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ardysez

~ surrender to yourself

ardysez

Tag Archives: blogging

the murky truth…

29 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by Ardys in Life, Uncategorized

≈ 41 Comments

Tags

blogging, clouds, truth

todd-river-clouds

clouds reflected in the receding Todd River

I took this photo earlier this week. It is the clouds, reflected in the Todd River, after the last lot of rain had stopped. Well, nearly–we had a little shower again yesterday morning despite my phone app insisting all was ‘clear’ and there was ‘0%’ chance of rain. Meh.

As I was studying the photo, I realised that its reflection was mirroring my own, ongoing lack of clarity. Often when we are about to burst forth into a new skin, things can be cloudy…lack focus. Sometimes, I have noticed, I need to leave one thing behind before the new one makes itself known. Step off the precipice and see what rises to meet me.

This is not a sudden decision, it has been rolling around in my mind for months, but the time seems right to take action. I have loved blogging for the last five and a half years, and am so appreciative to those of you who have read, liked or commented. Having never taken an extended break, now, with things seeming a bit murky, the time seems right. In approaching this decision I tried to think which would make more sense to you, to just drift away, or to tell you that I’m taking an extended break. So now you know what I have decided to do.

Be well.

xx Ardys

 

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the opposite of darkness…

09 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by Ardys in Inspiration, Life, photography

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

blogging, enlightenment, inspiration, photography

Recently I read a blog post about that time of the day when the sun has dipped below the horizon, but it is not quite dark yet. ‘What is that called?’ the author asked the fellowship who follow her blog. ‘Twilight’ my mind thought softly, and I noticed others said the same. Twilight. Ephemeral word and… state of being and… sky to behold. A memory worthy of shivers, recalling the many twilights, both morning and evening, I have seen.

img_7440

Near Cincinnati, Ohio.

Someone volunteered another word– ‘gloaming’. An old English word kept alive by the Scots, to glorify either end of the day. I couldn’t stay awake late enough for a gloaming photo in July, in Scotland, when the sun would barely set before sunrise again. Shivers shoot up my back with fingers extending across my shoulders at recognition of something I want to remember. Is it a piece to the puzzle of the Universe? I always ask this question. I know that it must be, and yet I have no idea the significance. Perhaps it is just the Universe showing us its majesty.

img_8990

glowing gloaming at home in Alice

Another contribution offered the French word, ‘le crépuscule’. Wouldn’t you know the French would have a beautiful word too? Again the chills ran up my spine. I found a resource online so that I could be certain of the pronunciation. The Italian word is very similar ‘crepuscolo’ –equally poetic. What a marvel the internet is, when one is enlightened and inspired by it.

before the moon set
before the moon set
Just before sunrise, Alice Springs
Just before sunrise, Alice Springs
Sunrise before the rain.
Sunrise before the rain.

It seemed to me this illumination of the Earth’s lower atmosphere fell perfectly into the theme of ‘enlightened,’ inspired by another blogger, Ailsa, who writes about some of the darkness in our world and her efforts to share positivity and love to counter it. See what Ailsa and others have written on the topic here. Join in. Illumination is the opposite of darkness. There is darkness in our world, but we can choose to light the way, if we try. 

Be enlightened.

Budapest
Budapest
before sunrise
before sunrise
twilight in Savannah, Georgia
twilight in Savannah, Georgia
Afterglow Sydney Harbour
Afterglow Sydney Harbour

 

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where does the sea of modern media take you?

11 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by Ardys in Creativity, photography

≈ 23 Comments

Tags

blogging, creativity, inspiration, Instagram, photography

Processed with Snapseed.

Processed with Snapseed.

I’m not a water person. I’ve tried wading into the sea many times— just in case I’d changed my mind since the last time. I’m a mountain person. Mountains wait for you to come to them, but you can enjoy them from afar too. If you wade into the sea, sooner or later you will find a wave that is larger than you think it is going to be. It may swamp you—knock you off your feet, even, and take you where you don’t want to go. This is not always a bad thing, I know. But this post isn’t about swimming in the sea, it’s about how I avoid being swamped by the deluge of modern media, and use it to inspire.

