The morning humidity..the late spring light..the green - all together and at once. It reminded me of an oil painting.

It was all wrong - in the beginning. The day had taken its first step on that other foot.

She wanted to run. She wanted to hide. She wanted to pull those covers up over her head..and wish it all away.

It was the light - that scared her. It was being seen in its luminance. It was about having her words heard when spoken aloud.

But then....and quite unexpectedly - she found herself still and in that moment..with absolutely nowhere other or else to go.

She found herself standing straight. Standing tall. Standing in her brilliance..in her new-found power and strength. In that light - that wasn't nearly as scarey as she'd believed.

Storm clouds in the sky. Music in my ears. A dog - tugging at the end of her leash.

Endless thoughts - running thru my mind. Conversations I'd had. Conversations I wished - still -  that someday I might. Life lists that I feared would never be made...and for certain - never accomplished.

There's no time - I was quite sure. No space..no room to stop..to observe..to simply take notice...to breathe.

But then - the sun broke through the dark clouds.

And then - I turned down the volume. The music. The voices. The thoughts that were going round and round.

The endless static and noise and self-talk subsided. There was light. There was sky. I took a deep breath.

One little ordinary flower - turned its head to the setting sun.

There was quiet.

It's about looking thru all of the rain...staying on track..holding tight to that vision.

It's about being in it..feeling it..knowing that it's falling all around. And - even still - staying focused on the light that burns bright.

It's about finding color in the endless grey. It's about believing that there is more to what I am seeing..feeling..thinking..on this uninspiring day.

It's about showing-up no matter what. Don't think. Just get up..just go..just do.

The prize - I've found - is buried deep...right inside of that.

Around the block..and back again. A peek around a corner. A vision and a view down a different alley...a different path.

Beginning once again. Looking at the same scene with a whole new lens.

Unexpected colors reveal themselves. Shapes and forms not formerly seen..become more and more visible and apparent.

Like life. Life like.

Every new avenue..every new path followed - leads to somewhere different. The more I look..the more I see. The more I see..the more I believe. The more I believe..the more I trust. And with that trust - in what I see - the more I change and grow and be me.

In and among the throngs of passers-by. There - I am.

Perhaps it's the architect that still resides within. Or - perhaps it's the photographer...or maybe - even - the yogini.

Perhaps it's the part of me that seeks balance in and among life's imperfection. Or the part that looks for the unexpected in what is the everyday ordinary.

Maybe - it's the color that caught my eye. Or - maybe - it was the possibility of making and creating. And then and again - maybe - it has nothing to do with any of the above..and all of something other.

I don't know.

I do know - that the scene enraptured and captured. I couldn't stop looking and seeing. Every angle revealed a different vision and view thru my camera's lens. Fascinating.

The constant duality between clarity and obscurity. Between the figurative and abstraction . Between sharpness and blurr...light and dark...truth and deception.

I don't know what it was that first attracted and then compelled me....

Maybe - you do?

Like the smell of fresh mown grass.

Like the sound of children laughing.

Like a fist holding tight.

I'd like to think that each of the four limbs of this mandala represents a combination and amalgamation of a whole. That it it mutli-limbed..and multi-faceted. That there is no beginning and no end. That it is a loop never-ending.

I'd like to believe that we - each and every one of us - has within. That love. That compassion. That joy. That equanimity. It's all there for us - to have and to hold.

I'd like to know that as the world spins..and we along with it - that we change and grow. We circle in..we circle out. What looks always to be the same..is ever-changing.

I'd like to seek out the power and strength and 'art' of the mandala everywhere I go.

On a day that's been mostly wet..and mostly grey - I couldn't help but be drawn to the unexpected color.

It was just over the bend..and around the corner. It was - where I'm sure it's been for years and years and years before. Funny that as many times as I'd walked this path - I'd never noticed.

A rainbow - of sorts.

A jaw-dropping..eye-catching array.

I wondered how it is I was going to capture the sight with my camera's lens. How it was that I might frame it in a way that others might see what I could.

Sure did make me smile and laugh aloud -  to find something new...when I was certain there was nothing.

Never say never.

If you seek...you shall find.

Don't think..just do. The prize is always in the process.