Photography: My Olive Branch Offering to My Winter Nemesis, Ice

The last few winters my winter nemesis has been ice.  All kinds of ice have been out to get me (black ice, shiny ice, smooth hard ice, crunchy ice, ice mixed with snow).  You name it, all kinds of ice have caused me an assorment of falls including sliding down my front stairs fully armed with multiple bags (twice) and my legs completely falling out from under me while carrying a laundry basket filled with laundry!   These falls have resulted in a colorful (and quite impressive) array of bruises, weeks of soreness, and a grimace from my acupuncturist as she watched me painfully try to swing myself up on the table.  

Despite my understandable increased dread of the ice, I decided that this year I would try to make a peace offering with Mother Nature.  Holding out photography as an olive branch my deal has been:


"I'll appreciate your beauty during the winter if you promise not to attack me!"


Arming myself with my camera, I have tried to discover, appreciate, and capture the beauty of my winter nemesis, ice.  




Icicles

1.  Icicles particularly fascinate me.  I think that it is really cool how water can drip down, forming a long spear of ice that clings onto the gutters and the edges of houses and buildings despite the onslaught of the winter elements of snow, rain, and wind.  In this picture, extremely long icicles hang down from the side of my house.  They are what my friend's daughter calls "killer icicles". 

I am also intrigued by the fascinating shapes of icicles.  In this picture, a claw-shaped icicle has formed from water dripping off of a drainpipe by the side of my house.  

A few days later, after the fifth winter storm of the season, the icicle morphed into the following shape:

Frozen Spy Pond

When Spy Pond freezes over in the winter, it is a beautiful place to take pictures.  I'm particularly interested in how the ice captures the sunlight.  In this picture, the ice shimmers.  The sunlight seems to skip across the ice, highlighting the numerous textures of Spy Pond.

What was really exciting was that this picture was recently published in my local newspaper!

The ice in the pond can even look really beautiful when it's breaking.  My friend, Caroline, commented that there is a violent feeling about this picture, yet it's so natural and innocuous at the same time.

I'm also fascinated by how ice appears to change colors.  In the picture of Spy Pond, below, the ice seems to take on the pretty blues and pinks of the sky.

And in this picture of Spy Pond, only parts of the pond are frozen, creating a neat effect of water and ice that take on the brilliant blues of the sky.

Being mindful of the beauty of Mother Nature in the winter has helped me to come to appreciate the ice more.  Although I still dread forecasts of wintry mixes, freezing rain, and black ice, my hatred of the ice has lessened.  It has been exciting to capture intriguing aspects of ice including the amazing shapes of icicles, the way that sunlight illuminates and skips across ice, the way that frozen ice in a pond can hold onto the pretty colors of the sky, and even the beauty of broken ice.  While ice is still my winter nemesis, photography has helped me to be mindful of its beauty.
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To readers of this blog:  I am interested in hearing from you about how engaging in an art form (visual art, music, writing, acting) has helped you to see the positive in and appreciate something that you previously and/or continue not to like.   I am also interested in hearing from you about what you like about ice in the winter.   If you feel so inspired, please leave a comment.  I look forward to hearing from you!

The Art of Making Resolutions: A Mindful Approach

     Every year I make a New Year's Resolution and it seems that with every passing year, the resolutions seem to be harder and harder to keep, making me feel like a New Year's Resolution failure.  Over the past few weeks, I've done a lot of thinking about how the goals that I've successfully achieved are strikingly different from my New Year's Resolutions.  This has shed some light for me on how to make resolutions in a more mindful way.

     As a goal-oriented person, I enjoy setting my sights on an accomplishment and figuring out how I will get there.  My executive functioning skills are quite intact.  I am quite good at setting realistic goals, determining the steps I need to take to reach them, planning my time accordingly, and staying disciplined as I work toward my goals.  So the question becomes: Why can't I stick to my New Year's Resolutions?  Looking back at three goals that I have successfully achieved this year has helped me to clarify what conditions are needed to ensure my success in accomplishing goals.


