow in the center of the circle just outside the Golden Gate Bridge)

Emeryville: Mom and Gray on his 25th Birthday!

Emeryville: Dad and Gray on his 25th Birthday!

Emeryville: Broken fire hydrant that refused to be photographed

Emeryville: Broken fire hydrant that refused to be photographed

Emeryville: Broken fire hydrant that refused to be photographed

Martinez Marina, Sacramento River, Benecia Bridge
(Ode to Otis ... wasting time...)

Yikes!

Gaia comes to stay at the refuge

A process as complex and self-referent as 'research into one's own practice' does not proceed as smoothly and directly as written descriptions seem to imply. There are periods of frustration, of low energy and absent motivation, of high energy and desire to act or to communicate with others, and so on. There are periods when it is easy to talk about what you are doing, and times when it all seems to slip away, to evaporate. That is part of the nature of any research, and particularly of investigation from the inside, of yourself for yourself.

Sometimes you feel as if you are noticing all sorts of fresh things; the world seems alive and communicative. Other times nothing seems to stand out, and attention drifts or is caught up by events. Recognition that these are natural phases is an important awareness that can assist you through such periods in your own work. Indeed it is an example of self-reference, for by being sensitised to ebbs and flows of energy, you may become more accepting of changes in energies, in what seems possible for you at any given moment.

From Researching Your Own Practice: The Discipline of Noticing
by John Mason