Grounded by Bodhi Smith

"grounded" a new impression from bodhi smith

funny that the title of this new image is "grounded" with today being "groundhog day"...totally perfectly fitting, but honestly, i just realized the fact as an afterthought before finishing this post this morning, purely coincidental this coincidence...this photographic composition was taken before the entire stern of the ss point reyes shipwreck was unfortunately burned and destroyed by another photographer who carelessly and accidently set it on fire while trying to take steel wool sparkling images from aboard the ship, regrettable forever ruining the chances of future pictures taken of the famous shipwreck in its entirety ever again...some say i was lucky to have taken so many images before it burned, but i say i am just as unlucky as anyone else with having another thoughtless person carelessly steal the opportunity for any of us to take images of the entire ship ever again in the future...anyway on the positive side, for this evening of my impression it was a cool and crisp night full of stars as the tide rolled out, and the ship is captured here during low tide as this vessel is firmly grounded ashore under starry skies alongside tomales bay in inverness, ca... it is single frame image taken with soft focus to get the shipwreck and stars at the same time, to give the composition the feel of an impressionist painting when viewed closely...i truly hope you enjoy the image, as much as i did the night i took the picture with the departed dude a few years ago, a time that is still a great memory of mine...and likewise i hope you enjoy and think about the accompanying quotes i have included here to compliment this dreamy composition... 
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"after going through turbulence, to be firmly planted as you come back to earth, back to reality, is pragmatic, stable, and safe...being grounded can be a good thing as you try to solve difficult problems, but if you stay there too long, where is the fun in that? ...sometimes staying grounded just means you have washed up on shore and are stuck, missing the floating joy of sailing freely over open waters, letting the wind and stars take you away into your dreams...risking to leave the safety of land again might seem scary, but you must find your balance and let the waters refresh you again..." ― bodhinku, grounded
 
“imagination opens things up so that we can grow into maturity—worship and adore, exclaim and honor, follow and trust. explanation makes things clearer, grounding us, but it restricts and defines and holds us down; imagination expands and lets loose. explanation keeps our feet on the ground; imagination lifts our heads into the clouds. explanation puts us in harness; imagination catapults us into mystery. explanation reduces life to what can be used; imagination enlarges life into what can be adored.” ― timothy lane, a mess worth making: relationships
 
“perhaps lovers aren't supposed to look down at the ground. that kind of story is told in symbols, and earth represents reality, and reality represents frustrations, chance illnesses, death, murder, and all kinds of other tragedies. lovers are meant to look up at the sky, for up there no beautiful illusions can be trampled upon." frowning, sulky, i gazed moodily at him. "and when i fall in love,” i began, "i will build a mountain to touch the sky. then, my lover and i will have the best of both worlds, reality firmly under our feet, while we have our heads in the clouds with all our illusions still intact. and the purple grass will grow all around, high enough to reach our eyes.” ― v.c. andrews, flowers in the attic 
 
"keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground" ― teddy roosevelt, 26th president of the united states
 
“walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it...” ― wilferd peterson
 
"would you consider yourself a dreamer or a doer? maybe both? it's important to learn how to balance your goals with your actions in order to live passionately and do what you want in life. a few weeks ago while i was on a run, the saying "keep your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground" popped into my head. i'm not sure why i thought of this, but once i did, i couldn't get it out of my mind. and while i've heard this saying many times—and actually have always thought it was pretty corny—i started to think about it more deeply and realized the true wisdom of this idea. as i've been thinking about it more, i notice that while i often have my "head in clouds," thinking about big goals, dreams and ideas, and my "feet on the ground," staying grounded in reality, taking practical action and keeping things real, i rarely do these things simultaneously. you probably find yourself on one end of this spectrum or the other. some people, like me, go back and forth depending on what's going on in life or how they feel at any given time. however, your ability to create an authentic sense of balance with your goals and actions (dreaming vs. doing), has a lot to do with not only how effective you are in making things happen in life, but also with how much joy and fulfillment you experience...one of the biggest challenges you'll encounter on your journey toward your dreams is either not taking effective action (because you don't know what to do or you're too scared to do it) or taking too much ineffective action (because you're running around crazy or acting in an unconscious way). when you allow yourself to dream big, keep your feet on the ground by coming up with intentional and appropriate actions to move forward with your goals, even if you're scared and not sure how things will turn out. you often need guidance, advice and support in this process because it can be confusing, intimidating or both"  mike robbins, dreamer or doer or both?
 
"let the beauty we love be what we do. there's hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground" ― jalaluddin rumi, a year with rumi: daily readings
 
“you have been walking the ocean's edge, holding up your robes to keep them dry. you must dive naked under and deeper under, a thousand times deeper. love flows down. the ground submits to the sky and suffers what comes. tell me, is the earth worse for giving in like that? do not put blankets over the drum. open completely.” ― jalaluddin rumi, the big red book
 
“you left ground and sky weeping, mind and soul full of grief. no one can take your place in existence, or in absence. both mourn, the angels, the prophets, and this sadness i feel has taken from me the taste of language, so that i cannot say the flavor of my being apart.” ― jalaluddin rumi, a year with rumi: daily readings
 
“how will you know the difficulties of being human, if you are always flying off to blue perfection? where will you plant your grief seeds? workers need ground to scrape and hoe, not the sky of unspecified desire.” ― jalaluddin rumi, a year with rumi: daily readings
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"stroll under the stars at night on the beach, walking with your feet grounded in the soft sand, feeling the smooth grains between your toes...then reach to the sky with outstretched arms, and embrace a dream, as the waves wrap around your legs and silently erase the footprints behind you..." ― bodhinku, walk into your dream
 
"awaken. stop the world. slow down everything. shut off the noise. relax. seize this moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colors of light that envelope you. see the melody and harmony that floats about unnoticed. taste the solitude of all this wonderment. smell the beautiful silence within your peaceful serenity. then, reach out and touch your faith. this is my world. awaken." ― bodhinku, my world
 

as always, i hope this message and image find you well.

namaste,
bodhi
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