GOAL #1:  Finding an Apartment

     Back in February, I learned at the beginning of my February vacation (10:00am on Saturday morning!) that I would need to vacate my apartment in several months, right around the time of my sister's wedding.  Heartbroken and anxious to leave an apartment I had grown to love, I set my mind to finding an apartment by the end of the week, before returning to school.  Throwing aside my plans for vacation, I put all of my time, effort, and energy into finding an apartment.  That whole afternoon I researched listings and booked appointments.  Luckily, I found a great place within a few days, signed a lease a few days later, and received a key a few after that.  Since my first goal was accomplished within a few days, I created and successfully reached two new goals:  packing up my apartment by the end of vacation week and actually moving into a new apartment only thirteen days after finding out I needed to move.

Conditions that Helped Me to Be Successful and Disciplined in Reaching this Goal:
A pressing need (needing to find a new place) with a specific time frame attached (knowing that I would need to move before my sister's wedding) and the resources to achieve the goal (time, energy, effort)




GOAL #2:  My Professional Development Plan for School

     At the beginning of every new school year, I always think of a few new things that I want to work on or develop.  This helps to keep my teaching new and fresh from year to year.  My district requires teachers to formalize goals into a written statement, signed by both the teacher and the principal.  It contains a series of steps that will be taken to reach the goal, people who will help, and evidence that the goal has been accomplished.  Each year, I choose something that I am already interested in working on further-- that way I am already motivated.    This year, I am already well on my way to accomplishing my goal.

Conditions that Helped Me to Be Successful and Disciplined in Reaching this Goal:
My interest in pursuing the goal, being held accountable for achieving it, and the timing of the goal (at the beginning of the school year when there are a whole new set of kids and it makes sense to try out new ideas and teaching techniques.)


GOAL #3:  Maintaining This Blog:  Living, Teaching, and Creating Courageously 

 
     In July 2010, I had the incredible opportunity of attending a weeklong Courage to Teach Institute.  As a requirement for obtaining Professional Development Points (PDPs), we were required to write a five page reflection paper that included what we had learned/gotten out of the institute and how we planned to continue the Courage to Teach work.  In my reflection paper, I included the following section about maintaining my blog:

"For the past year, I have been wanting to start a personal blog but never had a topic, until now.  Inspired by great blogs that my colleagues write, I became excited about having a forum to share my ideas and to create discussions.  A fellow participant in the workshop sent a piece of her art work in the mail to members of the group as a thank you gesture.  What I thought was really neat was that she included thought provoking and engaging questions to accompany the art.  And the wheels in my head started turning...

Thinking about the CTT Institute, I realized that so many of us involved in the courage work are artists, writers, poets, creators.  I thought it would be neat to create a blog where art can be used as third things to promote the discussion of ideas.  Writing and creating art are two things that help me to be creative.  I'm hoping that by making a committment to post to the blog throughout the school year, it will help me to achieve more balance.  I'm not sure what a reasonable goal would be:  perhaps an entry every two weeks?"

I am proud to say that not only have I achieved this goal but I have far surpassed it.  A blog entry every two weeks would have brought me to about 10 entries at this point, but this entry is actually #21!


Conditions that Helped Me to Be Successful and Diciplined in Reaching This Goal:
My enjoyment in keeping up the blog (both writing and taking pictures for it), positive feedback and encouragement from people who read it, and it fulfills a personal passion and need of mine to create.


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In reflecting back upon the conditions that helped me to be successful and disciplined in reaching goals, I've realized that my success is not only dependent upon creating the goal but also in having some of these conditions in place:

*A pressing need
*Specific time frame in which the goal needs to be achieved
*Resources to achieve the goal (time, energy, money)
*Interest and enjoyment
*Being held accountable for reaching the goal
*Goal is created at an appropriate time
*Encouragement from others
*Fulfills a personal need and/or passion

What I finally came to realize is that my New Year's Resolutions are often just that, resolutions.  I have thought about goals for the upcoming year without making sure any of the above conditions are put into place.


My Advice:  If you are going to make a New Year's Resolution, make sure that you have the appropriate conditions in place to ensure your success.  If you determine that you will not be able to have the necessary conditions in place come January 1, then hold off on the goal or the resolution until these conditions can be available.  That way,  you will not feel like a New Year's Resolution failure!


Questions to Ponder:

1.   Think about goals that you have successfully reached.  What conditions were in place that helped you to achieve your goals?

2.  Think about your New Year's Resolutions for 2011.  What conditions will you need to make sure are in place in order to ensure that you successfully achieve your goal?