Morning Fog by Bodhi Smith

Apr 09, 2021

"morning fog" a brand new impression and blog from me...
 
"the morning fog blankets out the noise and quiets my mind. it's opaqueness makes it hard for me to see clearly, forcing me to pause and take things slower as i move forward. it helps me to forget all i'm lacking and know it's okay to be completely incomplete. the morning fog lets me be certain of my uncertainty, and know that's alright for now" ― bodhinku, morning fog 
 
"when the future is foggy, and ahead lays opportunity clouded with much risk, it is better to tread a careful path through the uncertainty than to wait for the fog to clear, if it ever does"
― anonymous
 
"you have a choice: you can either strain and look at things appearing in front of you in the fog, painful as it might be, or you could relax and lose yourself" ― ken kesey, one flew over the cuckoo's nest
 
"there is no path into peace. peace is the path. there is no path into love. love is the path. there is no path into happiness. happiness is the path...the journey is what brings us peace, love and happiness, not the destination" ― dan millman, way of the peaceful warrior
 
"the morning fog is special. it's a magical opportunity for unique meditation. it's simplicity is a real life metaphor helping to realize the path through confusion and noise...giving time to not think, but instead visualize the silence, time to wait and let go as the fog slowly lifts and burns off. i see and understand things so much clearer than before" ― bodhinku, morning fog 
 
"into the fog was where i wanted to be. halfway down the path you can’t see anything. i couldn’t see but a few feet ahead. i didn’t meet a soul. everything looked and sounded unreal. nothing was what it is. that’s what i wanted—to be alone with myself in another world where truth is untrue and life can hide from itself" ― eugene o'neill, long day's journey
 
"if you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading" ― gautama siddhartha buddha, sayings of buddha

"so keep painting pictures of beautiful scenes, striking the canvas with deep blues and greens. when you start frowning they think you’re obscene, as you work overtime to make sure they can dream...i’m yelling and screaming 'cause baby you’re driving me crazy. if i could spare more remorse from my emptied out pores, i would maybe. 'cause the fog’s getting thicker, the world’s spinning fast. the chaos is building, it’s going too last. and it’s so hard to see, and you’re so hard to find, the days when i think i am losing my mind" ― maroon 5, the fog
 
"be true to yourself, only you know your own real truth...follow your heart down your path through the fog, muting all the noise, and walk out into the meaningful light of the silent truth" ― bodhinku, the silent truth 
 
"be the lone tree standing in the misty rain, branches outstretched upward tasting the fog, waiting for the air to clear, waiting for clouds to break and give way to blue skies...waiting for the sunbeams to sing down and warm your soul all the way down to your wet roots" ― bodhinku, sound of sunshine 
 
this first song song is a magically melodic tune with a calming rhythmic beat. it's a soft and lovely song from the late 1980's by an artist who was ahead of her times, and one that gives me the feel of standing in a warm foggy forest...it's a lush, beautiful, atmospheric song and it's the perfect accompaniment to connect music with the meaning of my impression and blog today: "the fog" by kate bush ... (just click on any of the words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....
 
"he said, i'm all grown up now. he said. just put your feet down child 'cause you're all grown up now...just like a photograph, i pick you up. just like a station on the radio, i pick you up. just like a face in the crowd, ipick you up. just like a feeling that you're sending out, i pick it up. but i can't let you go. if i let you go, you slip into the fog...this love was big enough for the both of us. this love of yours was big enough to be frightened of. it's deep and dark, like the water was the day i learned to swim....he said, just put your feet down child, just put your feet down child, the water is only waist high. i'll let go of you gently, then you can swim to me...is this love big enough to watch over me? big enough to let go of me without hurting me like the day i learned to swim?...'cause you're all grown up now, just put your feet down child. the water is only waist high, i'll let go of you gently, then you can swim to me..."― kate bush, the fog
 
"be into your own happiness...if you are happy, that's enough. stay on the path of discovery into what makes you happy: the path into yourself. discover this path that's only for you. it does not have to be crystal clear, so even if there is fog that makes it impossible to see even a step ahead of you, don't be afraid, and just slowly take it one step at a time, into it the fog....don't give into the fear of the unknown, the distortions, or the unseen. move into and towards it all, and cherish that excitement. because when the fog clears up, who knows, you might just end up where you dearly wanted to be" ― bodhinku, the path 
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MEANING
"keep faith in your path. have faith in the light of hope through the fog. faith is a beautiful thing" ― bodhinku, faith through the fog
 
pictured here is a boardwalk above a swampy slough (pronounced "slew") filled with alligators, through a forest of cypress trees and ferns in the florida everglades, as the morning fog is just beginning to burn off...
 