A few days ago I happened across an article written by James Clear. I’d never heard of him before. Had I not signed up for a curated series of articles through a site called Medium, I would still not have heard of him. The article was titled ‘Forget about setting goals; Focus on this instead’. He talked about goals being the things we want to achieve, but the systems we put in place being the manner by which we achieve them. I liked the clear (pardon pun) way he set out the article and at the end he offered a subscription to a free newsletter he writes; which led me to a free article he had written called ‘Mastering Creativity: A Brief Guide on How to Overcome Creative Blocks’(you have to sign up for his newsletter to get access to this article or I would give you the link). I have been trying to start a new creative practice of drawing for some months now. I’m  getting nowhere. Ok it’s probably because I’m just not drawing much. Ahem. Other areas of creative endeavour are flowing along, some better and some less so, but not the drawing. I thought perhaps reading someone else’s view on the pursuit of creativity might be called for. I liked his simple and direct way of making practical suggestions, most of which were things I have read before, but it never hurts to be reminded again.

James’s article and subsequent information is an example of how I am often led through a logical progression to break up the cobwebs and introduce new thought patterns. You probably have your own ways to use things like Instagram, Twitter and blogs as inspiration. In some cases I deliberately follow accounts I know nothing about. I don’t necessarily want to learn how to do whatever the subject of the feed, but it helps expand my thinking toward what is possible. I follow an Instagram account about sourdough bread baking by a fellow who is an artisan baker in Italy (Insta: ca_mia_breadlab); also an account about extreme knitting by a young woman who uses custom made knitting needles the size of drain pipes (I know!); an Instagram account about a young woman who executes incredible street art; also an artist who draws unusual little characters that are tremendously empathic beings (I’m so infatuated with her work). I also follow a few photographers (this link is for Australian based photographer Leanne Cole, whose work I love and who remains very accessible) that publish images I can relate to and learn from, as well as people who live in other parts of Australia and other countries. It’s a big world out there. What is the point surrounding myself with that which I’m already familiar?

inspired by Instagram tag #lovelydeadcrap_bw
inspired by Instagram tag #lovelydeadcrap_bw
Inspired by Leanne Cole's macro work
Inspired by Leanne Cole’s macro work
inspired by Instagram: ca_mia_breadlab
inspired by Instagram: ca_mia_breadlab
inspired by Instagram account: thisismytree
inspired by Instagram account: thisismytree
recipe and inspiration for 'brined vegetables' all gleaned from internet
recipe and inspiration for ‘brined vegetables’ all gleaned from internet

• Twitter – I often see articles of writing that interest me, most recently a book titled ‘We’re All Going to Die’ by Leah Kaminsky—not a grim reaper sort of book, but a book about culture and our experiences and conversations around death.

• Blogs – seem to evolve as friendship as well as inspiration because often the authors write from a very personal viewpoint about things in their lives. I’m more partial to blogs that are well written than I am likely to follow just because they are different. Blog writing is an art of its own. (here is a recent, and very short article with very useful writing tips)

I realised a couple of years ago I needed to curate my social media encounters the way a museum curates works of art, and the way I choose my friends—carefully, meaningfully. If it becomes too much, before long, nothing is special. But that is just me. I am easily stimulated, and equally, easily over-stimulated. I need to follow authors and artists that don’t overwhelm me. Sometimes that means I ‘unfollow’. You may be able to ignore what you don’t want to read, but I have to look at it and digest it before I can accept or reject it and move on. All that functioning and sensory input overwhelms my brain easily.

Processed with Snapseed.

this serene image wouldn’t be possible if I hadn’t learned to shoot and edit iPhone photos from iPhone Photography School, all online

It seems to me in today’s world, there are two ways to go (probably more). You can purposefully seek media encounters that inspire you, or you can allow the flooding deluge of it all to carry you hither and yon. I may visit hither and yon one day, but when I do it will be a purposeful journey, taken because the inspiration has led me there and not because I was knocked off my feet and washed upon its shores unexpectedly.

How do you use modern media to inspire you?

(note: the link to the Artisan Baker in Italy is for his airbnb residence where he teaches bread baking; Instagram is where I found, and follow him, if you are so inclined)

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what’s in a name?

