Dear ,

My intention was for today's issue of Picture to Ponder to be brief. And as I started writing the queries, some seemingly far-reaching thoughts came up. Feel free to simply enjoy the pictures, if that's what calls to you.

Once again, "shifting perspectives" is the theme that evolved from the photographs wanting to be shared today. They photographs were taken while walking in a local nursery. Explanations and comments are directly under each photograph.

Diverting momentarily - If you are one of our subscribers who is creative, always coming up with new ideas, often not knowing which one(s) to focus on, I invite you to check out the information, after the Queries, on the Creative Souls Telesummit. I've attended most of the sessions, listened to several of the bonus calls and deem it one of the best series in which I've participated during the many years I've been taking courses on the web. The series strongly addressed personal growth as well as business.

Enough said. If it doesn't fit for you, simply ignore the last section of this issue. Now on to

Today's Photos (from my iPhone) -

Curled bark from palm tree. Deciding that the green from the plant in front of it did not make for good composition, I moved to photograph it from a different position.

The view without the interfering green blade resulted in the above photo.

For me, the intriguing thing that developed is that once downloaded into my computer, I immediately saw the rabbit. It became even clearer when I rotated it 90 degrees from the original vertical position in which I had snapped it.

Before reaching the above "scene", I had photographed the white magnolia below.

Although I "shot" it from different directions, particularly focusing on the red center, nothing unique stood out for me.

Then, motivated by a friend who has been playing with a lot of photo altering apps on her new iPhone, I decided to do some "playing" myself with the three, $2.00 apps I've purchased thus far. The photograph of the above magnolia is the one that called to be selected for the journey.

After much experimentation, I finally declared this picture complete. There are hundreds, probably thousands of ways, that photographs can now be altered. I might, or might not, get caught up in this new wave. Time will tell.

The experience is certainly different from photographing imagery simply because it calls to me. Using the editing applications creates in new ways.

Self-Reflecting Queries -
I've included the magnolia photographs with the "rabbit" ones in this issue to demonstrate yet another way we can alter our realities. In the bark, changes occurred from simply shifting perspectives/ points of view and being open to what showed up. Yes, I made conscious choices based on the "reality" of what I saw; then developed them from there.

With the magnolia, I made random decisions unrelated to the initial image. Granted I did respond by selecting or rejecting different views as presented by the multitude of variations in the apps. I imagine some of these were on the visceral level.

Now, the queries that seem to be evolving result in my invitation for you to observe how you respond to situations in your life.

Do you usually look at things - people and/or situations - and check them out from many different perspectives?

Or, do you, perhaps without reason, sometimes layer all kinds of information, thoughts, ideas on top of what's in front of you without really being present to what's there? without checking your actions against the possibility of the sources?

If you do "layer" on top of, do you get the cooperation from others involved? Do you experience the results that you intend?

Given I'm still pondering today's queries which seem deeper than usual, I would especially appreciate your comments.

As always, have fun, and please share on the blog what comes up for you.

Program For Creatives Who Are Sometimes Stymied with their Abundant Ideas -

If you fall into the above category, I strongly recommend you check out CREATIVE SOULS TELESUMMIT. From my perspective and experience this program was brilliantly organized, facilitated and executed by Tamra Fleming. This was my first experience with her, as well as with 19 of the 22 speakers (9 of whom were part of the bonus for paid participants). The weekly category breakdown, Tamra's interviewing skills and the varied experiences and strengths of the each speakers were all commendable.

To cite two of my most immediate experiences, I was especially impressed with all the tips put forth yesterday by Carolyn Ecklund, "Put Your Dream into Action: How Creative Entrepreneurs Can Market and Sell Their Products" and today I listened to a bonus interview with Gregg Levoy, author of CALLINGS. I expect in future issues of PICTURE TO PONDER I will be quoting some of what I heard.

For one, I was intrigued by a suggestion on how to recall dreams. Levoy shared the message he gave himself before going to sleep, at a time when he had no recall of his dreams. His statemetn included the promise to immediately make note of whatever dream was there whenever he woke up. He went on to suggest using a tape recorder for capturing each dream, rather than turning on lights and using pencil and paper

Bottom line - The calls were f*ree to listen to for 48 hours on MP3 replays. The program ends tomorrow, Friday, May 20th, which means you should have up to Saturday for today's call and Sunday to listen to the last one at no cost.

In the meantime, the current offer of $67 for all 22 calls on downloadable MP3s will be closed at 6 PM Pacific time tomorrow, Friday. The price for both it and the Platinum level, which includes post-coaching sessions, will be increasing after that.

So, if anything I've written "calls" to you, do go to CREATIVE SOULS TELESUMMIT for full details.

(Disclaimer: Should you register for one of the paid options, I will receive a commission. And that is NOT why am I am recommending your checking it out. The Arts Attorney, one of the speakers who sent me the email, will be receiving a commission on my registration.)

Guests - If this issue has been passed on to you by a friend, we invite you also to take advantage of a no-cost subscription. Simply click on SUBSCRIBE. You can learn more about Picture to Ponder on our INTRO page.

Inspirationally,


Sheila
sheila[a]picturetoponder.com
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