Daily Archive

I was just wondering whether I should have a Lenten practice this year, when the UUWorld popped up in my e-mail inbox with an article about #UULent, a photo-a-day practice. Something I know about myself is that 47 straight days of anything is very challenging (Lent practices of privation skip Sundays, but this practice continues through Sundays, with a twist). However, if I only hit 30 out of 47, that will be 30 days of attention to a spiritual matter.

Today’s word is mindfulness, and the internal process that occurred when I saw this outside a restaurant window today exemplified . I saw the light coming through these leaves and two thoughts came into my mind simultaneously:

How beautiful!

It’s a geranium, and I don’t like geraniums.

I have a category in my mind–geraniums–and a judgment about it–I don’t think they’re beautiful. Mindfulness allows perceptions in (“How beautiful!”) that don’t fit in my categories, and even challenge them.

So I am beginning this season with gratitude for this geranium, the sun, and the prompt from creators Mr. Barb Greve, Karen Bellavance-grace, and Alex Kapitan to consider mindfulness with my camera. I also want to express an extra thank you for giving me a gentle way out of a long dry season of blogger’s block.

If you care to join me, I’ll be posting daily on Twitter @AmyZMorgenstern (hashtags #UULent, #UUCPA) and also on Facebook–please connect there, or in the comments, and I’ll look forward to seeing your photos–whether one or 47.