i have always loved the metaphor of "the fog lifting" in terms of seeing things clearer...
 
and for me, the morning fog is special. it's a magical opportunity for unique meditation. it's simplicity is a real life metaphor helping to realize the path through confusion and noise...giving time to not think, but instead visualize the silence, time to wait and let go as the fog slowly lifts and burns off. i see and understand things so much clearer than before...
 
the morning fog blankets out the noise and quiets my mind. it's opaqueness makes it hard for me to see clearly, forcing me to pause and take things slower as i move forward. it helps me to forget all i'm lacking and know it's okay to be completely incomplete. the morning fog lets me be certain of my uncertainty, and know that's alright for now...
 
i've been walking around in a fog for quite a while lately. but in my honest opinion, that's not necessarily a bad thing...sometimes you need the fog to clear you out. fog up the lens you are seeing life through so that can clean it off, and see things better. you get to see the world more cleanly, with a renewed view...
 
"fog" is defined as:
1. a thick cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth's surface which obscures or restricts visibility to a greater extent than mist, strictly reducing visibility
2. something that obscures and confuses a situation or someone's thought processes
3. to bewilder or puzzle
4. with reference to a glass surface, to cover or become covered with steam
 
each of these four definitions is applicable (in their own way) to the deeper meaning of my impression here today...
 
fog symbolizes confusion, danger, and the unseen. fog is a thick cloud that confounds us and causes us to lose our sense of direction. we can almost see through it, but often our perceptions are distorted. this pertains not only to the element of fog in the physical world, but also to the metaphor for fog in our psychological world...
 
in the physical world, we have all heard stories of massive vehicle pile-ups that occur on busy freeways when reckless motorists speed blindly into thick patches of fog, unable to see the obstacles on the road before them until it is too late...
 
we have also heard of pilots flying their helicopters into the hillside because the fog messed up their spatial orientation limiting their ability to determine angle, altitude, or speed. in the dense fog, there's no visible horizon, and the pilot loses their visual ability to tell which way is up and which way is down...this is how the pilot lost control of his helicopter in the fog in january of 2020 that killed himself, kobe bryant and his daughter, and six others ...
 
however, the danger and confusion that fog can present to us in the physical world is the same kind of danger and confusion that fog can present to us in our psychological world...
 
when referring to the psychological realm, we have cliches that serve as metaphors to describe the confusion and uncertainty that the "cloud of fog" represents. metaphors such as "foggy judgement" or "my mind is in a fog" or "when the fog clears..." describe the confusion and lack of clarity that baffle us when we try to make a decision without being able to "see" all the facts clearly...
 
fog is dangerous. fog hides things from us. fog distorts what we think we see...unfortunately, usually the truth...
 
if you are like me and you've been manipulated recently by a narcissist, then odds are you are having a hard time figuring out who has the problem, what is normal compared to what is problematic, and if your wants, needs, and feelings are valid. this confusion is often caused by what is known as the "fog"...the disastrous effects of being lost in the "fog" are confusion, crazymaking, people pleasing, an erosion of boundaries, and the ultimate loss of self. the "fog" is an acronym that stands for "fear, obligation, guilt." these three emotions are often at the core of manipulation and are often how narcissists, sociopaths, and other types of emotional manipulators go about controlling their targets...
 
so when we find our judgement "foggy" or our mind in a "fog", what we're really experiencing is the universe telling us that the time is not yet right for us to make a decision on whatever it is that we are clouded and confused about. it's telling us that we should wait until all the facts become visible and clear. any decisions we make with a foggy mind are not wise and not well thought through. these decisions will only open the door to more confusion and cause more problems.
 
in the physical world, the fog lifts as the sun eventually burns away the fog, enabling us to see everything clearly. the same holds true, serving as a metaphor for the psychological realm. by exercising patience and avoiding making decisions with an unclear mind, we will find that our mental sun, a.k.a. illumination, will eventually burn away our mental fog, a.k.a. confusion. this allows us to "see" everything clearly and enables us to make our decision with a clear, unclouded mind...
 
and this impression today is a clear metaphor for walking down my own path, into the fog. a path where i am a bit foggy of my decisions, so i am waiting and letting go for now, letting things just be until the fog lifts a bit and things present themself clearer to me...and through to a clarity where i need to be...
 
like in this photo, right now, my path is taking me, leading and guiding me through the foggy unclear parts of my world, surrounded by the trees i love, cautiously above a treacherous swamp full of things that can hurt me...
 
