Morning glory

It was Saturday morning, a little after nine as you can see on the clock below and I was cycling to my destination: a meditation weekend at the Shambhala center which is located a little behind the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

It was quiet in the streets (who is up so early on a Saturday morning?), the sky was clear, the temperature was just around 0 degrees Celsius and the light was shining its orange rays on the buildings. The golden hour.

When I reached my destination I parked my bike and looked around me. I was wide awake even though it was early for me too, my awareness was open and the light and the reflections in the canal touched my eyes and heart.

I just stood on that bridge for a while, looked around me and enjoyed immensely what I saw. With a happy heart I went into the building for a full day of instructions on mediation. I will let you know more about that later in the week.

Eery morning light

This week is my last week before the holidays and I am really holding on to that thought. Work has been hectic, busy and tough with a colleague being sick and I am exhausting myself.

This morning I was so tired I got up a little later than usual and decided to take the tram instead of riding my bike. I simply didn't feel like exerting myself more than I needed to.

When I stepped out of the front door I noticed this yellow, eery light. I immediately got my camera out of my bag and took some shots.

The light was very fascinating and I realized that it makes me feel awkward when the sky does not have its usual colour. Do you have that feeling, too?

I took a shortcut through the Vondelpark and saw the light reflected in the pond. 

When I got to the tram stop the eery light was almost gone, the world had woken up and everyone was already involved in a new and busy day.

Winter sunlight in my living room

sunlight on the couch and living room table

The sun was out today and I was so happy with that, I grabbed my camera and took some snapshots of my living room. I usually don't show that much of my living spaces but this light was worth recording.

sunlight on a framed photograph

sunlight on the fringes of a blanket

Miksang Contemplative photography is about seeing what is and not embellishing anything. So my living room was like this, not really tidied up and the couch looks like somebody had just sat in it. That is exactly how it was.

sunlight on the pillows of my couch

After snapping these photos I went for a walk in the park. Later in the week I'll try to post these photos. Did you enjoy the sunlight today?

Sunrise

These pictures are taken this morning at about 09.15 hrs. I was on my way to the beautician by bike and had a wonderful view on the river Amstel when I passed over the bridge.

The feeble wintery sun was shining but it looked like it had difficulty peeking through the morning mist.

I stopped my bike, got off and enjoyed the view. Then I took my camera out to shoot these photos.

These tracks of dewdrops were coming down a rear window of a car, parked in the street of my destination. I was touched by the light coming through the window.

What did you see today?

Morning light

This morning I woke up at my friend's place in The Hague. I slept well, normally I don't sleep very well the first night at a 'strange place'. After I had showered and got dressed I went downstairs to make some tea and lay the table.

When my friend Tosca got dressed she went outside to get some bread and other essentials for breakfast.

While she was away I was sitting on the couch and looking around in the living room and hallway. I saw the morning light coming in and giving shadows on the walls.

She spoilt me rotten: she bought croissants, French cheese, tomatoes and boiled some eggs. It felt like a being in a luxurious hotel but then it was even better: there were no strangers around us and everything was quiet.

shadow of a bush in the window

light on the couch 

The water lily had closed herself during the night and I saw her opening herself slowly when the sun started to shed her beams on her. Amazing.

the corridor

light from underneath the door

main window in living room

This was a very nice way to start the day.  In the afternoon we went to the Rosarium, a rose garden. I'll post some pictures about that later.

Maitri workshop: the follow-up part III

As a follow-up of the Maitri Practice Day last 6 July I had taken the white pair of glasses home with me to practice the effects of the colour of WHITE. 

After I got home from work yesterday I meditated for about 15 minutes to clear my head, sat in the appropriate posture for WHITE for about 17 minutes and noticed great discomfort in my neck, shoulders and knees. That is not so surprising as the posture is sitting on your knees and elbows with your head resting in your hands.

Apart from the uncomfortable posture I felt like being in a fog, it was the same feeling I had when we were doing WHITE during the workshop in June although not as strong.

When I went outside for my aimless walk I took a different route than I usually do, I walked very slowly and saw lots of shadows, light, reflections and white objects. I felt at peace and was enjoying looking around me.

Above is another example of shadows. It was quite windy and the shadows were moving all the time.

Light, I noticed light everywhere. Especially in the summer when the sun is a little lower and the shadows become longer, light pops up here and there.

Maitri workshop: the follow-up part II

So last night I followed about the same procedure as the night before, but this time I laid down with the green glasses on immediately after a hectic working day. Was that sensible, I don't know, but it is how it fit in my day.

What I noticed during the posture was that I started off still thinking about work a lot and slowly I became more quiet and my breathing became more quiet, too. Towards the end I became restless again and I started looking at the clock, especially during the last fine minutes. They just seem to last forever! A lot of work related stuff was going on in my head and the posture felt a lot less uncomfortable than last night.

When I was walking outside I noticed that the colors were less vibrant to me as yesterday, but my eye still fell upon them. I was more enjoying light and shadows of objects, though and I was less in thought and more in the moment. I came back feeling refreshed.

Pink laundry

I walked down the stairs of our century old building today to do some groceries. As I walked down I noticed the laundry racks that were sitting on the in-between floors of the staircase. Apparently someone had done a colour coordinated wash. I was struck by the colour and the light.

Early morning light

It is such a delight that it is getting light earlier and earlier. It makes it so much easier to get up en go out for the day, don't you agree? Here are two pictures I took at 8.00 o'clock yesterday morning. Seeing this made my heart sing. Not that we had a severe winter, no, not at all. But there is something natural about sunlight, it is a source of energy. Without it we couldn't live.

As you can see it is a bit messy on my vintage cabinet. My new favorite vintage colour is orange. That just happened, I didn't plan that. I bought a cup here, a tin there and before I knew it, there was a kind of a collection.

My costume for the Venetian carnival is partially displayed (the outer jacket) in my room. I like how the yellow reflects on the wall behind. See more on my Venetian adventures over here.

A walk in the woods

Yesterday was a beautiful day and H. and I went for a walk in the woods. He practically lives in the forest, so it was a matter of walking out of the door and there we were.

The weather was lovely: the sun was out, a few birds were singing and it almost felt like Spring. That was kind of weird since the day and night before a storm had been raging over our country like there was no before!
We followed this winding bike lane for a short while and continued walking on the smaller paths.

The walk made us quite thirsty, so when we came home we took a large glass of tea. The afternoon sun gave a lovely reflection of the glass on the kitchen counter.

The pink hyacinth was sitting on the porch and obviously has seen better days, I don't know what H. has in mind with it.

When I got up from my chair, I saw these lovely light holes on my new pillowcase. I ordered it from my own Society6 collection to see what the actual product would be. See more of my collection over here.

Sunday was a lovely day indeed.