20 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by Ardys in About

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

blogging, family, pets

It’s a bit after the fact, I know, but I’ve been thinking you might like to know the origin of my blog name. I also thought I’d throw in the origin of my Instagram and Tumblr* names (the same as each other) just for fun.

Before the blog, there was Instagram, and before that there was Amos…

How Amos got his name.

Instagram was my very first social media forum, even before my Facebook page–which I have recently deactivated. When I set up the Instagram account and had to choose a name, I decided to purloin a name I’d been using as the trade name for the jewellery I made and sold in the local gallery–Amos the Magic Dog…or in Instagram-speak, @amosthemagicdog. There is nothing brief about it, which flies in the face of most marketing strategies except, it seems, that it is memorable.

amos-the-magic-dog

Storm-the-rescue-dog, alias Amos

Amos-the-magic-dog was really Storm-the-rescue-dog. We adopted him when he was about 10 months old from the local animal shelter. He was part Blue Heeler (cattle dog) and the vet thought perhaps part Corgi as well, but who knows! He was sweet and smart as anything and lived to the ripe old age of 18 years, 17+ of them with us. When he was about midway through his life, my parents came to Australia to visit us. They stayed for several weeks. Dad and I would go for walks in the mornings and Storm would come with us. We walked on the golf course, which at that time of the morning had few golfers, so Storm could have a run off the leash. Storm would be very busy sniffing and peeing and trying to herd the rabbits and birds (Blue Heeler instinct at work) and Dad would look around and wonder where he had disappeared, but for some reason he couldn’t remember Storm’s name. One morning he asked ‘Where is Amos-the-magic-dog?’ It tickled me so much, the name stuck in my head. Dad’s family had a habit of making up names, the product of their ‘humour gene’. The classic was the woman up the street that my Grandfather called ‘Porch Swing’, because he would always see her sitting in a swing on her front porch. Everyone knew who he was talking about when he said it, and I knew who Dad was talking about when he asked about Amos.

So, when I wanted a cute, funky name for the jewellery I made, Amos the Magic Dog came to mind. The tags even included a photo of Storm, aka Amos. And when I opened my Instagram account I became ‘amosthemagicdog’. I attended an Instameet with other Instagrammers earlier this year, and I introduced myself as amosthemagicdog, and the other contributors immediately knew who I was, er rather, recognised the name.

Amos tags, from Edinburough to Alice, Sydney and Rome!

Amos tags, from Edinburgh to Alice, Sydney and Rome!

The blog name.

I thought I might want to write about more serious matters when I started the blog, so I decided the Amos name might not be quite the right vibe. I started playing around with various names but nothing quite worked, mostly because they were already being used by someone else. So, thought I, no one else will be named Ardys, certainly that should work. But it didn’t! And a couple of years ago a woman named Ardys actually contacted me, having found my blog. Mystery solved. There are a few of us out there! And then I tried adding my initials, becoming ardys-e-z. I realised that minus the hyphens it would either sound like ‘ardys easy'(hmmm…) or ‘ardys-says’ when people read it. Being an optimist, ardysez was registered. Not as creative as it could have been, perhaps, and slightly confusing as it turned out, due to the unusual nature of my name, but not having any better ideas that were immediately able to be registered, it remained. Then a friend gave me a lovely birthday card in which she had copied the following anonymous passage:

There is that which has always been there,

Which has never left your side,

Which has always been present,

Whatever the feeling, the circumstance.

When you turn your attention to trusting that,

You surrender to yourself.

That really said it all to me; what my life and writing was trying to be about. And so the byline for ardysez became ‘surrender to yourself’. I think of the longer version above when I read the byline, and thought you might like to know it too, so that it may give you some context in which to read my various writings.

Wishing you a happy and healthy week.

(I had intended to add another photo and a new feature to this post before publishing today, but for two days our internet and/or WordPress has been very difficult for uploads, so it will wait for another time.)

(*Tumblr is another blogging format. I have not explored it as much as I have WordPress, and I use it mostly to reblog my WordPress posts, and Instagram photos.)

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