"and remember, you never realize how thick your fog is until it lifts" ― bodhinku, your fog
 
and i'm oh-so close to where i want to be, as i can see the light at the end, even through the swamp, through the trees, and through the fog, looking forward to passing to the other side where the light will find me, and the sun will shine clearly on me...my one day...
 
i keep faith in my path. i have faith in the light of hope through the fog. faith is a beautiful thing...
 
"i am simply into my life right now, until i can be through the fog and into my light one day..." ― bodhinku, through the fog
 
and here is an absolutely beautiful song, another tune by kate bush, my god was she so ahead of her time with this one from 1985...read the lyrics and you will be able to connect this tune to the deeper meaning of my impression today "the morning fog" by kate bush 

"the light begin to bleed, begin to breathe, begin to speak. d'you know what? i love you better now. i am falling like a stone, like a storm, being born again into the sweet morning fog. d'you know what? i love you better now. i'm falling and i'd love to hold you now. i'll kiss the ground. i'll tell my mother. i'll tell my father. i'll tell my loved one. i'll tell my brothers, how much i love them" ― kate bush, the morning fog
 
"it is inevitable, that eventually at some point we are left standing alone in some misty fog, or rain, either metaphorically or literally (or both)...perplexed by our situation, how in the world did we get here? waiting for what to do next, as the mist surrounds us with uncertainty, shrouds our vision, enveloping us in its silent noise...however, we need see only the beauty of that moment, and see the wisdom of the fog. take a deep breath, breath in the heavy dampness, and listen ...for in that moment, we can see the air around us, and watch our breath as we exhale, be reminded even the air is not invisible, it is real, it is life. and it is okay to not know what to do. just empower our self with the hope of taking a new step forward, take another deep breath and and take that step not knowing, be astonished with our life and where it will lead us again...and never forget we are still blessed to be alive and breathing in this beautiful world" ― bodhinku, when in the fog 
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MORE QUOTES FOR EXTRA MEANING
"no one saves us but ourselves. no one can and no one may. we ourselves must walk the path into love" ― gautama buddha, sayings of buddha
 
“one day, you will stumble upon someone who will start a fire in you that cannot die. however, the saddest, most awful truth you will ever come to find is: they are not always with whom we spend our lives”― beau taplin, hunting season
 
"pain, loss, and separation are inevitable on the path of love, and the only way of avoiding them is by deciding not to take that path at all. in order not to suffer, you have to renounce love. that is like putting out your own eyes in order not to see the bad things in life" ― paulo coelho, brida
 
"in a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. and no two journeys along the same path are alike" ― paulo coelho, aleph
 
"in order to have faith in his own path, he does not need to prove that someone else's path is wrong" ― paulo coelho, warrior of the light
 
"those who are near me do not know that you are nearer to me than they are. those who crowd in my path do not know that i am walking alone with you. those who love me do not know that their love brings you to my heart" ― rabindranath tagore, stray birds
 
“pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, into which you can walk with love and reverence" ― henry david thoreau, life in the woods
 
"it's funny how, in this journey of life, even though we may begin at different times and places, our paths cross with others so that we may share our love, compassion, observations, and hop" ― steve maraboli, unapologetically you
 
"i will love you until the chances of us running into one another slip from slim to zero, and until your face is fogged by distant memory, and your memory faced by distant fog, and your fog memorized by a distant face, and your distance distanced by the memorized memory of a foggy fog. i will love you no matter where you go and who you see, no matter where you avoid and who you don’t see, and no matter who sees you avoiding where you go. i will love you no matter what happens to you, and no matter how i discover what happens to you, and no matter what happens to me as i discover this, and now matter how i am discovered after what happens to me as i am discovering this" ― lemony snicket   
 
"your eyes are the perfect mix of gray and brown, like fog in the woods" ― m. leighton, for the love of a vampire 
 
"i have a beard of fog that i wear on misty mornings. it’s not coffee steam, but i'd understand if you wanted to shave it off and inhale it" ― jarod kintz, free is too expensive
 
"faith is like radar that sees through the fog...the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see" ― corrie ten boom
 
and here is "confusion fog" by the meat puppets ... a pretty cool song by a pretty unique punk rock band with a style all their own out of arizona ... (just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection) ...
 
