Memories of Rocks –Journey of Beauty 02.10.08

Guiding Thought

What memories do I have of beauty? Are beauty and freedom related? What am I learning passively, simply by showing up to think about beauty every day?

Reflection / Contemplation

I am trying to recall memories of Beauty from my childhood. In truth, I don’t even remember when it was that Beauty was anchored in my growing up. As best I can remember it was most likely rocks which caught my eye, a visual entry to Beauty. Truth be told, I hated hiking up the steep slopes (and still do) in the mountains around our family cabin in Idaho. I much preferred the stopping part to catch my breath and allowed me to immerse myself in the beauty of place: the warmth of the August sun, the brilliant blue sky, the smell of the pines, the wind, my attempts to identify plants, and the rocks (the dust and horseflies, not so much).

I was, and still am, attracted to the colors and striations, the overlay of time and pressure that rocks reveal. I suspect it was around the 8^th grade that I started my rock collection from those outings. I still have that collection: a variety of granites, quartz (clear and snowy varieties) crystals, and micas from that hillside.

Funny how my mind goes to this landscape for the memory of Beauty from my childhood. Close by is a valley through which flows the headwaters of the South Fork of the Salmon River. Again it was in my childhood that our family would go to these waters, a pilgrimage of sorts, to see the salmon, the river teeming with them on their annual migration home to spawn.

And on the other side of the valley is a ¾ mile hike into a hot springs, the trail more to my liking, not so steep. This route presented itself to me as an opportunity to identify the variety of plants native to these parts.

It is to this valley I go, in my mind’s eye, when meditations invite me to a place where I can rest my body beneath a tree and let my imagination fly.

Beauty seems to me taking to all sorts of places these days, memories included.

Guest Contributor Lita Artis

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Here is the schedule:

Apr 18 Preliminary day Introduction: Why A Journey of Beauty (02.10.0)
Apr 19 Preliminary day Commitment and Dedication (02.10.00)
Apr 20 – 29 Days 01-10 Round One (02.10.01-10)
Apr 30 – May 9 Days 11-20 Round Two (02.10.11-20)
May 10 – 19 Days 21-30 Round Three (02.10.21-30)
May 20 – 29 Days 31-40 Round Four (02.10.31-40)
May 30 – June 8 Reflection days Gently care, de-fuse, and write one day of reflection on the Journey (02.10.41)