Monday Mood: Centered

Take a deep breath in, slowly exhale counting to 8 if you can, start with your arms bent over your chest, and as you exhale make a circle with them ending overhead. Repeat several times. Focus on your breathing, and gentle controlled movement. You can do this standing, sitting in your most comfortable chair, or standing in the water in a comfortable pool or lake. 

Emptying your mind, think about nothing, is difficult or impossible for most of us, but we can focus what we are thinking about.  Think about things that went well, that you did well, things that bring pleasure, that bring you happiness.  Fall asleep thinking about things that bring joy to your life, the things you are grateful for. 

I smear paint on canvas, you can call it painting if you want, for the most part I call it playing. There is a saying that we don't stop playing because we have grown old, we have grown old because we stopped playing.  Feed your creative outlet, play with the paint, or pencils, or cameras, or words. Escape into playing. 

I play in the kitchen.  I have spent my adult life reading about cooking, technique, ingredients, the alchemy of saucing.  And I play. I am often surprised at what inspires me in the kitchen. A particular ingredient, a meal out, something I have read, something I have seen.  Recipes are guides, not blueprints or chemistry formulas.  Julia Child emphasized one correct way to do things, very much a French approach. Martha Stewart emphasized the best ingredients. Glen of Glen and Friends, encourages good ingredients, solid technique, and breaking the rules.  His style is very much playing in the kitchen. I like it.  I work clean, something I learned from watching and reading, and the kitchen is a playground not a workspace.  

From a technical standpoint the canvass above is flawed, the focal point, the horizon is centered, it should be above or below the center. I was playing when I made this, and the golden sun is at the center of that play.  Time for me to go float in the pool.