"i lost my mind a couple of gals ago. i left behind, never saw it go. just a little bit of snow out on the leaves, just confusion drifting swirling to my knees. i took the time a couple of days ago to cross my mind, the only thing i know. just a little bit of snow out on the leaves, just confusion drifting swirling to my knees. blue wind drift on, blow through till the dust is gone. gone, confusion fog...i drove too fast, hit the brakes too soon. i broke my wheels, blew my afternoon. there's just a little bit of snow out on the leaves. just confusion drifting swirling to my knees. blue wind drift on, blow through till the dust is gone. gone, confusion fog...i took the time, they never saw it go. i left behind the only thing i know. just a little bit of snow out on the leaves. ust confusion drifting swirling to my knees. blue wind drift on, blow through till the dust is gone. gone, confusion fog. blue wind drift on, blow through till the dust is gone. gone, confusion fog" ― meat puppets, confusion fog
 
"people wants to make certain about the future, about tomorrow, which cannot be done. don't waste your present moment trying to make the future unfoggy. the future is uncertainty, that is the very quality of the future. pertaining to the future, one can only wait, be alert, and cautiously move forward on their path" ― osho, the secret of secrets
 
“every moment the taste of that beauty is in our mouths, another stashed into a pocket. impossible to say what: no cypress so handsome, no sunlight, into a tunnel in the fog, a lonely hidden nest. other pleasure gathers a crowd, starts a fight, lots of noise there. but soul beauty stays quiet..her amazing whereabouts unknown inside my heart” ― jalaluddin rumi, poems of ecstasy and longing
 
"the fog clears and new energy makes you run up the steps in front of you. be emptier, and cry like reed instruments cry. emptier, write secrets with the reed pen" ― jalaluddin rumi, the essential rumi
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ABOUT THE IMPRESSION
"i've been walking around in a fog for quite a while now. but in my honest opinion, that's not necessarily a bad thing...sometimes you need the fog to clear you out. fog up the lens you are seeing life through so that can clean it off, and see things better. you get to see the world more cleanly, with a renewed view" ― bodhinku, in a fog   
 
this impression was captured on a boardwalk above a swampy slough in a cypress forest in the everglades in southwestern florida in the morning as the fog was clearing on april 1st, 2021...this composition is comprised of one single frame long exposure (f/11@33mm for 111 secs, iso-64)
 
in my photography, i always use filters to create longer exposure effects, saturate colors naturally, and balance the light in my composition in-camera...i often use as many as four filters at time, and i always use at least one filter in my completed impressions...
 
and to get the effects and balance i was looking for in the exposure in this foggy forest, i used two progreyusa filters: first, a 3.0 nd progrey antarctica filter to bring the light in the image down 10 stops and permit for the long 1 min and 51 second exposure which allows for the moving light to paint different glowing points into the composition as well as naturally saturate all the greens and yellows in the image; second, combined with a 0.9 gnd progrey aurora filter to help balance in-camera overall the image the way i envisioned it...in this case, to stop down the much brighter light in the upper parts of the trees and create a more profound sunburst, plus more evenly balance the exposure between the brighter tree tops and the darker foreground and shadow parts of the image... 
 
i also used the progrey g-120z magnetic holder to hold the filters and secure the filters to my nikon d810 with a nikon nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8... 
 
and with this being a long exposure of 111 seconds, a stable and sturdy tripod is an absolute necessity in order to keep the image sharp...for this i used my faithful induro phq3 series 5-way panhead mounted on my dolica tripod 70" carbon fiber tripod, because it is sturdy, tall, and perfectly compact for travelling  
 
i wish to openly thank my sponsors who have always supported me through both the good and bad times...for truly this long exposure impression would not be possible without the use of my faithful induro phq3 series 5-way panhead mounted on my dolica tripod 70" carbon fiber tripod, in combination with the progreyusa filters which i use with every photo i take...
 
"if nothing else...if i open my eyes, if i cry, if i think, if i sigh, if i giggle, if i dance, if i love, if i breathe, then i have lived a full days worth of life...nothing is wasted, nothing" ― bodhinku, if nothing else
 
"i do not want you to just be into my photography, instead, i'd much rather you take a journey into my pictures, and feel the impression i have created, feel it with all your senses" ― bodhinku, into my photography
 
"contemplate without thinking. be certain only in your uncertainty. stop the world. slow down everything. let it all be. shut off the noise. relax. seize this moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colors of light whisper as they envelope you. see the melody and harmony that float about unnoticed. taste the solitude of all this wonderment. smell the beautiful silence. now discover your peaceful serenity. then, reach out and touch your faith with all your senses. this is my world. awaken!" ― bodhinku, my world
 
"my photography is my way of keeping a diary" ― bodhinku, my diary  
 
i leave you today wishing that bright joy and spiritual peace fill your life...
imploring you to make every moment count, no matter what, always and forever,
for that is the only thing that truly matters...    
 
and above all else,
i hope this message and impression find you well.
 
namaste,
bodhi
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